Diversity & Inclusion in Hospitality

27 June 2019

8 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. BST

Squire Patton Boggs (UK) LLP

7 Devonshire Square
London EC2M 4YH

At the start of 2018, women made up only 26% of senior management positions in the hospitality sector.

Only 1 in 33 leaders in the travel, hospitality and leisure industries in the UK identify as being from a black, Asian or minority ethnic (BAME) background, as compared to 1 in 8 in the UK population.

Hospitality in the UK has an employee turnover rate of 30% (meaning 3 out of 10 workers leave their role within a year). This is double that of the UK average.

We are pleased to invite you to join us at our next roundtable breakfast HOST event to explore diversity and inclusion, which is a topic high on most employers’ agendas at the moment. What can employers be doing to improve the diversity of their workforce? What can they be doing to create an environment of inclusivity? What are the potential barriers within hospitality that cause employers difficulty (anti-social hours, for example)? Do you have a gender bias, racial bias or an age bias? What practical steps can be taken away to deal with this?

We are delighted to be joined by guest speakers.

Patricia Chinyoka, is Diversity & Inclusion Adviser, at Business in the Community.

Business in the Community exists to build healthy communities with responsible businesses at their heart. Patricia works within the Workplace Campaigns Team (age, race, gender and wellbeing) and will talk about the business case for inclusion with a focus on intersectionality, because diversity in the business environment is about more than gender, race, ethnicity and age.

Nicola Balfour is People Manager (Central Operations) at Greggs, with responsibility for reward and benefits, policy, diversity and inclusion, and engagement.

Greggs is in its third year of their Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) plan, which was developed following a deep dive audit into their current processes and practices, including running a series of focus groups across the business to understand the experiences of their colleagues in relation to D&I. Nicola will talk through their approach to the audit, the key actions they have taken and the internal communications they have used.

Meeta Zakharia is an HR Manager at McDonald’s, leading their inclusion strategy.

Meeta will talk through McDonald’s’ inclusion journey and the steps they are taking to celebrate individuality and promote a culture where inclusivity is the responsibility of every colleague in the business. This is underpinned by their cultural values of ‘be you’ and “better together”. The approach at McDonald’s focuses on the individual and empowering colleagues to be themselves, creating a “McDonald’s for everyone”. Meeta will also discuss the actions they have taken so far, such as their inclusivity roadshows, their work with partner groups, such as workingdads.co.uk, and their upcoming plans.

Timings

Registration 8 a.m.
Seminar 9 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.

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