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Article

9 Jan 2017

Author:
Ruth Wyatt, Caterer (UK)

UK: Govt. agency calls on hospitality industry to combat workplace pregnancy discrimination

"Calls for hospitality industry to join businesses against pregnancy in workplace discrimination", 6 Jan 2017

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has issued a clarion call to the hospitality industry to join a collation of leading British businesses dedicated to eradicating pregnancy and workplace discrimination, and reap the business benefits of so doing.  The initiative, called Working Forward – supporting pregnancy and maternity rights, already has the support of household names, such as Barclays, BT Group, Royal Mail, John Lewis Partnership and Ford, which have pledged to share their knowledge, experience and best practice with businesses who sign up, as well as highlighting the economic benefits they get from retaining the talent and experience of their female employees.  Compass Group is a member and smaller operators, such as the Georgian House hotel...have also signed up.  Working Forward was launched following landmark research by the EHRC last year that showed pregnancy and maternity discrimination affects around 390,000 women at work each year.  The research highlighted challenges for the hospitality sector specifically.  These include issues around health and safety, breastfeeding, contact on maternity leave and the attitudes and beliefs of employers regarding pregnancy...Employers were more likely than average to think pregnant women and returning mothers were less interested in career progression and promotion, and less likely than average to think that the right to paid time off to attend antenatal appointments was reasonable...