As hotel businesses pull out every stop to aid recovery following the worst ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic, hoteliers are being warned to make sure practices conform to law and staff who have concerns are not vilified.
Brian Moore, director at Global Secure Accreditation, an independent global standard for hotel security, said this is a particularly risky time for the sector, with demand being high, staffing low, revenues depleted and costs extremely high.
“We know good owners will want to be vigilant, listen to their people and not retaliate when they do raise concerns,” he said.
Moore said he has seen evidence that so-called whistleblowers — employees who point out practices that they deem dangerous, wrong and potentially illegal — are being sidelined as businesses ignore warnings in the pursuit of profits.
Law in the United Kingdom also is set to change soon on the matter, he said.
Recently, an experienced manager told Moore that he was worried about security in his bar being low late at night when risks are potentially at their highest and that his comments on the situation were ignored.
“He said the hotel in question was not willing to make changes as it would cost money and deplete [food and beverage] revenue that is so valuable to the bottom line. I could see three or four grounds as a qualifying disclosure. His alarm was not recognized,” Moore said.
Qualifying disclosure is what is at the heart of the problem, he said, and hoteliers and managers must make sure they put in place the correct culture and administration to not fall foul of law.
U.K. law — and most countries have similar legislation — has six grounds of qualifying disclosure that could lead to an offense being committed, including:
- A criminal offense.
- Breach of regulations: For instance, there being no insurance.
- Breach of health and safety law.
- Damage to the environment.
- Miscarriage of justice.
- A cover-up of any of the previous five.
Companies that are able to fix problems internally are in the best situation to improve that culture and add staff due to word of mouth regarding best practices, Moore said.
“The law is complex, but the basics are basic. Firstly, businesses need to be listening-type organizations,” he said. “And procedures need to be formulated and put in place. Staff often do not where to turn to,” he said.
The current law in the U.K. is the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998, an amendment to the Employment Rights Act 1996 that inserted legislation pertaining to whistleblowing.
Parliament will soon amalgamate the bills into the Whistleblowing Bill 2022, and Moore said the goal of the U.K. law is to align with good practices globally. Moore added his own doctorate thesis was on weaknesses in the 1998 act.
Advice for Businesses
Moore said eight out of 10 problems — potentially illegal or reputation-damaging — are spotted inside the business by staff.
“Staff can spot a harm, where perhaps external auditors cannot, so if they do raise things, they have to be taken seriously,” he said.
He added staff in general do not take the decision to report lightly, and the law is intended to avoid a culture of vulnerability.
“Managers must respect confidentiality,” he said. “This is not rocket science. Senior management must accept that things can go wrong. Open your mind that staff are the first people to see risk. Accept it is not easy for people to speak up, it takes courage. Respond respectfully, which is not to say what the whistleblower says is true. Also, accept overwhelming evidence that retaliation does occur.
“Businesses are team environments. If someone steps outside the line, they can be looked at as being immediately suspicious, but there also is a duty from the employee to the employer. If a person raising a concern is not treated well, others will shy away from doing the same,” he said.
Moore said numerous organizations are available for advice.
“It is possible to change culture reasonably quickly. Discuss with staff policy and process. Have that be online, in handbooks, within the human resources office, taught at induction. Don’t wait to slam the stable door after the horse has bolted,” he said. “Good organizations recognize and even award those who raise concerns. That is not say there is a whistleblowing award, merely a sincere environment in which concerns are accepted and procedures worked in.“
Moore said hotel businesses follow the usual bell curve in relation to whistleblowing.
“There are those [hotels] that are superb, but too many [hoteliers] think this will not happen to me, my people are too good,” he said.
He added the problem becomes more acute the larger the size of a firm.
“There can be several layers of management, and not everyone knows everyone. Sometimes the culture is happening several levels below. Above 150 to 200 staff, there are more risks,” Moore said.