Inside Hospitality Report

On the 1-year anniversary of the organisation’s launch, Be Inclusive Hospitality release findings from Inside Hospitality Report, highlighting a need for immediate action

In November 2020, Be Inclusive Hospitality and survey partner CPL Learning launched an industry wide Inside Hospitality Survey. A sector first, created to capture the experiences of hospitality professionals to better understand experiences pertaining to race, bias and career progression.

The survey captures experiences of views from 387 hospitality professionals at all levels, from different ethnicities, and occupations exploring topics such as racism, bias, career progression, inclusion, wellbeing and training.

Findings show there is a real concern about the impact of racism in the workplace with more than half of all ethnic minorities surveyed having experienced or witnessed racism within the workplace.

Of those hospitality professionals surveyed, 42% of Mixed hospitality professionals felt their race/ethnicity has hindered their career progression, while 56% of Asian hospitality professionals and 41% of Black hospitality professionals felt the same. Just 7% of White hospitality professionals felt their race/ethnicity has hindered their career progression

There is a clear appetite for education and training around race and ethnicity within the workplace, with 60% of respondents saying that while they have not received any appropriate staff training or education, they find the idea appealing. Only 28% of hospitality professionals surveyed in the Inside Hospitality survey have received training or education around race, ethnicity or anti-racism to date.

The report concludes with some practical steps that employers of all sizes can take towards building an Equitable, Diverse and Inclusive culture.

Over the past 7 months, Be Inclusive Hospitality has actively delivered a range of workshops to restaurants and hotels within the sector covering topics such as Race Literacy, and Inclusive Leadership, along with supporting leaders to transform their company cultures.

Lorraine Copes, Be Inclusive Hospitality Founder says:

“I wanted to run the Inside Hospitality survey and gather data so that we are all able to take steps forward towards racial equity in hospitality through understanding the experiences of those who work in the industry.

Hospitality has some work to do marketing itself as an industry that can and will support its teams. Sadly, this report identifies exactly how much work there is to do, especially for those from ethnic minority backgrounds”

“The sector is currently suffering from severe staff shortages, so now is surely the right time to make sure that a better hospitality sector is rebuilt, where all people can thrive and develop their careers, not those that are in a privileged position”.

Jamie Campbell, Director of CPL Learning commented:

“As providers of learning to the hospitality sector it has been a pleasure to work with Be Inclusive Hospitality alongside the team at CGA with this vitally important research. It’s crucial in our understanding what kind of targeted training is necessary to improve the experiences of Black, Asian or Ethnic Minority people working in the sector and for communicating to operators the importance of being proactive in supporting their teams”.  

You can download the report summary, or purchase the full report for £299 here.