Why are you never served by a Londoner in a London branch of Pret A Manger? I asked this in the Telegraph recently, and yesterday’s Evening Standard had a great piece tracking down four who applied, and were rejected without an interview.
Some suspect there is a bias in favour of immigrants: if your name doesn’t sound exotic, game over. I doubt that a company like Pret, whose most valued ingredient is the famous enthusiasm of
its staff, can afford to discriminate in any way. But the wider point is a very serious one: that British employers have come to prefer immigrants, believing that they work harder. And that a bias
for foreign workers is adding to the problems facing Britain’s young unemployed.
In general, I do think this is an issue. I’ve been struck by how many employers admit this in private. I once spoke to the chief executive of one FTSE350 company who said that when he needs
temps for his warehouse he only hires Poles, because you can guarantee 100 per cent that they’ll work hard and be grateful for the opportunity. With Brits – especially those coming off
benefits – they may drop out, call in sick, etc. The CEO himself was British, and you can’t accuse him of being racist. It was a question of efficiency: hiring Poles was the safer bet.
Crucially, he now operates through companies with Polish offices which actually fly workers over for the four-week project. British workers – no matter how keen or well-trained – would
not get a look in.
This conversation took place at the beginning of the crash, and I thought then: the immigrants may go home, but the appetite for them (and the ability to bus or Ryanair them in) will remain.
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