Recruitment: solving adversity through diversity
As staffing challenges roll on, it’s high time to shake up your recruitment strategies and target “hidden” pools of talent, says Karl Cushing
As employers in the travel sector scramble to scale up their operations post-pandemic, the industry is facing a major recruitment crisis. With Covid and Brexit having exacerbated pre-existing staffing challenges, the hard-hit industry has haemorrhaged much of its experienced workforce. Some have returned overseas, others have changed career paths, no longer viewing the sector as a sound long-term choice.
Yet, even now, opportunities exist, not least for employers savvy enough to widen their recruitment nets to target under-represented groups. As experts show, it’s not just about doing the right thing – there are some compelling benefits.
Access all areas
As a wheelchair user and chairman of Bespoke Hotels, Robin Sheppard has long championed the cause of accessibility within the industry. He feels more could be done to accommodate people with disabilities in the workforce.
“Given the dearth of talent in the UK… why not see if you can find someone who would be grateful for the work who historically has been overlooked or bypassed because the assumption is it would be too much hard work to bother putting them into a position of responsibility, and that isn’t necessarily the case,” he says.
Sheppard notes there are around 12 million people in the UK with some sort of registered disability, representing a massive pool of potential labour, with charitable organisations such as Leonard Cheshire (leonardcheshire.org) and Springboard (springboard.uk.net) offering a “fertile ground” of candidates ready to re-enter the workplace, who they can suggest.
For Sheppard, one barrier remains the prevailing UK mindset whereby companies treat requirements such as Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) compliance as a tick-box exercise, doing the bare minimum. “What I’m saying is that’s the completely wrong perspective,” he asserts. “Why not be excellent at it? Why not strive to do better?”
Sheppard urges employers look to best-practice examples such as the broadcaster Channel 4 to learn transferable lessons from its far-reaching approach to inclusivity, diversity and accessibility, and to internally appoint an access champion to ensure the issues become central to the business. “It doesn’t matter if it’s the MD or the pot washer – someone has to put it on the agenda to make sure it’s discussed,” he says.
Organisations such as the Blue Badge Access Awards (bluebadgeaccessawards.com), a cause Sheppard is closely involved with, can offer invaluable advice on making workplaces more accessible. Sheppard also suggests checking out useful communication aides such as Neate Box’s WelcoMe app, and using any knowledge gained to inform recruitment strategies.
Embracing a new flexible, hybrid way of working is another step in the right direction. “It’s here to stay and we do need, as a society, to adjust to a hybrid world,” Sheppard says.
Embrace the margins
As founder and managing director of the social enterprise Women in Travel (womenintravelcic.com), Alessandra Alonso champions the rights of marginalised groups of women and secures them careers in the industry.
Many of the women she works with, from refugees and victims of trafficking and domestic abuse to single mums struggling to re-enter the workplace, have little knowledge of the travel trade. This represents an invitingly untapped recruitment pool, “invisible to employers until Women in Travel [WIT] makes them visible”, points out Alonso.
For employers looking to get involved, WIT promotes job vacancies through its newsletter and organises meet and greets. The latter offer employers the opportunity to present their company and discuss job openings and career paths with the candidates, who WIT provides with mentoring and training in preparation for entering the workplace.
While Alonso acknowledges her candidates may require some additional support in the early stages of employment she’s quick to highlight the potential long-term gains, arguing her candidates make for hard-working, highly motivated employees, grateful for opportunities. They’re also massively resilient, borne of their life experiences, and instinctively loyal she explains: “They want stability: the last thing they want to do is jump from one position to another that’s offering 50p more an hour.”
Ultimately, she believes it offers “a huge win-win”. “Employers are really impressed and inspired when they hear the women’s stories and there’s a real ‘Eureka moment’ when the women realise what the travel industry can offer them as a career, and what they’ll essentially be selling is happiness and dreams.”
Suitably inspired, the women then fly the travel flag within their own networks, helping attract more applicants, “like a ripple effect”, Alonso explains.
Promoting diversity and inclusivity within the workplace also helps employers become more attractive to the wider jobs market, contends Alonso. “The younger generation, in particular, are looking for employers who live and breathe diversity and inclusivity and positively impact on their community and drive change within their community.”
The bottom line? “No employer should ignore this opportunity, or avenue, at a time such as this,” Alonso says. “If they’re not looking into this they’re missing out.”
How to reach and recruit under-represented groups
Alessandra Alonso shares her tips:
- Don’t cling to old, limited ways of recruiting and don’t live in an echo chamber: “Try not to talk to the same audience within the same industry. What you really want is access to people you don’t know, and possibly don’t even know exist. This adds a totally new dimension to you as an employer.”
- Reach out to organisations such as WIT: “Not-for-profits like us have pools of talent that are available and keen to work but often invisible to employers.”
- Talk to existing staff to see what they want, and what you could do better to keep them motivated: “It’s not just about diversity but inclusivity – employees need to feel they’re being listened to.”
- Don’t just talk about making changes, but follow through. “Walking the walk is crucial. If you continue to do things in the same way you’ll get the same results.”
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