Modern Slavery in the Hospitality Industry

Posted 5 years ago

This blog post runs in tandem with our Modern Slavery in the Construction Industry piece, in which we explain how the construction workers are at high-risk from modern slavery.

Hospitality is also a high-risk industry. According to the Human Trafficking Foundation, there are around 110,000 victims of modern slavery in the European hospitality sector each year.

How Modern Slavery affects the Hospitality Industry

Modern slavery can present itself in any industry and any organisation – and while the majority of UK hospitality businesses are reputable – slavery can be present within an organisation, its supply chain, or through the misuse of its premises by criminal clientele. The latter of which can be used to facilitate human trafficking and sexual exploitation.

Nearly 25% of staff working in the UK hospitality industry come from overseas, and this can be abused by certain individuals or groups who can exploit lax laws in the countries they are recruiting from. Hotels, in particular, may use recruiters from outside their organisation, or their own recruitment practices can be multi-tiered which encourages a lack of transparency and liability.

Unfortunately, this can mean that management teams in hospitality are completely unaware of their staff’s terms of employment, especially if their due diligence processes only extend as far as the first tier of the recruitment process, which to them, appears reputable. Regarding overseas employees, English is rarely their first language so they are more susceptible to being manipulated and misled. They may also be unable to clearly voice their concerns, they may not even be aware of their rights or the simple truth that modern slavery is illegal in the UK.

Modern Slavery Statement

It should be noted that any UK business with an annual turnover of over £36 million is legally obligated to have a Modern Slavery Statement displayed in a prominent place on their website that is updated annually.

It needs to demonstrate that an organisation has conducted thorough checks to ensure they have a slavery-free supply chain, and it must be transparent about the organisation’s own policies and working practices.

However, it’s not just larger organisations that need to be concerned about modern slavery – organisations such as small B&B’s through to restaurants and cinemas should also play their part to ensure there is no modern slavery within their business or supply chain. It’s the ethical thing to do and it only enhances an organisation’s reputation.

Online Modern Slavery Training

We offer an online Modern Slavery Training course that covers what modern slavery is, the warning signs, how to report suspicious activity and how your organisation can comply with the Modern Slavery Act (2015). It helps to bring us one step closer to eradicating modern slavery.

Claim your free no-obligation trial for our Modern Slavery Training course today!