Hospitality industry "unfair to women and minorities"

Women and ethnic minorities feel they are not getting a fair deal out of the hospitality industry, especially when it comes to promotion, according to a survey from Caterer & Hotelkeeper.

Out of more than 2,000 people who responded to a questionnaire sent out with the weekly magazine, 570 were women and 62 classed themselves as being from an ethnic minority.

Only half the women (52%) thought they received equal treatment on pay. This compared with four out of five men (79%) who thought women were treated equally.

The women's concerns were borne out by the survey's findings on average salary. Men in the industry earned an average £25,219 a year, while women earned just £19,181.

Less than half the women (48%) thought they were treated equally when it came to promotion prospects.

Ethnic staff were equally disgruntled. Just over half (56%) thought they were treated fairly on pay. This compared with 82% of white respondents who thought ethnic minorities received fair treatment.

In fact, the average salary reported by non-whites was £25,508 - more than £2,000 higher than the £23,386 average salary reported by whites. The figure, however, may have been skewed by the small number of respondents from ethnic minorities.

Only 40% of ethnic workers felt they were treated equally when it came to promotion. But three out of four whites thought minorities received fair treatment in this respect.

Training is a further area where the hospitality industry appears to fall down. Over half the respondents said they received no regular training on the job. Reasons given included time constraints (57%) and lack of money (50%). One in five (20%) said there was no need for training and 15% said their company had no training policy.

And long hours are still a problem. The average working week was 50 hours, with 41% of respondents saying they worked even longer than this.

It was not all bad news for the industry, though. Average salary across the whole sample was a fairly respectable £23,500 a year. Workers in contract catering were paid £24,173 and those in pubs £23,744. Hotel workers received an average £22,739 a year and restaurant workers £23,065.

Best paid were owner-managers, who admitted to earning just over £33,000 a year. General managers got nearly £31,000 and heads of catering just over £22,000. Worst off were chefs, at £17,300 a year, and restaurant managers at £16,800.

Asked what could be done to improve the image of the hospitality industry among school leavers, 34% cited better pay and 16% shorter working hours. Better pay was also seen by 23% as the solution to the industry's skills shortage.

Despite the downsides, 40% of the respondents said they "really enjoy" their work and 30% said they "quite enjoy" it. Only 7% said work was "pretty awful" and 2% thought it "unbearable".

by David Shrimpton david.shrimpton@rbi.co.uk