The Morning Advertiser (MA) spoke to CEO, Greg Mangham, to understand how the charity is helping the homeless and partnering with the hospitality industry.
Mangham told The MA: “I’ve been in hospitality all my life and I met a guy called Ben Stackhouse from PubLove.
“Ben and I became friends, so we decided to set up the charity and eventually people from UKHospitality (UKH) got involved.
“A guy called Matt Wyatt contacted me - a partner at the accountancy firm Wellers - and from there we set up the business.”
Mangham explained he didn’t initially believe the business was going to grow, however it has exceeded expectations.
“We sort of took off really, the whole ethos of our business is that we will take anybody who has or is about to face homelessness.”
The CEO outlined there are 300,000 people who are currently homeless.
“Our aim is to help anybody who wants to rebuild their lives through a career in hospitality and we are the go between.
“We deal with people who might be leaving the military with emotional or physical disabilities, we also work with domestic abuse charities and with a charity that helps people leave the sex trade.”
Mangham explained OAPA works by appointing relationship managers to support people in need through their candidate portals, in which charities can then put people forward to work.
Specific individuals are then signed off, evaluated and put forward for employee evaluation.
Emotional and financial support
Mangham added individuals looking for work in prison are also recruited by the company through recruitment fairs.
“We recruit prisoners either in prison, or through deprivation service. We never just pick people up, they have to be signed off by a support worker, caseworker and probation officer.
“We then monitor them for about a year once in employment, we get them ready for employment and we also run training courses called passport to employment.”
Mangham further detailed that throughout this service, individuals in need are able to gain a more positive perception of the hospitality industry as a whole.
“Once they’re in work for a year, we will support them both emotionally and financially, so we will give someone their fares to work for the first week, we will help them by their first week shopping.
“We will also maybe help them buy their uniform. We started in October 2018 and we also had two years of Covid.”
The CEO also revealed that as of late, the team has placed 603 people into work.
Mangham stated he does experience people who leave the jobs assigned to them, however the average length of service for individuals is 59 weeks, longer, he stressed, than the typical industry norm.
The charity boss also detailed he has seen 2,000 people through recruitment workshops, adding of the 630 people placed into work, £35m has been generated for the economy.
“We know every time we put someone into work for a year, we also save the economy £40,000. That’s the value we add.”
Touching more on the organisation’s passport to employment scheme, Mangham said: “We have a passport to employment and that often takes place in hotels or larger pub companies or multifaceted outlets.
“People talk to them for two days, they work on their CVs and also talk about confidence and any potential issues people have faced.”
“This is the power of hospitality. Owners don’t care where you come from or where you’ve been”
Greg Mangham
Mangham explained people arrive to these schemes typically on a Monday morning without knowing anyone, and by Friday they have normally found a sense of community and are familiar with one another.
He further revealed certain individuals in the programme may have been affected by substance abuse or addiction issues.
Mangham explained the passport employment scheme offered at OAPA builds people’s confidence, allowing them to pursue careers in hospitality within various departments.
“Job options often look like laundry baristas for example. They can also decide which roles they like and then submit to that.
“People often realise they get shares and pensions, and that a lot of businesses, such as hotels, pubs or restaurants are interesting to work in.”
Mangham also outlined 85% of individuals who attend the passport to employment scheme will usually be offered a job.
“This is the power of hospitality. Owners don’t care where you come from or where you’ve been.
“They’re asking, have you got the attitude? have you got the behaviour? and ultimately, have you got the capability to do me a good job? That’s all they want to know really.”
Mangham explained the reason people should seek out help with OAPA as opposed to other routes, comes down to a myriad of factors.
Including the fact that the organisation understands the release catchment for prisoners, as well as what a temporary licence entails.
He also stressed the importance of OAPA understanding the difference between rough sleeping and homelessness and how they can nurture and mentor individuals in need looking for work.
“We know every time we put someone into work for a year, we save the economy £40,000. Who looks after that person that may be homeless or a rough sleeper and who might have had an addiction?
“With us at OAPA, the manager knows them and we protect them, especially with the female population with either physical or emotional abuse.”
Specialised support
Further describing the benefits of OAPA, he said: “Commercially, it is going to help you to pay your taxes, It’s going to make sure your taxes can be used for other things.
“It’s going to actually help your high street, because you won’t have people sleeping in doorways.”
Mangham also detailed that each time they take on an individual who is homeless, not only does it benefit that individual, it also helps decrease costs, as they do not have to be places in a hostel, or alternatively a Government hotel, benefitting tax payers as well as those in need of accommodation.
Marston’s lead recruitment development manager Todd Lockley commented on the companies involvement with OAPA.
He told The MA: “Our work with OAPA complements our existing Excel programme with the Ministry of Justice.
“The charity provides us with applications for consideration from both prison leavers and people facing homelessness.
“We have worked with 10 prison leavers with the support of OAPA out of the 60 we have employed since October 2022.”
Lockley explained when prison leavers are placed into employment through OAPA, employees stay 40% longer on average than employees received through the “more traditional” routes of recruitment.
He added: “It also provides an extremely valuable amount of wrap around support for the applicants to help them transition into employment in hospitality such as: pre-employment training and funding travel to and from work.
“They also provide more specialised support than we could as an individual employer e.g. with housing or overcoming addiction.”
Speaking on the benefits of the programme Lockley stated: “Retention really is the main benefit.”
