Uk hospitality and leisure businesses to support job creation

28 March 2012 by
Uk hospitality and leisure businesses to support job creation

The UK hospitality and leisure industry is more receptive to taking on ex-public sector workers than other industries, according to the Barclays Job Creation Survey 2012.

Barclays questioned 670 executives of UK businesses of all sizes across different industries into their attitudes to job creation and their confidence in the economy.

The independent research revealed that more than half (51%) of hospitality and leisure businesses would consider employing ex-public sector workers that had lost their positions through Government spending cuts. This contrasts with just 36% of all businesses surveyed.

The industry was divided around how suitable public sector workers would be to take on roles in the private sector. Half of all hospitality and leisure businesses stated that ex-public sector workers are ‘very' or ‘quite' well equipped to take on roles in their organisation, 43% stated that they are ‘not very well equipped'. This compares with a third of all businesses which believe that public sector workers will be ‘quite well equipped', another third which believe that those from the public sector are ‘not very well equipped', and a further 18% which feel those coming from the public sector will not be equipped to take on roles in their organisation at all.

Commenting on the findings, Mike Saul, head of hospitality and leisure at Barclays, said: "There is clearly still a disconnect between public sector workers and private sector employers, with an element of mistrust of the former by latter. This is something that needs to be challenged directly if we are to have a fluid employment market place that allows people to move between the public and private sector easily, bringing the best of both worlds to their roles."

In a breakdown of total job creation intentions this year, 55% of hospitality and leisure companies said they plan to create jobs over the coming 12 months, down from 57% last year.

Large companies across all industries with a turnover of more than £500m were less confident than last year, with 70% planning to create jobs in 2012 versus 85% in 2011, while small businesses were more confident, with 51% planning to create jobs compared with 41% last year.

Of the hospitality and leisure businesses planning on creating jobs in the next 12 months, 85% plan to create unskilled jobs, 79% plan on creating middle management/skilled labour jobs, and 38% expect to create senior management positions.

When asked whether job creation would generate sales, or sales growth would lead to job creation, more than three-quarters of all businesses surveyed (77%), said growth needs to come first, although hospitality and leisure businesses are now much more likely to prioritise investment in jobs than they did in 2011.

"As an industry which has many SMEs within it, it is good to see smaller companies, in particular, more confident about creating new positions than they were last year," said Saul.

"The leisure industry is a significant contributor to the economy both in terms of jobs and revenue, and the increased confidence around investing in jobs in order to grow sales, rather than waiting for sales to increase before hiring people, is really promising and hopefully a sign of significant investment to come."

Hospitality job market grinds to a standstill in July >>

The Coalition Government one year on - what the hoteliers think >>

By Janet Harmer

E-mail your comments to Janet Harmer here.

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