Support the new deal, but remember the old

01 January 2000 by
Support the new deal, but remember the old

"Gissa job". This was an oft-quoted television catch phrase that crept into general parlance in the early 1980s.

It summed up the frustration and despair felt by redundant workers as they struggled to find a job against a background of increasing unemployment.

It is not quite the same now, and the problem of unemployment has subsided. It is still there, of course; it's just that a certain complacency has crept into the collective psyche of the commercial world, and unemployment is now seen as an acceptable part of everyday life.

Even worse, a generation of young people has grown up thinking that not having a decent job is normal.

Time for that to change, says the Government, as it rolls out its New Deal initiative, which will see subsidies being paid to employers to train unemployed 18- to 24-year-olds.

In an industry such as hospitality, which is suffering a skills shortage, the opportunity for employers to be paid to recruit and train staff that they would probably need to take on anyway looks very attractive.

Indeed, hospitality, chosen as one of the first industries to try out the scheme, has warmed readily to the idea. But there are a couple of pitfalls that employers need to be aware of.

The scheme is very commendable; it is a vigorous attempt to regenerate jobs, and create the mindset that goes with working. It will help one of the most disadvantaged sectors of unemployed people - untrained youngsters who have never had a long-term job.

What the scheme most definitely is not is a way for employers to pick up cheap labour for dirty jobs.

Those employers who abuse the scheme in this way will not be helping themselves or anyone else, because the newly recruited employees will simply walk away from the industry and never come back.

Secondly, while hospitality is being given the "first bite of the cherry", the New Deal will be rolled out to other industries very quickly. There is not an infinite number of bright, unemployed 18- to 24-year-olds in the market, and competition for the cream of the bunch between hospitality and, for example, retailing, will be very keen.

It is important, therefore, that hospitality continues to clean up its act in terms of working conditions and image.

It's no good offering youngsters the chance to enter catering if they take one look at what they find and decide that they would rather work in a department store.

The New Deal is not a substitute for existing recruitment and training drives. We don't want youngsters to say "Gissa job". We want them to say "Gissa job in catering(or hospitality)".

Forbes Mutch

Editor,

Caterer & Hotelkeeper

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