Pret A Manger HRD: Only 1 in 50 candidates are British

Deprived of its morning caffeine boost, there’s a strong argument that Britain’s economy would come to a shuddering, back-snapping standstill. Like a train with its breaks on full. Sparks would fly and the screech would be nigh on unbearable.

Therefore, Pret a Manger’s Director of Human Resources appearance before a parliamentary committee, to explain that 65% of its workforce come from EU countries other than Britain, will have many fearing for their commuter lattes – with the working status of EU nationals still undecided after last year’s Brexit vote.

Andrea Wareham, Director of HR at the popular coffee chain, is reported by The Guardian as saying to the House of Lords economic affairs select committee that: “[The difficulty], it’s not in selecting, it’s a difficulty in attracting, I would say one in 50 people who apply to our company to work is British. If I had to fill all our vacancies with British-only people I would not be able to fill them because of the lack of applications.”

She laid out concerns that the government was not doing enough to focus on post-Brexit planning for the low-skilled jobs that are usually filled by immigrant workers.