Joe Gormley, the miners’ leader who preceded Arthur Scargill, gave an interview after he stepped down in which he explained his method of negotiation. He said: “When you negotiate wi’ employer, we start of over here (gestures left), and they start of over there (gestures right), and then we walk towards each other. The trick is – to walk slower than them buggers!” 

This is a colourful variation on the theme that politics is the art of compromise, or as Otto von Bismarck put it: “The art of the possible.” In this real-politic view of the world political decision-making is a process of log-rolling, whereby those involved in the political process must find the middle ground that picks up the broadest swathe of support. This approach assumes compromise is what most reasonable people want or would at least accept. But this approach breaks down when public opinion gets emotionalised and polarised. You can “triangulate” between two opposed positions when the antagonists are yards apart, but not when they’re miles apart.

So, as “Freedom Day”, 19 July, approaches, we see our government desperately trying to triangulate between two positions that are extremely difficult to reconcile. The danger in such an enterprise is you end up with a compromise that satisfies neither side. And then you’re really in trouble. It is clear the licensed trade – and in particular pubs, bars and nightclubs, which have suffered so disproportionately from government restrictions over the past 16 months – want to reopen without restrictions and in circumstances where they can once again trade profitably. It is equally clear large swathes of the public health community are adamantly opposed to this and want restrictions to remain. The gaslighting from public health since the government’s preference for reopening without restrictions was mooted more than two weeks ago has been unrelenting.

And now we know how the government will triangulate between these two positions: on the one hand lifting legal regulation that mandates mask wearing, social distancing, seated table service and quiet music but no dancing; on the other hand, seeking to appease the health lobby by converting these legal regulations into guidance and saying they would support the use of the NHS app that records whether you are double-jabbed, as a condition of entry to nightclubs and sporting venues. They won’t mandate this – or at least, not yet. This is a classic example of a compromise that satisfies no one.

But the government’s triangulation has succeeded in splitting the broader hospitality community. Nightclub operators such as Aaron Mellor, who heads up Tokyo Industries, and Peter Marks’ Rekom UK have stated they’re opening without requiring their customers to provide covid certification – and they point out many of the 18 to 25 age group have not yet had the opportunity to get vaccinated. Michael Kill, the increasingly impressive chief executive of the Night Time Industries Association, opposes covid certification as a condition for nightclub entry and Phil Clapp, chief executive of the UK Cinema Association, is also opposed to “covid passports”. On the other hand, several theatre groups are supportive of such measures as is Paul Reed, the chief executive of the Association of Independent Festivals.

I have several concerns. At local level there has, since the beginning of this crisis, been confusion between regulation and guidance, and in particular the police often seem to not know the difference between the two. Overzealous local licensing departments may well interpret failure to comply with guidance on social distancing, mask-wearing, and covid passports as engaging the “public safety” objective of the Licensing Act 2003 – in a climate where public safety and public health are increasingly conflated. Then there is the added complexity for operators of differences in rules and guidance between the government at Westminster and the devolved administrations of Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Added to that the London mayor Sadiq Khan and the Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham are going to mandate mask-wearing on London transport and Manchester buses respectively, even though the statutory requirement for it has been lifted.

What an utter mess! The government’s attempts to reconcile irreconcilable positions between public health and public freedom are a recipe for confusion and I predict government will row back on its relaxation of restrictions in the autumn. Sometimes triangulation can’t work. Sometimes the art of compromise becomes an exercise in futility and government needs to take a side. Ask Theresa May – her attempts to triangulate between Remainers and Brexiteers by creating a “soft Brexit” failed. Boris Johnson took over and took a side – and won an election for his decisiveness. What a pity he isn’t showing the same decisiveness now. 

If government doesn’t stand up to the left-leaning public health lobby now, when will it? I suspect Boris Johnson, and our industry will rue the day he failed to do so.

Sitting in the grounds of Grantley Hall near Ripon in North Yorkshire, enjoying a coffee, there is much to distract the eye, including the pristine acres of grass adorned with flowers and manicured shrubbery, the bubbling River Skell and the imposing grade II-listed hall itself. But what was most noticeable was the array of employees that seemed to constantly pass by. 

 

It was a procession of gardeners, kitchen staff, receptionists, cleaners and front-of-house personnel that comprise the team of 350 that service the guests of the 47 rooms, three restaurants and spa facilities. What’s particularly interesting in this time of great struggle to attract people into hospitality (and any other job for that matter) is that the hotel has only a modest 30-ish vacancies. 

 

Maybe it is because as well as working at one of the region’s premier establishments the team appears to also be very well looked after. Thirty or so live on-site in an impressive-looking building across the car park from the hotel that contains bedrooms, lounges, kitchens and a gym. Other members of the team live in a number of cottages within Ripon itself and use the hotel’s shuttle bus. 

 

My guess is that owner Valeria Sykes has not stinted on anything with Grantley Hall. A hefty £70m has been spent on repairing and dramatically revamping the 17th century stately home in the Yorkshire Dales. This investment looks to have been extended to her employees judging by not only the number of them on hand but also their delivery of a very chirpy, friendly level of service that suggests a happy ship.

 

Since opening its doors in July 2019, it quickly secured a Michelin star for its fine dining Shaun Rankin restaurant before the various lockdowns hit. It has clearly continued with its forward momentum since reopening because both the accommodation and restaurant were fully booked during my visit in early July. This project for Sykes, undoubtedly, has long-term objectives but the chunky investment looks to be paying off pretty quickly. 

 

It was only a short skip down the A1 to the village of Barnburgh in the south of the county that revealed another labour of love at the other end of the hospitality spectrum. Local businessman Gordon Jones and his son Ben have recently reopened a formerly bordered-up boozer and spent much time, skill and, undoubtedly, money to return the 1937 structure to its former glory. 

 

The suburban-style Coach & Horses is a rarity in having an interior that has remained largely intact since the day the architect laid down the original plans and the craftsmen got to work on its many fine details – including marquetry, glass work, lighting and furniture. It has some of the most impressive art deco furnishings I’ve ever seen in any pub in the country and rightly finds itself on various heritage and architectural lists. 

 

Despite the fittings it contains, the reality is that it was a failed business when Jones took on the pub. Its doors had been closed for five years. However, like Sykes and her mansion, he has taken the plunge and invested serious money into the business. Since reopening in June, the place can, at peak times, find all its inside tables and additional 30 outside all taken up and people being turned away I’m informed.

 

It’s this sort of commitment the hospitality industry needs at this tough time when uncertainty continues to prevail. Yes, there has been much talk of private equity and other investment funds amassing serious piles of cash and waiting on the sidelines in order to pick up assets on the cheap and refinance struggling organisations. This is all well and good for Darwinian regeneration and recycling but it is, invariably, the brave entrepreneurial individuals who make the greatest contributions to the industry in terms of their creation of new and interesting businesses and bringing rewarding and attractive jobs to the market.

You “tick” the diversity box, but are your practices truly inclusive? Is your leadership truly representative of your culture and your workforce? 

These may be difficult questions to answer, but diversity and inclusion is coming to the fore as a priority in business and a must for employees when researching the companies they want to be representing. But what does it actually mean? And what can we do to improve it, when it’s well known hospitality is a diverse industry already?

Well, let’s challenge that point. Yes, it can be argued hospitality is a diverse industry already. Before Brexit we were used to seeing a varied group of people in hospitality roles, but it could be said new immigration rules can inhibit the diverse pool of workers we once used to have. But there are two points to raise here: the first being diversity is only effective when seen throughout the company – at a managerial level, in head office or the c-suite. The second point to raise is diversity needs to be paired with inclusion – like a wine pairing, one truly complements the other. 

We’ve heard it many times before – creating diverse and inclusive workspaces makes work better for everyone. How? The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development cites two main business benefits of taking diversity and inclusion seriously: talent and corporate responsibility. People want to feel included, and valued in their workplace, and, increasingly, employers recognise the importance of inclusion and diversity in recruiting and retaining the skills and talent they need. Diversity and inclusion can also impact a company’s corporate reputation as it becomes a topic more people are concerned about. 

It has also been cited many times from our hospitality clients that young people are asking questions at interviews about the diversity agenda and corporate social responsibility strategy; you won’t reach the top of the job offer pile without them.

In October 2017, People 1st released a report on women working in the hospitality and tourism sector. At time of publication, it reported there were 1.05 million women working in the hospitality industry, of which 49% worked in operational roles and 11% in managerial roles. 

PwC’s 2020 report on Women in Hospitality, Travel and Leisure shows while numbers of women and BAME employees in leadership roles increased from 2018 to 2019, there is still a long way to go in ensuring hospitality leadership roles are reflective of an inclusive environment. At board level, from 2018 women were up by 5.3% and BAME employees were up by 4.6%, but this only equates to 28.9% of board members being women with a measly 6.4% being from BAME backgrounds. 

These statistics show there needs to be work done to elevate workers and create more diverse leadership teams. While change can happen and culture can be created from the bottom up, leadership ultimately leads the charge for setting the tone of a business. 

Having a diverse workforce is one positive step. But what does an inclusive workforce look like? Being inclusive means celebrating and encouraging people’s differences; according to Forbes, inclusion means being co-operative, collaborative, open, fair, curious and ultimately accountable. 

Listening to teams, and being open to change and improvements in the workplace is vital for staff to feel happy in their job. The pandemic has taken a huge toll on the hospitality industry but this ultimately comes down to the people – those who were unable to work due to lockdown, or those who are feeling genuine concerns about living in a pandemic. Discussions around mental health and well-being can fuel the difference between an employee feeling unable to work and leaving their job; to an employee who feels comfortable and supported in their workplace. Small changes make a big difference – which is not only good business sense, but also the right thing to do to ensure everyone feels comfortable working in a post-lockdown world. 

Consider our internal bias, and challenge it. Indeed senior manager Danny Stacy says it’s the invisible things that hold us back from being fair recruiters. We make lasting decisions on people in less than a second – and that can be down to the internal bias we all have, which can have a negative impact on diversity and fair recruitment. Unconscious bias is very difficult to run away from, but with training and awareness hopefully we can lessen its effects. 

Training and awareness can come in various forms, but here at Harri we’ve been hosting internal diversity and inclusion workshops, which have allowed our global employees to open up about their experiences and share them with the wider company. Covering topics such as religion, LGBTQ Pride, and disability in the workplace, it enables us to educate our employees in order to increase awareness and respect for our colleagues. As well as enriching knowledge throughout the business (including leadership), this has enabled a far more collaborative and respectful working environment. 

Creating a more diverse and inclusive workplace brings many benefits for business, but fundamentally, it makes for a better place for people, both employees and customers. Working in hospitality, we place emphasis on people, customers and experience – now it’s time to practise what we preach and ensure our internal processes are giving employees the best experience possible. 

It’s fascinating watching the evolution of a hospitality business. Site one, two and three take off – it’s time to get some financial expertise in. Site four onwards sees heavyweight HR and operational support drafted in. By site ten, there might even be a commercial director. 

 

Somewhere between site four and never, the search begins for a marketer – although no one involved in the process seems to know why they need one or can articulate the value they will bring to the business (other than bringing the operations team’s ideas to life). So they hire someone junior and give them a budget of nothing to work wonders with. Of course, this does not work, so the marketer is exited and everyone agrees that marketing is just a cost this business cannot afford. 

 

Years go by, and eventually the business (and then often only because the investors have made noises about marketing), makes a big hire. By this time, the culture of the business is firmly established, and while the marketer’s role is described as being strategic in the job description, it becomes clear it’s rather more about actioning operations’ requests and cheerfully trying to stay on top of the often-nonsensical whims of the man in charge. 

 

And so marketers become frustrated, knowing they can offer more; marketing becomes increasingly perceived as a cost centre rather than a smart investment, and while the profile of operations, HR and finance rises, marketing does not get a serious seat at the boardroom table. 

 

So let’s rewind and ask ourselves what could have happened had we thought differently about the role of marketing from the start. 

 

The business, which, of course, need operations, HR and finance in place, invests in heavyweight marketing support from the start – even if only part time. Everyone involved is clear on how marketing can significantly increase revenue by driving new customer acquisition, converting existing customers through targeted communications and using what we know about those customers to retain them for longer. 

 

Finance stops talking about marketing as a cost, operations defer to the skills of the marketer rather than just emailing them daily with urgent requests, and HR feels empowered to attract a team that will best bring the brand to life. 

 

Now if you’re a marketer, you might well be thinking, er, sounds great Vic, but how do I do that acquisition, conversion and retention thing? Well how would anyone know how to build communications and campaigns that resonate with the right people at the right time and increase sales and return on investment – intelligence. 

 

Operators have systems and spreadsheets full of it, detailing everything from margin and labour percentages to NPS to sales and cost forecasting. 

 

Finance has P&Ls going back years, while HR has churn models and exit interviews. The big boss himself will have reporting, insight and consultancy coming from every direction. 

 

So what does the marketer, head heavy with the weight of the sales-driving crown, have? Usually nothing more than a pointless colour-coded plan, built on the collective gut instinct of the business – which, if you squint your eyes a bit, looks suspiciously like the previous one (and the one before that). 

 

So, with the long slog of recovery ahead and 40% of your customer base (Generation Z) being an alien concept to most of the leadership team, where does this marketing intelligence come from? Data is the answer. 

 

By organising the “proof of presence” and zero/first-party data sitting in your Wi-Fi, pay-at-table, CRM, feedback and booking platforms, and analysing it to identify and profile your key customer groups and trends, it’s possible to monetise it by turning insight into smart and targeted action – bringing it to life with the innovation, empathy and creativity marketing is so brilliant at.

 

Marketing can stop being dismissed as the “colouring-in department” by lazy colleagues who have never bothered to find out what marketers are capable of or why every single one of the top 100 brands in the world puts marketing front and centre as a matter of routine – and can rightfully claim its place as the sales-driving, business resilience-building, vital voice of the customer in the boardroom. 

 

Because if you’re not putting your customers at the heart of your marketing now, (100% of respondents in a recent DataHawks survey said they could not confidently say who their most valuable customers were), in this era of personalisation – you’re going to find the next few years almost impossible to navigate. And your survival as a business will become more precarious by the day.