People 1st, the training and workforce development charity, has celebrated its 10th birthday and announced that it has delivered significant results and improvements across the hospitality industry.
The results include helping more than 3,700 people into work in the past 18 months, saving the Government approximately £18.5m and helping the UK reach a world ranking of 9th for the warmth of its visitor welcome.
Breadth and impact of achievements
Brian Wisdom, the outgoing chief executive officer of People 1st, said that it was important to show the breadth of the organisation’s achievements and the impact it has had on the industry and the wider economy:
“We worked very closely with a number of excellent employers and wanted to create something that would explain the size and scope of our industry, along with the great successes we have achieved by working together to promote professional development.
“To make sure we could really show what we have achieved, we created a video, which we’ve called ‘The Visit’, to highlight the work that we’ve done.
“We’re now turning our attention to the future and, as part of our refocus, we’re launching a new website that outlines our new offering to businesses operating in our sector.”
Significant achievements listed in the video
- Providing WorldHost customer service training to more than 150,000 people, including Games Makers and other staff at London 2012
- Improving apprenticeship completion rates by 10%
- Certifying 71,000 apprentices across the tourism and visitor economy sector in two years
- Establishing Centres of Excellence in Asian and Oriental cuisine, Food and Beverage Service and Patisserie and Confectionery across the country.
- Working with the Hospitality Guild and its other partners to create 11,500 work placements across the hospitality sector
- Securing £3 million in government and employer support to establish Hospitality House
- Launching ‘The Little Book of Diversity’ through Women 1st to help businesses realise the benefits of retaining talented female staff in their business
People 1st has worked with major national employers including Hilton, Whitbread, Merlin Entertainments, Beds and Bars, Tragus, Sodexo, and YO! Sushi when achieving these successes.
Future aims
With Brian Wisdom stepping down as chief executive and Simon Tarr taking over as managing director, the event also offered employers and industry leaders an overview of the organisation’s future aims:
“Much of our reputation over the years has been built on the strong and detailed research into the skills our sector needs, and we’ll be continuing to build on this to make sure we can support employers both now and in the future,” said Simon.
“We’ll also be continuing to work on behalf of employers to help influence government policy and offer products and services that are based on our research and the income we generate will be re-invested back into the industry to ensure we can continue to support employers.
New website
Simon also unveiled People 1st’s new website, www.people1st.co.uk, which reflects the organisation’s new approach and messages.
A video outlining People 1st’s achievements and the impact its work has had on the industries it represents can be found on People 1st’s website bit.ly/P1stvisit
About People 1st
People 1st is the leading skills and workforce development charity for employers in the hospitality, tourism, leisure, travel, passenger transport and retail industries focusing on transforming skills in the sector through the development of effective recruitment, training and talent management solutions.