Eataly

Eataly is the world’s largest artisanal Italian food and beverage marketplace. Founded in Turin in 2007, today Eataly shares ‘made in Italy’ through their stores in 15 countries. Each store is made up of various restaurants and retail outlets which allow their customer to ‘Eat, Shop, Learn’ around the best Italian products and locally sourced items from producers that share a philosophy of ‘good, clean, and fair.

With a strong belief in social responsibility, Eataly offer sustainably sourced products and support various charitable organisations and they put high-quality produce and service at the heart of every store.

Business need

Eataly’s first UK store opened in March 2021. In the months leading to launch, the business began the search for talent to join the team in the kitchens, restaurants, market and offices in London. As Talent Acquisition Partner, Kelly Davis is focused on building the UK strategy around recruitment, learning and development and benefits and making sure that the UK store is an attractive and compliant place to work. Kelly knew that one of the first important steps was to source a Right to Work partner to support compliant recruitment from day one. Although Eataly have an in-store HR system, they were looking for a Right to Work service which would support the transfer of staff from other European and US stores and the rapid growth of the business and which would limit uncertainty around Brexit legislation.

“I wanted to find a system which gave us the reassurance that our recruitment processes were correct, current and compliant and could be easily checked and reported on,” explains Kelly “We didn’t want to open the store and then try and figure out how things work in the UK: we want to be doing things well from the beginning.”

The Solution

In Autumn 2020, Eataly started to research Right to Work technology. Although Kelly was familiar with the TrustID service, having used it in a previous role, she spoke to several providers to research options thoroughly.

Eataly chose the TrustID fully managed Right to Work service which first assesses the authenticity of a candidate’s identity document uploaded through a secure online service and then performs a full Right to Work compliance check through a team of highly trained experts.

Expert technology and people

The TrustID combination of technology and human expertise is unique, blending machine-based identity document verification with a human check to ensure that the right documents have been submitted and that they give the holder a valid Right to Work in the UK.

“Most providers I looked at were just reliant on technology,” Kelly explains “But with the TrustID service, a trained expert also looks at every application and double-checks it. That really was a ‘no-brainer’ for us: clever technology and backed up by a human being.”

Extended support

Like most retail and hospitality organisations, Eataly operate 7 days a week and it is important that they can on-board staff quickly and efficiently at any time during their ‘unconventional’ operating hours. The TrustID support team are available daily from 8am until midnight.

“If a Head Chef hires a Chef late on a Friday and wants them to start training on Saturday, it’s unreasonable to ask them to wait until Monday when we can clarify their Right to Work status. We could even lose that candidate if they are eager to start somewhere straightaway” explains Kelly “But with the TrustID team working long hours and 7 days, now that’s not a problem”

The Eataly payroll team are based in Italy and so the TrustID helpdesk team also offer a valuable feedback service to the UK store if an application is incomplete or incorrect, for example if supporting information is missing or a visa isn’t valid.

“We can’t just pop in to see our payroll team, so I really like the way the helpdesk team act as advisors” says Kelly “adding information to our reports if someone has failed a check, so we really understand why, or answering our questions over the ‘phone.”

Simple to use

The TrustID Right to Work service is designed to be easy to use with a document selection wizard to help ensure the correct documents are provided by the employee. This has reduced the training time needed for the Eataly managers who don’t need to be Right to Work experts.

In addition, the service is automatically updated as and when Right to Work legislation changes, giving Kelly and her team confidence that they will remain compliant, for example as Brexit changes are introduced.

As a brand who are keen to attract the best talent, the straightforward TrustID Right to Work process gives potential recruits a positive ‘first experience’ of Eataly, with easy checks and results returned quickly – something which Kelly believes is critical:

“We want the first impression that someone has of us to be really positive and reflect that we’re a modern, forward thinking organisation. An on-boarding process that’s old fashioned and difficult doesn’t give that impression.”

A good deterrent

Eataly are keen to advertise their use of a Right to Work partner, believing it to be a good deterrent to anyone applying without the necessary proof of compliance.

“We tell everyone during the recruitment process that we will be running them through a Right to Work system and if they don’t have the right to work, we’re not wasting their time and it’s not one more problem for us down the line.”

The service also demonstrates compliance in the case of a Home Office enforcement visit, supporting the statutory excuse with a clear record of every check stored against an applicant.

Conclusion

The TrustID Right to Work service gives Eataly a reliable, straightforward foundation for a compliant recruitment process which can be scaled as their business grows. With no employee being added to the payroll without a TrustID Right to Work report on file, Eataly are now confident that they can easily demonstrate their compliance with employment checks and avoid the risk of significant financial penalties and reputational damage.