Pret A Manger has said Brexit would lead to a serious staffing crisis across the high street chain, with its human resources boss saying only one in 50 employees is British.
The popular food-to-go retailer‘s HR chief Andrea Wareham told a government committee last night that staff come from 110 different nationalities, with 65 per cent of the non-UK employees being EU citizens.
“I would say that one in 50 people that apply to our company to work is British,” Wareham told the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee.
“If I had to fill all our vacancies in British-only applicants I would not be able to fill them… because of a lack of applications.”
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Wareham also doubted higher wages would attract UK citizens to apply.
“I actually don‘t think increasing pay would do the trick, I can only talk for Pret on this, but we do pay well above the National Living Wage, we do have great benefits and we offer fantastic careers,” she said.
“It really is a case of do people want to work in our industry?
“We are not seen always as a desirable place to work and I think that‘s the trick.”
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