Hospitality roles are amongst the most varied. You may be working in a pub, serving customers drinks, running a restaurant and providing meals, or perhaps even managing a hotel and ensuring that guests have the best stay possible.
No matter what type of hospitality role you take on, you need to have a wealth of knowledge in what you do; whether that is how to prepare food or drink safely, how to keep the premises clean or, of course, how to deal with any challenges that can arise.
Here at Learn Q, we have a range of courses that are designed for the hospitality industry to help colleagues on all levels to be able to do the best that they can, not only for the business but for the customers too.
Mandatory
When it comes to training courses within hospitality, there are some that are required by law for you to offer your colleagues. These can cover key aspects of the industry such as business compliance and also health and safety too.
These courses need to be offered to ensure that you are working within the regulations that are set out. They usually form a part of your induction process in order to ensure that any new starters within your business have the right level of training to start their role.
It is important to note that here at Learn Q, we may only provide some of the relevant mandatory courses that are needed within your business. You will need to do your own research to ascertain what other courses may be needed and source them.
Business Compliance
Many of the training courses that fall into the mandatory category can be identified as business compliance courses. These vary in type. However, they are largely there to protect your business, your colleagues and your clients from crime and from other activities that may not be good for your business or your reputation.
When money is obtained from criminal activity or not through a legal route, then it may need to be cleaned in order to become a part of everyday society. This is where the idea of money laundering was created. Money laundering can happen to any business, including hospitality. Therefore, it is important that all of your colleagues understand the anti-money laundering regulations that have been put in place. Something that this training can provide.
Bribery can and does happen in a variety of businesses. This training course is designed to ensure that all colleagues within your business understand what bribery is and how they can deal with any instances of bribery that either involve them or anyone else around them in the business.
There have been lots said of late about GDPR and how important it is that all businesses protect the data that they hold. It is a legal requirement for all businesses to not only follow the rules and regulations set out within GDPR but also to ensure that their colleagues have the relevant training on this subject too.
Other mandatory training courses that you can provide for your colleagues include health and safety. These are there to protect colleagues, customers and anyone who may be found on your premises and ensure that everyone is safe.
Whilst much of the work that is undertaken in hospitality will be physical, there are also times when your colleagues may take on work on a display screen. Whenever you use a display screen, it is important to know how to use it properly to keep yourself safe and prevent the risk of injury. This is something that this Display Screen Equipment training can help with.
No one wants to think that fires could happen in their workplace, but with food preparation and other activities that could put you at risk of fire on site, this does happen. It is important that you make sure that every team member within your business has the basic knowledge of fire safety and that they are able to identify what they need to do during a fire in order to keep themselves and anyone else on site safe.
The basics of health and safety in any workplace are that it is there to keep everyone safe whilst they work. This Health and Safety Awareness training covers the things that every colleague should know in order to be able to work in a way that is safe not only for them but for your customers and clients too.
One common cause of injuries in workplaces is incorrect manual handling. Any item can be a risk of injury if it is not moved or lifted in the right way, which means that you need to provide your colleagues with Manual Handling training that covers the techniques that can be used to ensure that any load that is being lifted and moved is done so in a safe way.
When you work in hospitality, a large part of what you do will be providing customers with food. This means that colleagues throughout your business should be offered a variety of food safety training courses. These will ensure that the food that you prepare and serve is safe for consumption.
If you are responsible for serving food to customers, then you need to make sure that you are aware of how to ensure that the food that you serve is safe to eat. This Food Safety Level 2 Awareness course covers the basics of what is needed for food safety and gives your colleagues the tools that they need to be able to serve up food that is going to be safe to eat.
One of the most important things to focus on during food prep is hygiene. Poor hygiene can put everyone at risk of illness, which is not only dangerous for the people concerned but can be dangerous for your business too. This Food Safety Hygiene course covers the basics of hygiene and keeping the kitchen or food serving areas clean.
There has been lots of change recently around allergies and how they are handled in the food industry. It is vitally important that every colleague within your business has an understanding of some of the key allergens that can be seen in food and how they can be handled in a way that is safe and won’t put anyone at risk.
Strongly Recommended Courses
Along with courses that are mandatory by law for you to offer within your business, there are also courses that we strongly recommend that you provide. Whilst you may not be in breach of regulations or laws by not having them, by providing them, you are ensuring that your colleagues have plenty of skills and knowledge in order for them to be able to do their job to the best that they can (and do them safely too).
Health and Safety
Health and Safety Risk Assessment
One of the key parts of health and safety is recognising the risks that are around us all and how we can avoid them. As a strongly recommended part of health and safety training, we provide this Health and Safety Risk Assessment course which looks at risk assessments in more detail and offers support on how every colleague within your business can play a part.
Injuries and accidents can happen in workplaces, as can illnesses. This is where RIDOOR comes in. Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations sets out what is expected during the reporting process and how more serious incidents within your workplace need to be approached.
There are some substances that are used within the hospitality industry that could be seen as being harmful to the health of those around it. This is where the idea of COSHH comes from. This COSHH training covers what is meant by the Control of Substances Hazard to Health and what needs to be done to protect people from these harmful substances.
Injuries and accidents do happen in workplaces, particularly in hospitality. This means that you need to ensure that you and your colleagues do what you can to try and prevent this from happening. One training course that is designed to do this is the Slips, Trips and Falls training. It covers ways that you can prevent these things from happening and what you should do if they do end up happening.
Business Compliance
You may think that safeguarding only relates to those who work in the care or in school setting. However, this is not the case. No matter your industry or the type of job you do, we all play a part in recognising those individuals that may be at risk of safeguarding issues and who may require support.
It is important that we live in a world that is as equal and as diverse as possible. This means that our Equality and Diversity training is important to offer. It shows colleagues the importance of equality and diversity in our working lives and how we can all try our best to treat those around us in a way that is equal and does not discriminate.
Even if the best of workplaces there is always a chance that workplace harassment can occur. Workplace harassment not only makes those who are the victim feel negative but can also reflect negatively on your business too. This is why it is important to provide all colleagues with training on how to recognise workplace harassment and what needs to be done should you suspect it is happening.
Being aware of how to stay safe online is important, no matter the nature of your business or what you do. This is why it is important to offer your colleagues relevant training that is around Cyber Security Awareness. It not only highlights the importance of staying safe when you are online, but it also shows them the ways that they can do this.
When you work in hospitality, you will very quickly realise that the customer is always right, even if they are wrong. However, it is vital that along with this, you should actually understand the rights of every single consumer or customer who stays with them or who relies on their service. This is where this Consumer Rights Act training can really help to boost this level of understanding among your colleagues.
It is incredibly important that we are aware of how we can ensure that everyone is equal and that we all have access to the same opportunities. With this Disability Awareness training, you are able to ensure that every single team member in your business can be aware of their own place in ensuring that those who are disabled feel that they are treated in a fair and equal way, be they their colleagues or customers.
Customer Service
When you work in hospitality, you are going to want to make sure that your customers have the best experience possible. However, sometimes things can go wrong. This means that you are going to need to handle a complaint or two. The thing to remember about complaints is that there is a right way to deal with them and a wrong way. Having this training course means that you can understand how to approach complaints and keep customers happy.
You may think that customer service skills only apply to those who work in customer service, computer or telephone-based roles, but this is not the case. This Customer Services Skills course shows that it doesn’t matter what industry you work in; it is important to understand just how customers should be treated and how to ensure the very best customer experience possible.
Making sure that everyone who eats in your business is safe is something that is hugely important. A great way to try and ensure that this happens is to provide colleagues within your hospitality business with this HACCP Awareness training.
Some of our strongly recommended courses are designed to be offered to those who work in hospitality. They cover some of the key aspects of this type of business and give those who work in the industry the key skills that they may need to enable them to do their job role to the best level that they can.
If you serve alcohol to anyone on your premises, then you need to ensure that you stay lawful when you do so. This means that every team member within the business should be aware of and understand the key points of the Licensing Act 2003. One part of this is serving alcohol to those who are underage. Doing this could mean that your business is fined, suspended or closed, which is why it is important to ensure that you educate every team member.
Award of License Premises Staff
This training course gives your colleagues the knowledge that they need to be able to assess a sale; then either accept or refuse it. All within the set out legal requirements.
Food Safety Hazards and Illness
Handling food can increase many different hazards, as well as possible illnesses. This means that this Food Safety Hazards and Illness is a great choice for you to include in your training plan. This course covers the impact that these hazards and illnesses can have on the wider business and also what can be done to avoid them.
Food Safety Premises and Equipment
Both the premises and equipment are a key part of food preparation, storing and cooking too. This means that we recommend this training course. It covers how best to use the equipment within your business and also how it can be properly cared for and maintained in order to ensure the food is cooked safely.
Food Safety Storing and Preparing
One of the key aspects of producing safe food for customers to enjoy is how you store and prepare it. This means that the Food Safety Storing and Preparing course is an important part of your training provision.
Recommended
Some training courses are a great idea to offer within your business. They are designed to bring out the best in every single team member that you work with and to give them the guidance and knowledge that they need to be successful in their working life.
If you want to take Food Safety Awareness one step further within your hospitality business, then the Level 3 Award in Food Safety is the perfect course to offer your team members. This course takes the knowledge of Food Safety a little bit further and ensures that they know how to safely hand and prepare food within your business.
Health and Safety
Stress can happen in any type of business, however, the nature of the hospitality industry and how fast-paced it is can make it a stressful job to do. By offering your colleagues this Stress Awareness course, you are going to provide them with the tools that they need to understand their own stress and how they can best manage it.
When it comes to protecting the planet as best as we can, we all need to take steps in order to be as sustainable as possible. This course covers how workplaces can be as sustainable as possible and the key measures that we can all take to ensure that we protect the planet as best as we can.
The answer to the question of how often the courses should be repeated is not always as straightforward as you may hope and there is not necessarily a set answer across all organisations. For many courses it will really depend on the type of course that is being taken and the nature of what you do. Ideally, the refresh regularity should be based on a thorough risk assessment of your business and tailored to the unique needs of your organisation and customers.
That said, if you are looking for a general rule, then we would say every 12 months is good practice for most of the courses that we offer.
There are some exclusions to this that do need to be kept in mind:
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