Lifestyle Report: The Job

Related tags Cent Burglary

Regulations are a major worry for many licensees - red tape tops the list of challenges.The job has often been likened to "spinning plates"....

Regulations are a major worry for many licensees - red tape tops the list of challenges.

The job has often been likened to "spinning plates". Licensees face constant demands from a wide range of things, from customers and suppliers through to keeping beer lines clean, dealing with head office and making sure every aspect of the operation stays within the law.

Licensees have to bring together a much wider range of skills than those required for the average job, so it is good to see such high levels of confidence reflected in our Coors-sponsored survey.

Above all else, licensees have serious concerns about the regulatory burden on their shoulders. Only 37 per cent say they find dealing with the regulatory aspect of the job "quite easy" or "very easy".

There is so much to fall foul of, and many issues are outside the licensee's direct control. For example, they have to carry the can if drugs are brought on to the premises or if customers become drunk and disorderly.

Then there are staff issues, which can bring civil law into play. How many publicans can be sure their staff won't one day sue them for allowing customers to smoke, thus prejudicing their health?

Only 31 per cent find dealing with this aspect of the job "challenging", however, with a middle-of-the-road 30 per cent describing it as "acceptable".

Another area where confidence is weak is in dealing with head office. Again, only 37 per cent said they found it easy.

With a parliamentary committee investigating aspects of the relationship between tenants and pubcos, it is easy to see why there are tensions. A typical bugbear in today's market concerns tenants' freedom to choose which beers they can sell. Some say the market is comparable to the days before the Beer Orders set out to loosen the tie, though this is hotly contested by the pubcos.

Again, there are strong grounds for optimism here as only 13 per cent said they found dealing with head office a challenge, with almost a quarter of the sample describing relations as "acceptable".

In all the other areas we asked about, licensees expressed a high degree of confidence in their own ability to do the job.

The area most felt happy about was customer relations, with 81 per cent saying they found this easy, reflecting the large proportion of time licensees spend working in the pub, talking to customers. Only five per cent said they found customers a challenge.

It's good to know that 79 per cent find managing suppliers "easy", as this is an aspect of the job that can be difficult. However, many modern suppliers make a real effort to be user-friendly and perhaps the statistic reflects that.

Less than three per cent found suppliers a challenge. Freeholders enjoy the best supplier relationships, with 46 per cent saying they found them "easy" to manage, compared to figures in the mid-30s for tenants and lessees.

Any customers reading this would no doubt be gratified to hear that 77 per cent of licensees find it easy to manage product quality. This is a time-consuming part of the job and a high level of skill and product knowledge is required in matters such as real ale, wine and, perhaps the biggest threat to a pub's reputation, food hygiene.

Only seven per cent say they find product quality a challenge.

Another key skill licensees must have is the ability to manage staff. Confidence in this area is strong, though less so than in other areas, with 72 percent saying they find it easy and less than nine per cent finding it a challenge. This should be taken as more of an indication of the relationship between licensees and their staff than of how licensees feel about employment law issues.

Licensees need strong financial skills and, unsurprisingly, most (65 per cent) are unfazed by handling money.

Licensees are daily required to risk put their personal safety on the line. Selling alcohol has its risks, and on top of this comes the threat of burglary or armed robbery.

Despite this, 60 per cent say they are happy about dealing with security and violence. Twelve per cent found it a challenge, with 20 per cent finding the issue "acceptable" to deal with.

High street and community pubs were predictably more concerned about the issue than were other types of outlet.

You might expect older licensees to feel more vulnerable on security matters than their younger counterparts. The most confident age group was the 35 to 44-year-olds, 66 per cent of who said they found it easy to handle security and violence. The figure dropped to the high 50s for age groups either side of this.

Here is the news

Licensees believe it is important to keep abreast of developments, not only in their own backyard, but also on a national and global scale.

It is no surprise that 97 per cent of licensees consider it important to keep in touch with developments in the licensed trade. But the trade is also affected by national, European and global events which impact upon the economy and society at large.

Around three-quarters of the sample keep tabs on such issues, with a particular eye out for legislative matters (84 per cent) and market trends (82 per cent).

Though many may find it less than pleasant to do so, 70 per cent keep a watch on Europe.

The majority (77 per cent) rely on the trade press for such information, with only one in six (15 per cent) turning to a national newspaper.

This would indicate that licensees are more concerned with the things that affect them most, rather than keeping up with the issues customers might spend time chatting about over a drink.

Other sources of information are business contacts, the internet, suppliers and their own company. However, only five per cent or fewer see these as important.

Related topics Legislation

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