Travelodge turns to parents amid Brexit recruitment crisis

Budget hotel chain Travelodge has launched a campaign to recruit unemployed parents to hundreds of new roles after Brexit.

The firm hopes to attract parents to 400 new Scottish jobs, in a bid to counter a decline in applications from EU nationals since the vote to leave the European Union.

Under the new initiative jobs will come with working conditions tailored to parents, including flexible hours to fit around the school run, a work buddy to mentor new employees, and access to management training to support career progression while raising a family.

New roles will be created in reception, restaurants and housekeeping as the chain launches 20 new hotels in Scotland over the next five years. Of these, 35 posts need to be filled immediately.

Many of these positions would previously have been held by EU nationals, but Travelodge is turning to Scottish mothers and fathers to fill the gap once Britain leaves the EU.

Over 85 per cent of unemployed parents want to return to work after having children, a Yougov survey commissionedbytravelodgerevealed. However, three in five quoted lack of flexibility as the biggest barrier to finding a job.

Respondents said they were looking for work after having had children in order to regain their personal identity (41 per cent), because they were bored at home (31 per cent), and because they miss adult conversation (26 per cent).

Travelodge will seek to recruit these parents to ward off a recruitment crisis as Britain leaves the EU. Nearly a third of the hotel chain’s employees are from EU countries, but the firm has noticed a decline in EU applicants since the Brexit vote.

Chief executive Peter Gowers said he could no longer wait for the government to draw up a plan for the country after Brexit.

“We can’t wait around like two men on a park bench waiting for Godot for the government to decide what the postbrexit machine is going to be,” he said. “We are preparing in earnest for post-brexit Britain. With thousands of new jobs to fill, we need more new colleagues than ever.”

Up to 3000 new jobs will be created across the UK. The chain hopes to harness the ‘untapped potential’ of parents who want to return to work in order to fill these jobs.

The new initiative is backed by employment minister Alok Sharma. “With record numbers in work and unemployment at a 40-year low, big employers need to follow Travelodge’s example if they want to fill vacancies,” he said.