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The figures on employment, as presented in Table 2.4, affirm that by far the large majority of the rural enterprises are micro-businesses. The employment figures for 2001 and 2006 evidence comparatively few in the small enterprise category let alone medium (similarly the attractions). Slightly more than 50% employ similar numbers of staff on a part-time basis. The findings for 2001 indicate higher than average per enterprise employment whilst 2006 closely correlates with Leidner’s (2004) analysis of employment by tourism enterprises in the EU (i.e. 93% employ 1–9 persons; 6.5% 10–49; approx 1% over 50). They also compare favourably with Garay and Font (2012) who found that 77% employed five or fewer staff (rising to 87% for those employing ten or fewer). In the case of Gaunt’s (2004) study, 71% of the Scottish TOs were identified as employing nine or fewer staff. Overall, the key difference between the data sets is with 2011, which included comparatively fewer in the BB and inns categories.

Overall, these enterprises individually generate limited employment opportunities but collectively the story is very different. In the case of the LDNP, the serviced accommodation operations in total employ approximately 1000 persons, when the sample is taken as a whole the average per enterprise is 9.9 staff, two thirds of whom are in full-time positions. This excludes owners, who gain their livelihood through the business and members of their family who may also work in the business.

The many part-time positions present opportunities for local people for whom fulltime work might not be suitable, e.g. a parent with young children to look after, or teenagers and students seeking holiday jobs. Also, part-time positions may be available which involve working times that fit in with the public transport service. The availability of transportation to enable employees to get to and from their place of work is a key factor; all the more so in rural areas. If not able to walk to their work then in the absence of access to their own transportation they will be dependent on public transport and at the times required to meet their working hours (e.g. early start: 0700 hours or late finish: 2300 hours) which is often unlikely. Thus having their own means of transport is very important as illustrated by the finding in 2001 that one in six staff resided outside the LDNP. In one particular case, a woman living some distance away from the enterprise applied successfully for a job but subsequently found that although the hours were between 1100 hours and 1700 hours, the available public transport made for a much longer day and substantial cost. After a short period she resigned. This is one of the factors that explain why so many of these enterprises provide accommodation for staff, which also enables persons from outside the area to be employed. This is well illustrated by Lake District Hotels Ltd, which in total employs 460 staff of whom 250 live in accommodation provided. A further influential factor on staffing is that demand for many of the rural enterprises is less markedly seasonal than it was in the early 1990s. Thus continuity of revenues throughout the year supports appointment of full-time permanent staff, which might well not suit persons already in part-time positions; a situation that also brings problems as regards recruitment (see page 23).

Table 2.4. Employment.^a

^aArts & Crafts producers – very few employees; Food Producers – 63% employ 10 or fewer, 25% more than 50 persons, on average they employ 2.2 part-time staff and are not markedly seasonal (three enterprises employ seasonal staff full-time).

There is no doubting that sustainability includes the social welfare of staff and their development, hence the surveys and audits gave attention to staff training and personal development. By far, most of those enterprises that do employ staff provide in-house training (84%) and opportunities for staff development (72%) though, as a number of respondents noted, this was mainly to do with good practice in health and safety. Of all the categories, it is the inns that are most likely to provide staff training and opportunities for personal development. One reason accounting for this is that bar service staff, perhaps more than any other hospitality staff, require training to fulfil their duties from the moment they start their employment. Staff are also potentially significant role-players in the greening of any enterprise and thus communicating and explaining why actions are being introduced, encouraging to take on responsibility and to promote support and involvement for local community based and conservation initiatives is important (see Wisner et al., 2010). There is little to doubt that gaining their support can have a substantial impact on the success of any initiative, for example whether saving water in the kitchen, reducing electricity consumption through turning off lights in accommodation or encouraging customers to donate to community initiatives when settling their accounts. Overall their recognized contribution to furthering an EMS and wider social activities of the enterprises rather brings into question a recent United Nations Environment Report that suggests that tourism jobs do not contribute to preserving or restoring environmental quality. However, this does depend on the stance on such matters taken by the owners/managers. In the light of which it is notable that 23% of them did not think that their staff were concerned over such matters and a further 37% indicated that they did not know.