How can hospitality prepare for changes to employment rights?

Rising wages

The National Living Wage (NLW) is expected to increase by about 5.8% in 2025 to reach around £12.10. The government is also planning to raise the lower pay band for 18-to 20-year-olds, which is currently £8.60 per hour.

 

“As far as we’re aware the way the plan is not to abolish the band but significantly increase that rate until it hits parity with [those aged] 21 and over,” said Sheen.

 

“We could expect to see 10%-15% increase in the rate for 18- to 20-year-olds for the next three, four or five years – this could possibly be higher if they want to hit the target earlier.”

 

Indeed Flex data shows higher pay is consistently the number one reason to move to a new job, with 22% of candidates rating it as their top priority.

 

While operators at the roundtable agreed rising wages were positive, they raised concerns that the gap between entry-level and management pay was shrinking.

 

Emma Harvey, head of industrial relations and HR policy at Sodexo, said: “It’s squeezing that supervisor or managerial level above. People will say, ‘why would I take on these extra responsibilities when the margins are 10p-15p an hour more’. It’s the unintended consequence of bringing up that base that creates a bit of a two-tier system.”

 

Ceri Gott, chief people officer at Hawksmoor, said retaining staff was down to a mix of pay and culture: “We’re lucky we tend to be relatively high payers in the industry, because it’s an expensive meal and service charge is quite high.

 

“I think people leave for money but don’t stay for money. I know there are senior chefs who could earn more somewhere else, but they would be working maybe 70 hours rather than 48.

 

“It’s what you actually do that gets people to stay and energises them to do their job, which benefits your business. We certainly find giving people a nice place to work and treating them as individuals is the most important thing.”

 

Flexible working

The government has promised to give employees the right to request flexible working from day one on the job and make it “the norm where practical”.

 

Indeed Flex data shows sectors such as hospitality, which largely cannot offer remote work, are increasingly offering other forms of flexibility, including four-day weeks.

 

“Hiring being tough a year or two ago [has] forced a bit of a rethink of job profiles in some cases”

 

“Hiring being tough a year or two ago [has] forced a bit of a rethink of job profiles in some cases and what those different forms of flexibility could look like,” said Jack Kennedy, senior economist at Indeed Flex. “That’s an ongoing conversation.”

 

Katharine Coombes, vice-president of talent acquisition and people brand for Marriott EMEA, said: “Most of our staff would recognise that if you work in a kitchen, that’s not possible, but maybe we can fix the hours so you can still do your school drop-off or we won’t put you on breakfasts or we make sure everybody gets a weekend off a month.”

 

Sodexo made flexible working a day-one right around a year ago. “We found it easy to deal with,” said Harvey. “It’s important that it’s still just a right to request and the business retains the right to consider and say why it’s not appropriate or operationally feasible.”

 

Samantha Hamilton-Green, people and brand director at Dakota, said day one rights and increased flexibility were positive for the industry.

 

“I completely agree with putting [laws in place to tackle] people that aren’t doing it and, in my view, give hospitality a bad name, which adversely impacts all of us. Hopefully then mums and dads will know there’s a career in hospitality [for their children].”

 

Gott said staff at Hawksmoor also had the right to request flexible working. “We have so many people working in hospitality because it’s not a 9-5 and you can have a different working pattern.”

Zero-hour contracts

Sheen said Labour’s initial plans to ban zero-hour contracts had softened after conversations with UKHospitality and other industries. However, it still wants to crack down when they are used in “exploitative” ways.

 

“I think there was a genuine belief in the Labour party that all zero-hours contracts were evil and no one wanted to be on one,” said Sheen. “I think we have now got that message across that they are really quite useful. What it will become is essentially a right for the employee to receive a fixed-hours contract should they wish, and they can say no.”

 

Liz Flynn, people director at Cubitt House, said: “Cubitt House doesn’t use zero-hour contracts because we don’t need to. But I’ve previously worked for businesses that without them it would be impossible to operate. I don’t know how outside catering or events companies [would manage].

 

“Equally there’s a whole population of the UK that depend on flexible contracts because they cannot commit to a permanent contract.”

 

Cancellation of shifts

Under government plans, employers will be required to give staff reasonable notice of changes or cancellation of shifts. Failure to do so could see them required to pay compensation to staff.

 

Operators said this, along with changes to zero-hour contracts, could make it tricky to staff seasonal or last-minute events.

 

Harvey said Sodexo found many team members only wanted to work high-profile events such as Ascot. “It’s an extraordinary number of people we have to recruit, around 5,000, for that event.

 

“The combination of all these [changes], and whether they all come in one big bang, is going to be critical because they will hit the same sort of individuals.”

 

Flynn said the group was pushing for staff to be given their rota a month in advance. “That doesn’t work in all places. Some get three weeks’ notice; others might still be a week.

 

“It’s a good thing if we can let [staff] plan as much as possible. Equally, flexible working is something we’ve really tried to push. If it’s [giving staff] an hour here or there that’s going to make their lives easier, then we’re doing that.”

 

Gott said Hawksmoor was trialling giving staff longer notice of shifts while adapting to changing customer expectations.

 

“We’re really going after things like PDR and events [bookings] at the moment because most people want to eat 6pm-8pm these days and not on a Friday, so we’re going after demand. We have fixed two-week shifts. Obviously, we want to be able to take those bookings when they come in and it’s [about] balancing all of those bits.”

 

When will the changes come into force?

While all the operators at the round table are preparing for changes in the law, they said the timeline around the legislation was a major concern. As much of the changes are interlinked, some will need to come in at the same time. However, a staggered introduction could force businesses to update contracts every few months.

 

“The government is fairly understanding that hospitality is right in the firing line for a lot of these for the positive and negative reasons around flexibility,” said Sheen.

 

“We don’t really have a timeline; government is committed to introducing as soon as they can but after significant consultation and getting it right.

 

“There will be one Employment Rights Bill, but other bits will come in through secondary legislation. Some bits will be able to move faster and others slower. I don’t think the significant changes will be pre-April 2026.”

 

Who was at the round table

• Clelia Arci, Indeed Flex
• Nick Clement, business development director, Indeed Flex
• Katharine Coombes, vice-president, talent acquisition and people brand for Marriott EMEA
• Sam Ette, UKHospitality
• Michael Farrier, solutions director, Indeed Flex (not pictured)
• Liz Flynn, people director, Cubitt House
• Ceri Gott, chief people officer, Hawksmoor
• Emma Harvey, head of industrial relations and HR policy, Sodexo (not pictured)
• Samantha Hamilton-Green, people and brand director, Dakota
• Jack Kennedy, senior economist, Indeed Flex
• David Sheen, public affairs director, UKHospitality

 

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