Stand up and be counted
Peter Gray, an independent Motivation Consultant, presents a regular Business Events News feature on current issues in the Conference and Incentive industries.
OVER the past few weeks my articles have focused on issues of professionalism and ethics in our industry. From the responses I have received it is apparent that readers agree with the principles I have been expounding. However lately the media seem to be unearthing several instances where behaviour of either principal or supplier has been very far from either professional or ethical.
We have had the unedifying example of a PCO colluding with personnel within a major client to effectively defraud the client by inflating costs which are then apparently ‘redistributed’ to the people and the company involved. It is now becoming a regular occurrence to hear of companies within the hospitality industry whose principals are penalising or underpaying staff. As I write this yet another ‘food entrepreneur’ is being investigated for paying staff well below Award rates.
If companies within the conventions and incentives (C&I) industries are themselves to be considered both professional and ethical we should be avoiding using establishments that cannot or will not justify their staff costs. We owe this to our clients who I feel sure would not wish to be involved in in this ever expanding catastrophe that is engulfing the hospitality industry.
“Easier said than done” I hear you say; and I agree. But most of us either know or have heard about the companies whose dubious practices don’t reduce prices for our clients but do increase profits for the owners. We should be prepared to say ‘enough is enough’. There is little point in complaining about bad service after the event when we know (or suspect) that the staff involved haven’t been paid correctly. Suppliers want our business and thus we have an opportunity to apply pressure to remedy a highly undesirable practice which has been going on for far too long.
It might even be possible to insert a clause in Australian supplier contracts that insists that all staff employed for an event are paid Award rates or higher.
According to the ABC, hospitality workers make up 7.2% of the labour market, but account for nearly 40% of anonymous tip offs to the Fair Work Ombudsman.
On Monday, United Voice launched a new digital union for hospitality workers, Hospo Voice, which offers online tools for employees to check their rates of pay, record hours, and report harassment. Jess Walsh, the Victorian Secretary of United Voice, also called for the Victorian Government to introduce criminal penalties for employers who underpay their staff.
It’s time the C&I industries made it known that suppliers which do not comply with the law will not benefit from ours or our clients’ business. Similarly, PCOs and Incentive Practitioners should be prepared to justify their own ethical practices and standards when dealing with clients.
Peter Gray is an independent, Accredited Incentive Practitioner and motivation consultant. He can be contacted at peter.gray@motivatingpeople.net