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| Government calls for an upfront tipping policy | ||||||
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| Release date: 12 Mar 2010 | ||||||
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| Hospitality firms are being urged to make their tipping policy more transparent, after new research found that nearly two-thirds of customers do not know where their tips go.
The survey by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) also found that 95 per cent of people expect their tips to go to staff and not to business owners, yet only 21 per cent feel comfortable enough to ask what happens to their money. To encourage consumers to question restaurants and other hospitality businesses about how tips are distributed, BIS has launched a new campaign "Who gets the tip?" Businesses where tipping is common, such as restaurants and hairdressers, are being asked to clearly display their tipping and service charge policy to customers by stating what percentage of tips go to staff and whether cash and card tips are treated differently. Under the voluntary guidelines, employers should also ensure that their employees understand the tipping policy. "Businesses have a responsibility to provide clear information to their customers," said employment relations minister, Lord Young. "Our research shows this makes good business sense as consumers are more likely to revisit restaurants where tipping policies are displayed." A British Hospitality Association (BHA) spokesman, Miles Quest, called the BIS campaign a "step in the right direction" and said many group operators like Pizza Express and TGI Fridays have already made efforts to make their tipping policies clearer to consumers. "However, smaller businesses are less likely to provide clear information," he said. "In some family owned restaurants, the problem doesn't really come up as all the tips tend to go back into the business anyway. But generally, the smaller independents have been slower to catch on than the big chains, because they don't feel the same consumer pressure." According to BIS, the campaign supports the BHA's voluntary code, which was launched last summer to encourage restaurants to be more open about tip management. Since October 2009, it has been illegal for businesses to use tips to make up the National Minimum Wage. The Government is planning a review of tipping guidelines later this year. For more information about the 'Who gets the tip?' campaign, visit www.whogetsthetip.com To download the BHA's code of practice, visit the BHA website www.bha.org.uk/images/downloads/BHA_Code_of_Practice-Service_Charges_2009.pdf |
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