Kate Nicholls: hospitality is a ‘meritocracy’ that can drive social mobility

The hospitality industry is a “meritocracy” that can “drive change” in local communities, UKHospitality chief executive Kate Nicholls has said.

Nicholls was speaking at a social mobility event hosted by Compass Group UK and Ireland at London’s Somerset House this week (13 June).

Compass Group, the UK’s largest food and support services provider, has pledged to bolster social mobility for one million people by 2030 as part of its Mission to a Million commitment.

Speaking at the event, Nicholls described the industry as a “fantastic example of meritocracy in action” that is dependent on a young workforce.

The hospitality industry, which is already the UK’s third largest private sector employer, is a top five employer in all regions of the country and a top three employer in the most deprived areas of the country.

Nicholls said: “If we get it right, then we can deliver some meaningful change at a local level and we can help provide the stepping stones that will get people to whatever career they want to be. We can be transformational not just for ourselves, but the rest of the economy.”

The event saw over a dozen speakers, including Cobra beer founder Lord Karan Bilimoria, and Sarah Atkinson, chief executive of the Social Mobility Foundation, share their insights on the importance of spearheading diversity and inclusion, covering topics such as the ethnicity pay gap and the apprenticeship levy.

Although the evening took a moment to celebrate some of the progress made so far, it was predominantly an opportunity for industry professionals to have an open conversation about the challenges to social mobility and to outline some practical methods of enabling it.

“You can’t be what you can’t see”, “Lift as you climb” and “Potential not polish” were some of the handy slogans that were used to begin a more nuanced discussion on a complex social issue.

Donna Catley, chief people officer at Compass Group, said: “Gender, race, sexuality and disability play far too big a role [in social mobility] and that’s just not fair.”

To tackle this, Compass is aiming for a 50:50 gender split in its workforce by 2025, with 14% of its team to come from a minority background by 2027.

Compass already has over 50% gender representation at unit manager level but aims to reach 50:50 gender split on its leadership team, which currently has 40% female representation. Its executive team has 27%.

It has pledged to publish an annual report of its progress, which can be compared to what was originally set out in ‘Our Social Promise’, Compass group’s social value strategy.

Robin Mills, managing director of Compass Group UK & I, said: “As an employer of around 45,000 people, we know that we have the ability to make a real difference not only to the lives of our own employees, but also the communities in which we serve. Hospitality is well placed to bring down barriers that exist in relation to social mobility. You can join the industry and be trained on the job.

“We are committed to investing in our employees and also working to support disadvantaged groups. I passionately believe that whatever your background, you should have the opportunity to progress and build a career. I believe our programme is a significant step forward to achieve this.”