As we all know, hospitality businesses have been hit hard over the last 17 months and the pressure faced by the industry doesn’t seem to be letting up any time soon.
Supply chain issues, vaccine passports and recruitment have been hot topics across the media since lockdowns began and the effect on hospitality professionals has been detrimental to not only morale, but the mental health of these frontline workers.
Owners of businesses within this industry must begin to focus on these issues and take steps to look after their teams, especially if they intend to expand, and survive, the next few months. I touched on this last week when discussing the ongoing PR challenges of both Brewdog and Tom Kitchin.
Which is why it was so refreshing to see Buzzworks Holdings make the positive decision to introduce a Wellbeing Day and close all thirteen of its bars and restaurants across Scotland last week.
The unusual move from the independent hospitality business allowed over 500 team members to enjoy outdoor activities designed to boost their wellbeing and mental health and meet up with colleagues.
These included archery, crazy golf and cycling around Millport. All activities were decided by local, on the ground restaurant teams, with the only rule being that it had to make people feel great.
The Buzzworks brand has created a strong community spirit and strongly supports the areas it operates in. So much so, that due to its wellbeing initiatives and local charity work, it was awarded the newly created ‘Catering in Scotland Excellence Wellbeing in Hospitality’ Award back in Summer 2021.
One of the initiatives that won this honour was popular Ayrshire restaurant on Scotland’s West Coast, Lido Troon, raising a whopping £10,000 during lockdown with the introduction of a pop-up café.
Half the proceeds went towards funding the Wellbeing Day with the remaining amount going to industry charity, Hospitality Action, to support the greater hospitality family across Scotland and beyond.
As tourism and hospitality are essentially the backbone of Scotland’s economy, I am encouraged to see companies taking these steps to improve the industry’s reputation and commit to the changes they are implementing. Buzzworks has already set aside £10,000 towards its 2022 Wellbeing Day and I hope other companies follow the lead in the dedication to their teams.
Stories of American-based companies closing for a week and giving employees paid time off, such as Nike and the popular dating site, Bumble, have been cropping up over the last few months but Buzzworks appears to be one of, if not the first in the UK, to take this approach.
Will this be a new trend going forward and how beneficial is this for businesses in general? On one hand, staff shortages are already causing smaller independent restaurants to reduce their opening days.
One of Glasgow’s best restaurants, The Gannet, announced that, from September, it will only be opening Thursday to Sunday due to a lack of team members and chefs to cover the rest of the week, however, there was also a mental health aspect to the decision. The owners, Peter McKenna and Ivan Stein, who are trained chefs themselves, were keen to ensure the team had a good work life balance and by reducing the opening days, they could ensure that this was still the case going forward.
On the other hand, will incentives like mental health and wellbeing days encourage people to consider the service industry as a lifelong career, rather than a stop gap during the holidays or while studying? Higher wages are the obvious answer to enticing people to the industry, but this comes with a cost of higher menu prices and, would it really be enough to compensate workers for dealing with the stressful environment?
Coincidently, October is Mental Health Month with Mental Health Day being observed yesterday and there are some fantastic resources available for managers and team leaders on how best to support workplace mental wellbeing.
Let’s also remember to #BeKindtoHospitality and that, without the patience, understanding and kindness of the general public, our famous Scottish hospitality could very soon be gone forever.
Strike threats could derail Glasgow’s big moment
The threat of ongoing strike action from Scottish railway staff continues to rumble on and unions are now threatening 24-hour stoppages during the COP26 climate conference.
With Glasgow set to play host to the highly anticipated climate summit next month, the eyes of the world will be on the city, and strike action on our railway lines could prove extremely embarrassing.
Union reps claim they have been left with no choice as they accuse ScotRail management of failing to make meaningful offers or take adequate steps to address their concerns.
Unions are calling on greater investment in Scotland’s railways as well as an expansion of services in order to make rail travel more affordable, and it’s certainly opportunist that they are coordinating their industrial action to take place at a time when the environment will be front and centre of people’s minds.
There will also be a hugely increased demand on rail services during this time, with delegates from all over the world coming to Scotland in their tens of thousands and travelling around the Central Belt. What’s more, with numerous road closures planned within Glasgow, those who commute into the city for work or leisure will be severely disrupted.
Strike action during COP26 will certainly have a massive impact, so the timing is cleverly coordinated by the union and its members. It will be interesting to see whether Abellio bosses reach a resolution now – or if they will push the issue back onto the Scottish government, which is due to seize back public control of the railway over the next few months.
From the paying public’s perspective, I sincerely hope an agreement is made before then.
Rail travel is going to be a vital piece of the puzzle if we want to become a more environmentally friendly nation, so any steps to improve the infrastructure and working conditions of rail staff are essential if we are going to practice what we preach as Scotland takes centre stage next month.
It Made Me Laugh
We don’t realise just how dependent we are on technology and social media until a major technical problem causes them to be inaccessible for hours and we’re left wondering what people did in the days before smartphones.
That’s exactly what happened as internet giants Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp all crashed and went offline at the same time.
As expected, social media users flocked en-masse to Twitter, a platform which was unscathed by the temporary outage. What came as more of a surprise, however, was Scots comedian Kevin Bridges being blamed for the problem.
One user tagged Bridges in his angry tweet questioning why the networks were down, prompting the funny man himself to respond with a sarcastic “I’m looking into it mate.” The hilarious exchange has generated over 60,000 likes.
It Made Me Weep
The cancellation of the Elfin Trail at this year’s Elfingrove is the latest example of supply chain problems affecting Scottish businesses in the lead up to the festive season.
While most aspects of the event will be going ahead as planned, including the outdoor ice rink and ‘Silent Snow Disco’, organisers have said global supply chain issues have deteriorated beyond their predictions, forcing them to pull the plug on this part of the festivities.
I fear this may be a taste of things to come this winter, as reports circulate of food and fuel shortages lasting into December, and meat processors warning labour shortages will lead to limited food choices over the holiday period.
I’m not surprised many are feeling anxious about what lies ahead in the next few months.
