27 Apr Pizza Huts partnership with Mental Health UK under fire, as members of staff don’t feel supported
Over 40 years in the hospitality industry and Pizza Hut are struggling with employee welfare by not giving out the correct training to managers.
Research conducted in May 2019 by Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH) found that mental health is suffering in the hospitality industry, with four out of five employees reported the increased amount of stress they are faced with due to the demand in their job. Furthermore, it has been reported that nearly half (45%) would not recommend working in hospitality.
Pizza Hut UK has around 10,000 members of staff, along with over 10 years experience they are expected to know how to keep staff morale up. In line with the research conducted by RSPH, Pizza Hut UK since 2016 has become partners with Mental Health UK a network of four charities working across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland in order to bring awareness to others mental state- especially those who work for them. Their aim is to: ‘create a workplace where we can admit it’s okay not to be okay’. They since 2016 have done many fundraising events with their staff to help raise awareness on mental health in the hospitality industry. In a statement, for Mental Health UK Gareth Hopley, Head of PR and Communications at Pizza Hut Restaurants, says:
“When partnering with a charity, we felt it’s really important that our values and philosophies align. We are very much a ‘front to back’ company – we know that our people are what drive our business, and we have worked hard to craft an environment in which to feel happy and supported. “
However, when discussing these facts with Karen Hop a manager of five years who quit her job one month ago- she didn’t seem to have had a great experience and didn’t have very much training or discussions on the wellbeing of her staff members. In fact, when questioning her on training she would have expected to have received, when given the managerial role she said: “I wasn’t given professional training, I learnt everything by myself from being a receptionist at the start to ending my career in retail and Restaurant General Manager.” When questioned further on training was given on mental health or employee welfare was discussed she simply said: “nothing at all.”
Furthermore, she has also suffered from the stress of this role, especially since she chose to work in retail as she is a student. However, has come out of this really not enjoying her job considering she is a manger and hasn’t had the right training to help not just herself and her employees. The effects of her job have resulted in countless sleepless nights and many times questioned whether or not if the role really is worth it.
This came as a surprise, as this is a company whom pride themselves in ensuring the mental health of their staff is very well looked after. Therefore, I then went looking into their members of staff to see if their experience was any different.
Due to the current situation (COVID19) I was unable to conduct interviews with two employees: one whom still works for the company and one who recently had a dispute with their manager- this led to their resignation.
The argument was based upon the fact that they had required some time off, they had even asked more than four weeks in advance and the manger had approved it. However, the day before they were to start their leave, the manager disapproved and required them to stay. This resulted in them having to resign as this is one of many incidents. Unfortunately, I am unable to provide a detail quoted statement from either parties (manager/employee), due to the current situation (covid-19).
Initially the following questions were going to be asked to both employees: What is your day to day like at Pizza Hut?, Do you feel supported in your role?, How is the management team and do you think they ensure your mental well being is looked after at work?, Do you feel valued at work?, Is this a place of work you would recommend to someone else?
As, I wasn’t able to conduct these interviews, I have found a couple of employees via the job site Indeed whom have written their experiences at Pizza Hut, however they haven’t left a name due to reasons that are unknown and haven’t left contact information for me to contact them. This tells me that they could be worried about retribution from the company and therefore decided to remain unknown.
The first employee said their experience was the following:
“They make it seem like pizza hut should come before anything else in your life and if it doesn’t the you’re not taking one for the team. They under staff shifts far too regularly and then expect miracles. And somehow you’re slacking despite doing your best, all because they’re under staffing. They have a rota but you can’t make any plans for at least an hour after your shift ends because they will make excuses as to why you can’t leave.
The second employee commented:
“Don’t recommend it to anyone. They don’t give you a chance and don’t bother to give you the promised training. And then they blame you for not knowing what to do. I think they just didn’t want to bother with me. They made me stay while it was busy to do the dirty job for them.”
I also further looked into something the second employee mentioned: “dirty job”, this is basically when an employee is given kitchen duty to clean up and wash everything. This was found through another unknown employee (same reasons as above) who said: “Running between the two points of the shop with the dirty dishes to clean them and to put them with the clean ones”
In conclusion, to what Karen and the two other employees have said it seems like Pizza Hut has created a workplace that has become difficult to work in. The fact that employees feel like they are having to choose their job over their personal lives is appalling- especially considering the partnership with Mental Health UK.
Karen also mentioned: “I think fast food companies should focus on employees well-being and mental health. However, fast food companies do not do enough to protect the mental health of their employees. Their only focus is profit, sales and revenue making them an unethical business sector.”
Within the findings of my investigation, I can conclude that it doesn’t seem like Pizza Hut has any guidelines given to managers in order to look after their staff- especially after what Karren mentioned above. This is quite unfortunate, as a company that has been around for over 40 years would be expected to give out some form of training enlisted to managers.
In line with the above and research conducted by the RSPH- 62% do not believe the hospitality takes care of its employees- that is nearly two thirds of the entire hospitality industry! Furthermore, nearly 24% require some sort of medical or physiological help. This goes to show it is not just Pizza Hut UK, it is an issue that needs managing across the whole of the hospitality sector.
Although, within the research I have conducted it can be argued that Pizza Hut UK are putting in place policies to improve employee welfare. It could also be that maybe it has been four years since this partnership and maybe things need reviewing in order to see what can be done to avoid these issues.
It is said that there are posters around the workplace with a hotline number to call if you need any help from issues at work. This was also mentioned in the press release article on Mental Health UK with following: ‘Internal wellness programme, providing access to a helpline, offering practical and emotional support 24 hours a day’.This fact can’t be proven as it is something said on the website and not something any employee has been able to confirm.
However, even with all the evidence provided above it still isn’t sufficient evidence to really prove that Pizza Hut truly are doing anything. It can be argued from what they show on their website with all the fundraising activities that they do something and maybe its an issue certain stores are having. Unfortunately, due to the ongoing pandemic (covid-19) I am unable to get a comment from either Pizza or Mental Health UK to help strengthen or weaken my point of investigation.
