Local catering firm urges the North West to tackle the current skills shortage in the hospitality industry. Andrew Wright reports.

Carringtons Catering, which employs 60 members of staff, has urged senior industry figures to act fast to bridge this skills gap, with particular focus on recruitment of young people and females into the sector.

The view of careers within the UK hospitality industry; fast turnovers of staff and perceived low pay, is potentially discouraging people from pursuing a career in the sector.

Due to a high rate of replacement within the sector, the skills shortage was highlighted by a recent UK study that estimated that 1.3 million employees will have to be recruited by 2024, of whom 975,000 will be replacements of staff that have left.

Director of Carringtons Catering Helen Wynn said: “The continued growth of the hospitality industry is key to the ongoing success of the UK economy, therefore it’s worrying that we now have a skills gap across the board, with chefs and management being two highlighted areas.

“The hospitality industry would certainly see an increase in staff retention and productivity through improved skills and would form a greater diverse workforce if senior posts were more accessible to women. While stereotypical gender roles in kitchen culture have altered over the decades, the hospitality industry has a stigma of being a very male-orientated career choice.

“In addition to attracting more females to the industry, while at the same time ensuring that our existing team members stay within hospitality, we need to inspire the next generation of future leaders. Aspiring stars in the sector should be encouraged to join us and be proud of their career choice, and not just view higher education catering vocations as a last resort.”

Carringtons is committing to providing a supportive and productive working environment for its staff, with a view to combatting this skills shortage, by taking part in the Workplace Wellbeing Charter. The charter aims to implement and improve health and wellbeing programmes within the workforce.

Helen added: “Here at Carringtons Catering, we pride ourselves on our personalised employee benefit schemes and incentives to maximise staff morale and longevity within the workplace. It’s all about attracting young people to the hospitality industry and retaining them.

“We have introduced a number of schemes to ensure that our team members can flourish within their roles. For example, our ‘Employee of the Month’ and ‘Employee of the Year’ appraisal programmes are in place. As another thank you, staff are treated to a free lunch every day so that they can enjoy social time together, to help build and maintain friendships between themselves.

“We also offer each and every team member a personal mentor to help them develop and grow within their role. Team members take part in internal and external training, and we encourage our staff to manage the work/life balance .”

For more information about Carringtons Catering visit www.carringtons-catering.co.uk or call 01695 632 227.