Halting the skills drain

It would be fair to say that People 1st has yet to enter the everyday conversation in the grassroots of the pub trade. Yet the work it's doing could well have a long-term positive impact on the quality of those employed in the industry and, as a result, its economic success.

At least that's the theory. As the sector skills council for not only pubs but the rest of the hospitality industry plus leisure, travel and tourism, People 1st is charged with the daunting task of making sure that everyone employed in the sector has the skills they and their employers need.

Behind this lies a political agenda that has been one of the hallmarks of the current government. It is, as People 1st chief operating officer David McHattie puts it, "a government that believes in skills" not for their own sake but because a properly skilled workforce is seen as the key to higher productivity and a more competitive British economy.

You might note here that the UK not only lags behind much of Europe in terms of productivity but that the hospitality, leisure and travel sector lags behind other sectors in the UK.

It doesn't take much thought to come up with reasons why - the chef shortage has been well-publicised, for instance. You can also see how high levels of staff turnover are simply draining skills away. No sooner have you trained somebody than they're off!

Eating into profitability

Recruiting to fill the gaps eats into profitability. At David's conservative estimate, based on a 30 per cent turnover (meaning 30 per cent of the workforce has to be replaced in the course of one year), it will cost the sector a breathtaking £6.2bn by the time the Olympics reach London in 2012 and hospitality employees will need to be on their very best form. "The figure could easily be double that," he adds. "Turnover in pubs and bars is at least 100 per cent.

"What we need is the tools to get the right people in to begin with. Their experience and perceptions of the industry have to be right if we are going to expect them to stay."

It would be a mistake to think that courses and qualifications alone can create the right experience and perceptions in potential recruits. And it's a mistake that the hospitality industry seems to have made over the years to its cost.

"There are a load of qualifications out there," says David. "The question is, are they giving employers and employees what they need? There are 140 foundation degrees covering the sector and that has to be nuts. Ideally there should be one, a gold standard with different modules to make it specific to each industry."

The underlying problem is that training has been supplier-led. Trainers and educators produce courses and qualifications and then sell them to companies. People 1st's job is to turn that process on its head. "Because this government believes in skills, public funding for training is available in large amounts," David explains. "There's plenty of money floating around but the training is supplier-led, so you still get companies doing their own in-house courses to get what they want. A sector skills council's job is to bring everyone together and make sure the programmes are there that do what employers want them to do."

Identifying skills which are lackingThe central project of People 1st since it was formed over a year ago has been to produce a Sector Skills Agreement - an agreement between government, trainers and the industry on providing the skills needed. One-to-one meetings to get the views of pub companies have all been held now and it's hoped that the final document will be completed by December 2006.

The agreement will identify what skills are lacking now, what skills will be needed in 20 years time, what courses are needed to deliver them and what needs to happen to take the strategy forwards.

The role of People 1st doesn't stop there however. Among other projects it is also writing a curriculum for the government's new specialist vocational diplomas for 14 to 19-year-olds and promoting apprenticeships in hospitality.

New online tools for employers and employees are also being developed. Its website, www.people 1st.co.uk, carries careers information including setting out pathways by which recruits might fulfill their ambitions, plus an innovative Skills Passport.In the know

People 1st was politely criticised in its early days for not adequately representing the pub industry among what amounts to a big, sprawling sector.

That criticism is less likely to stick now. Chief executive officer Brian Wisdom was a director with Bass (now Mitchells & Butlers) and Whitbread, responsible for pub-restaurant brands, and David McHattie managed the first Vintage Inn before becoming operations director at both Fuller's and the Restaurant Group.

And in the past couple of weeks Philip Lay, retail director of Publican Awards-winning SA Brain, has been recruited on to People 1st's governing body to represent not only pubs but Wales!