Tackle Modern Slavery in the Hospitality Sector

Modern slavery in the hospitality sector can include human trafficking, forced labour and sexual exploitation of those working in hotels, restaurants, travel companies and supply chains.

The Mekong Club works with hospitality businesses to create sustainable approaches to end modern slavery. Companies join our community to benefit from anti-slavery toolkits, consultations and support in developing ethical practices.

Join Our Community To End Modern Slavery

Work With Mekong Club to Make a Difference

1

Access to industry expertise and best practices
2

Collaborate with a global network of professionals
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Reduce the risk of modern slavery in your business through training
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Exceed ethical and sustainability targets
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Become a leader in anti-slavery

Mekong Club Members

THE HIDDEN REALITY: MODERN SLAVERY IN HOSPITALITY

With many employees working behind the scenes as cleaners, kitchen porters and security guards, the hospitality industry is particularly at risk of modern slavery. Exploitation in hotels can be hidden from guests, and employees who are vulnerable to exploitation may not feel safe speaking out or leaving their jobs.

Find out how you score in your anti-slavery strategies against industry standards through our confidential self-assessment.

Start Self-Assessment

CHALLENGES THE HOSPITALITY SECTOR FACES

Hotels and event venues use third-party providers to make up some of their workforces. This helps businesses be flexible and scale their workforce up or down depending on service demand.

Contractors in the hospitality sector are often low-skilled, low-paid and the most vulnerable to exploitation. These individuals’ rights, such as sick leave, may not be mandated by law. With no option to work from home, many contractors work involuntarily or fall into debt bondage.

The Mekong Club has free tools and resources to help you address these challenges and exclusive tools for members.

Access Modern Slavery Toolkits

Testimonials

Our collaboration with the Mekong Club has been nothing but a success. They have continually met us where we are as a company. When we knew little, they held our hand. As we have grown, they challenge our thinking and press for progress.

VF CORPORATION
We use the Risk Assessment Matrix to identify modern slavery hot spots by country, region and sector; remediation tool kit, and legislative guide. In 2018 we rolled out the Mekong Club e-learning on addressing modern slavery to our suppliers in Northern China. Its content inspired us to upload a modified version of the e-learning onto our own learning platform, which has now been rolled out to over 10,000 staff in 25 locations.

LI & FUNG
The Mekong Club helped us review our Responsible Procurement Policy to ensure greater colleague awareness in hotel product supply chains worldwide. More training sessions with Mekong Club participation are being planned for this and next year. The Club has also formed a Hospitality Roundtable for representatives of others in the industry to share information and best practice, of which Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group is also a member. In short, the Mekong Club has been a wonderful and much-appreciated resource in promoting awareness amongst the Group’s 12,000 colleagues in over 23 countries and territories worldwide.

Jardines
Mekong Club’s use of digital tools and solutions to combat modern slavery certainly reflects how innovative and forefront the organization is in their approaches, which is so relevant nowadays. Their experience is unquestionable, so I wanted to highlight how it is the people of the Mekong Club that truly separates them from other organizations we have worked with in the field.

SKECHERS

Protecting Workforces & Empowering Change: The Urgency of Addressing Modern Slavery

Tighter legislation and more ethical-conscious consumers mean that businesses should have modern slavery at the top of their agenda. With the risk of modern slavery so high, hospitality establishments may not be as ethical as they believe.

You may already have some initiatives in place, or just starting your anti-slavery strategy. Wherever you are in your journey, Mekong Club can help.

Actively seeking change to tackle modern slavery will benefit the people working for your business, and your brand.

Become a Member

Take a Stand: Start Preventing Modern Slavery

There are checks you can make when hiring agency workers to ensure that you follow legislation and that they are treated fairly.

Make sure that everyone has a written contract of employment that outlines rights to sick pay, holiday pay and other benefits. Individuals shouldn’t have paid any fees to obtain work.

Check that staff can legally work in the UK and live at legitimate addresses. If multiple workers live at the same address, this can indicate that they are being exploited.

Conduct a background check of the agency offering labour. If their fees are surprisingly low, don’t ignore the alarm bells and seek another provider.

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EVENTS

FAQs

How does modern slavery affect hospitality businesses?

Hospitality businesses are susceptible to modern slavery in the form of forced labour, sexual exploitation and human trafficking. The sector is labour-intensive, and labour costs make up a large proportion of total costs, meaning that businesses seek cheap labour.

However, cheap labour comes at a human cost. Workforces in many hotels are made up of agency workers and migrant workers who may not be treated fairly due to barriers such as language and unfamiliarity with local laws. Therefore, businesses need to enforce solutions to address modern slavery.
How do you assess modern slavery?

To effectively tackle modern slavery, you need to understand how your current anti-slavery strategies compare to others in the hospitality space.

Use our anonymous self-assessment to get your modern slavery score.
How to bring modern slavery into the sustainability agenda for your business

The key to raising awareness around modern slavery in your business is education and collaboration. Ensuring people at all levels of the organisation understand the signs to look out for, the consequences of modern slavery and how to tackle it will help you move towards change.

Commercial businesses with an annual turnover of £36 million or more must also publish a Modern Slavery Statement. Therefore, businesses must take the topic seriously and stand by their statement.

Mekong Club can help with training, detailed consultations, policy reviews, baseline assessments, community engagement and more.
How to spot victims of modern slavery in the hospitality sector

– Is the person in possession of their legal documents or are these being held by someone else?
– Is there a group of workers who have their wages paid into the same bank account?
– Are a group of workers dropped off or picked up at unusual times of the day, are they all taken to the same property?
– Does the person look malnourished, unkempt, or appear withdrawn?
– Does the person have old or serious untreated injuries?
– Is the person afraid of the authorities (police, immigration, the tax office)?
– Is the victim in debt to someone else?
How much does it cost to become a member of the Mekong Club?

For small hospitality businesses, membership costs $7,000. Membership is $12,000 if there are more than 250 employees in your organisation.
How often will I hear from the Mekong Club?

We hold industry working groups every 4 months. Members are invited to talk about issues they’re facing in their business and the community will work together to create solutions. We also share strategies that have worked and celebrate case studies.

Mekong Club is active in research and development, drawing inspiration from our member’s experiences. With your feedback and collaboration, we continue to improve our industry-leading anti-slavery tools and resources.

Tackle Modern Slavery in the Hospitality Sector

Work With Mekong Club to Make a Difference

Access to industry expertise and best practices

Collaborate with a global network of professionals

Reduce the risk of modern slavery in your business through training

Exceed ethical and sustainability targets

Become a leader in anti-slavery