Could people with learning disabilities or on the autism spectrum ameliorate staff shortages in the UK hospitality sector?
Rebecca[i] was excited to get a job. At school and since leaving, she sent her CV to retailer after retailer, business after business in the hospitality industry, but had no joy. She faced a barrage of negative response, rude and dismissive, rejection after rejection. She is on the autism spectrum.
While on a supported internship at college, Rebecca came across an application form for a training programme at Fair Shot, a café in London. Bianca Tavella was opening it to train young adults with learning disabilities and/or on the autism spectrum to enhance their chances of employment. She was on a mission to give them a level playing field.
After training at Fair Shot, with their continued support, Rebecca is now in gainful employment. She couldn’t wait to receive her first pay slip. She bought a pair of trainers and a dress.
Mencap reports that a mere 5.1% of adults with a learning disability in England are in paid work (NHS Digital, 2021).[ii] Jamie Oliver recently talked about his Dyslexia diagnosis. If he hadn’t had the opportunity to work and develop his skills in his parents’ pub kitchen which led to a job at River Café (and then appeared on our TV screens), how different would his life have been?
According to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics, there remains 83,000 vacancies in the hospitality sector. Fair Shot has the ambition to train and help its graduates find suitable jobs. Could this contribute to solving the severe staff shortage problem in hospitality?
One recent survey by Axonify[iii] shows a low morale in the hospitality industry, with nearly half of managers acknowledging the negative impact of staff shortages. Employing adults with learning difficulties and/or on the autism spectrum could also help boost their morale.
So, why aren’t there more neurodiverse adults in employment? According to the Buckland Review of Autism Employment published by the Government in February 2024[iv], as reported by The National Autistic Society (NAS), “The review highlights that the biggest barrier to accessing employment for autistic people is a lack of understanding and negative stereotypes”. This is echoed by Mencap: “Compounding this are things such as online-only application processes, formal interviews and a lack of adjustments in the workplace – barriers that employers don’t always realise they have created.” The Buckland Review recommends that the application and interview processes are adapted to suit the needs of autistic adults instead of vague job descriptions, ambiguous interview questions and sensory environments.
Some autistic people are said to have attention to detail, strong analytical skills and the ability to focus on repetitive tasks for extended periods of time. Recognising their talents, SAP launched its Autism At Work program in 2013 and Microsoft started one in 2015. An article by Sarah Loucks at SAP dated 2 June 2025 entitled: “The win-win potential of hiring neurodiverse candidates”[v], delves into the advantages of hiring such adults. She asserts that “companies benefit from the achievements, skills, experiences, and unique perspectives of individuals they might otherwise overlook”, describing them as “an overlooked talent pool”. She advocates for “Successful neurodiversity hiring programs [which] raise awareness among employees and make important alterations to the recruiting and onboarding processes as well as adaptations to communications and management approaches.” She cites the Disability Index in the US, which demonstrates that “companies that lead in key disability inclusion criteria have realized 1.6 times more revenue, 2.6 times more net income, and two times more profit than other participants in Disability: IN’s annual benchmark survey. They are also 25% more likely to outperform on productivity (measured as revenue per employee) compared to industry peers that did not participate in the survey.”
In the UK, potential employers can tap into resources at NAS for advice and guidance in this area. In one case study, Chris (who is autistic) says: “the major thing that makes a difference is just time, giving us time. Shall we all slow down a little bit? At work, I’m given permission if I need to leave my desk and have a walk.”
Bianca has long recognised the talent of the neurodivergent. It was her lifelong dream to open the café. “I was brought up with a family that tried to do their best to support others and was very close to a mother who radiated compassion.” When she was 3, her parents launched a friendship group which supported people with learning disabilities, and she became friends with an autistic child. “This is where the café idea started. I was 13.” She asserts that: “Everyone matters, and everyone has the right to aspire and the right to have a career… society needs to change, not the other way… We need to stop creating high expectations for everyone because adjustments are possible … Most of the time it’s just about having a little patience, setting out tasks clearly and trying to control the environment”.
Fair Shot works with Mencap as part of the supported internship programme. Morag Hutcheson, marketing manager at Fair Shot, explains: “We match [the graduates] with our employment partners and we train them to become more inclusive but also provide them with the support.” The students also learn soft skills, such as customer services and teamwork with a view to working in different industries, including hospitality. Based on the graduates’ skills and interests, they help to identify suitable roles. Each graduate at Fair Shot is supported by a mentor and a job coach.
Fair Shot also supplies the employment partner with a guidebook on the graduate. Morag explains: “that level of detail is what reassured the team, [given] the misconceptions, the fear, the hesitation that they had… It is a lot easier than you expect to have someone working with you who has a disability… You’ve got to make sure that you work to each other's needs and strengths.” Bianca elaborates: “[An employer said that] once they started caring about one person, they all started realising they have to care about each other.” One employer confirmed: “Graduate* has brought added value every single day, in terms of her business inputs, but also the atmosphere she creates in the office. My only regret is that we didn’t do this earlier.”
Fair Shot continues to check in on the employers during their transition into the workplace to guarantee the sustainability of the job.
Harry Specters, an award-winning chocolate company, employs autistic persons. They were concerned by the prospects of their autistic son and were inspired to launch the company. He now works there. "There is a misconception that autistic people might need a lot of support, but the truth is, everyone needs support in a new job at the beginning". Shaz Shah, the co-founder, expounds: "Many businesses don't realise how hard working and loyal autistic people are. They never shirk their responsibilities and are always asking, 'What do you want me to do next?”.
Some with a learning disability and/or on the autism spectrum may be non-verbal. Some may never speak. However, the impact of the programme at Fair Shot has been transformative for some. Bianca described three trainees from the first cohort who went from being “non-verbal” to verbal in a matter of months. Despite being initially non-verbal, Amanda* managed the till at the café with aplomb. A few months in, she would say words. By graduation, she wrote and read her own speech. Bianca opines: “Classroom environments are so structured, and they expect so much from you. But the essence is safety. Maybe she could always talk, but she felt uncomfortable”. It is a case of knowing how to speak to them. English is not Jeff’s first language. However, after 7-8 months, he started to speak in full sentences. She thinks that it was elective mutism. “They are always able to communicate [in their own way] and have relationships.” When she did the pilot for Fair Shot, “genuinely no one believed that it was going to work, that they could make a coffee by themselves, not even I believed it.” Well, it transpired that they could and much more.
Mona Shah, the co-founder at Harry Specters had a similar experience. A former autistic employee who was suffering from depression would barely speak at the beginning. However, she would later “dash across the room to answer the phone because she wanted to talk to people”. She is now a successful data analyst.
Another employee’s mother at Harry Specters said: “My son has got his confidence back now. It was really hard to see him get rejected after each job interview after leaving college. He got top grades too. Harry’s gave him a chance, and he fitted into the workplace and made new friends. He now has a new sense of self-worth and believes in himself again”. Mona recalls “one of the first times we paid someone, their mum was in tears”.
So, what’s stopping employers recruit these talented people? Jamie Oliver recently revealed his experience of being dyslexic at school. Other pupils called him a “stupid dunce”. Ignorance is not bliss, awareness and empathy is. “The kitchen saved me,” he says. Without having been given the opportunities, his talent could have been so easily missed. Could the hospitality world partially solve their staff shortage problem by giving these special people a chance? By investing in their employees and training their teams, managers and HR to consider the needs of others, they may reap many rewards by recruiting talented individuals, improving staff loyalty, morale, teamwork and ultimately their profitability.
June 2025
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[i] All names of graduates at Fair Shot have been changed to protect privacy.
[ii] https://www.mencap.org.uk/learning-disability-explained/research-and-statistics/employment-research-and-statistics
[iii] https://axonify.com/en-uk/news/hospitality-survey-2024/
[iv] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-buckland-review-of-autism-employment-report-and-recommendations/the-buckland-review-of-autism-employment-report-and-recommendations
[v] https://www.sap.com/blogs/the-win-win-potential-of-hiring-neurodiverse-workers