Hospitality Industry: Guide Issued for UK Employers To Retain and Recruit Older Workers

The Institute of Hospitality has issued an official knowledge pack--available to both non-members and members--designed for hospitality sector stakeholders to understand and explain the benefits of older (50+) worker recruitment and retention. Issued as part of the Institute's ongoing campaign to raise awareness of age diversity in the workplace, "The case for recruiting and retaining older workers: a business imperative for the Hospitality sector" has been produced by Capita Consulting on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions, and presents the business rationale for continuing to promote and support ongoing activity on the older worker agenda.

Among other things, the guide:

• Highlights forthcoming demographic changes and the impact that these will have on both customers and employment patterns in the hospitality sector.
• Identifies barriers to older worker participation in the hospitality industry.
• Demonstrates how an older workforce can help address sector challenges (e.g. around skills shortages and poor customer service) via research, case studies and employer stories.
• Provides links to generic and sector specific good practice management guides/articles and information that can be adapted and disseminated to hospitality sector employers.

Source: Institute of Hospitality News Release (January 2012)