Tourism and Hospitality Accord

What

The Accord aims to create an ecosystem that supports Better Work in tourism and hospitality. Everyone will have a role to play in that ecosystem – people who work in the industry, business owners, unions, educational institutions, government, and consumers.

Businesses that join the Accord will be named on the Accord website and be able to use Accord branding in their own marketing for consumer recognition. In this way they will receive appropriate recognition for being a ‘good employer’ – something that is not currently happening consistently across the industry. This will increase the potential for the business to be recognised as an attractive employer. Education institutions could steer their graduates to businesses that have signed the Accord.

The Government regularly spends large amounts on hotels, restaurants, and transport as part of its operations. We propose exploring options for the Government to support Accord businesses as preferred ethical suppliers.  

Why

Tourism and hospitality in Aotearoa New Zealand have long experienced challenges in attracting and retaining sufficient and skilled labour. The Accord aims to address this problem through the following outcomes:

1. To establish a set of standards in areas such as job security, wage levels, training, progression, diversity, and inclusion.
2. To identify and provide a pathway to achieving higher standards by identifying exemplars.
3. To celebrate positive, leading stories or workplaces practices to drive innovation and lift the image of tourism.
4. To provide a framework that supports tourism businesses to operate ethically.
5. To allow consumers to identify and support businesses that are treating their staff well.
6. To build the industry’s connections with and support within all communities.
7. In joining the Accord, participating businesses will submit data about their employment practices that over time will become a useful source of information for wider analysis and insight on workforce trends.

As is the case in all sectors, workplace health and safety are fundamental to ‘Better Work’ in tourism and hospitality. The Accord would acknowledge work health and safety requirements [1], and look to establish a best practice health and safety standard for the industry that best meets the needs and wellbeing of its workers.

How

Governance structure

The Accord will be governed by a body that mirrors the partnership structure of the ITP. Consideration will be given to ensuring the governance body includes and/or is supported by the required key skillsets (technical expertise, experience, and strategic foresight) to ensure the Accord is: successfully established, held to account and adaptable and sustainable into the future. The Accord would also need input from industry interests across subsectors and regions.

Design of the unit which will administer the Accord, including which organisation is best place to host it, will need further consideration and discussion with industry, union partners, and relevant Ministers. 

How businesses will be assessed

All participating businesses will commit to a minimum set of standards in areas such as job security, wage levels, training, progression, diversity and inclusion. Additionally, in recognition of the importance of health and safety to achieve ‘Better Work’ in the tourism industry, participating businesses will commit to continue to uphold work health and safety requirements and to establish a best practice health and safety standard for the industry that best meets the needs and wellbeing of its workers.

Our preference is to launch the Accord with self-reporting by businesses. This makes joining the Accord as simple and easy as possible, especially at a time when businesses are recovering from the setbacks of COVID-19. Over time (one year or more), options for an auditing function (spot auditing, peer review or other) will be introduced to strengthen the integrity of the Accord.

The Accord’s aim is not just to set a minimum standard but also to highlight and celebrate positive, leading practices in tourism workplaces, to drive innovation. It is envisaged that in addition to the main group of businesses who have met the standard commitment, there would also be a category of ‘exemplars’ whose employment practices go above and beyond.

Interdependencies

The Accord recognises Tourism Industry Aotearoa’s Tourism Sustainability Commitment: Employer of Choice initiative, and we believe the Accord can build on that mechanism by being a complementary initiative that lifts standards further, provides greater accountability, and has the added support of union and government backing.

We want to change perceptions of a career in tourism and hospitality. Roles have often been viewed as casual, low-skilled, low-paid and not secure, with poor development opportunities and progression pathways [2]. However, we are also aware of many examples of tourism and hospitality firms partnering with local communities, iwi, schools, and training institutions to provide better career pathways. To this end, the ‘Public campaign to showcase better work in the industry’ Tirohanga Hou will be linked to the Accord and launched six months to a year after the Accord. The campaign will focus on the exemplars in the industry – those businesses which are modelling the leading workforce practices.

Snapshot: Roles of 4 key accord stakeholders

Footnotes

1. For example, the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 (HSWA), and the Health and Safety at Work (Adventure Activities) Regulations 2016.

2. Edwards, P. (2018, August), Perceptions of careers in the tourism industry [PDF 2.8MB](external link) — Tātaki Auckland Unlimited

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