A HIGHER percentage of British hospitality employees reported having experienced or seen discrimination, according to a survey conducted by a major not-for-profit organisation in the industry.
The ‘Inside Hospitality Report 2023’ by social enterprise Be Inclusive Hospitality, which was released this week, also discovered in terms of personal experience, 33.5 per cent of Black respondents reported they had experienced discriminatory behaviour at their current or former place of employment; of these, 94.7 per cent reported encountering racial bias.
For its third edition, the annual national survey conducted by Be Inclusive Hospitality gathered more than 3,000 responses. This year, the group put “a race lens” on equity, diversity, and inclusion.
Discrimination based on race is cited as the most common type of discrimination by 62.4 per cent of Asian and 62.6 per cent of Black respondents, respectively, who said that they have observed discriminatory behaviour.
Respondents at the director level (84.1 per cent) said they have witnessed discriminatory actions.
Be Inclusive Hospitality founder Lorraine Copes said: “Over the last three years, we have seen the number of respondent numbers increase from over 300 in 2020 to over 3,000 today. I believe that this increase positively marks a growth in awareness and support for the work that we do.
“What is concerning that the results surrounding discrimination, education at all levels, and the building of trust have remained stagnant. With this robust data set, my hope is that leaders now take heed and take action.”
In nightclubs, pubs, and bars, a higher percentage of respondents reported having experienced or seen discrimination.
Forty-three per cent of respondents say they have “low levels of confidence” in the company’s capacity to resolve workplace discrimination; this is particularly prevalent for ethnic minorities.
Only 52.4 per cent of participants had the “opportunity” to report it when confronted with discriminatory behaviour at work.
The study also discovered that Asian workers are more likely to have part-time contracts than zero-hour contracts, while Black respondents are more likely to have zero-hour contracts.
A further 44.2 per cent of Asian respondents had worked for less than six months.
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