Lightspeed Becomes Exclusive ePOS and Payments Partner of VERiFAIR
Lightspeed (www.lightspeedhq.com/uk/) has been named the exclusive ePOS and payments partner of VERiFAIR (www.verifair.com/), the independent standard for responsible employment in hospitality. The partnership aims to make fair workplaces easier to recognise, verify and expect across the industry.
How VERiFAIR began
Founder Justine Murphy created the standard after speaking on a panel about equality in hospitality. A journalist in the audience suggested her vision needed a visual mark, and by the next morning, after a sleepless night, VERiFAIR had taken shape.
Murphy explains that holding the standard “means a business has independently demonstrated that it has the right policies and practices in place to be a responsible employer, and that those standards are actually being implemented.” Businesses must also demonstrate this again every year. For staff, she says, the aim is that “they should be able to speak up and know that if they do, they will be listened to and action will be taken.”
What the survey found
VERiFAIR surveyed 3,140 hospitality workers across the UK and Ireland between March and July 2026. It describes the Hospitality Workplace Survey 2026 as the first of its scale in the sector, while noting that the results reflect self-selected respondents rather than the whole industry.
52% had experienced inappropriate, unsafe or unacceptable behaviour in the past year.
44% said their workplace has clear conduct policies, but only 36% of those said they are always followed.
34% agreed that action is taken appropriately when a concern is raised, while 56% disagreed.
42% felt comfortable raising concerns, while 51% did not.
One respondent said: “In my experience companies say the right things but they’re not actually put into practice.”
Belief in action made the biggest difference. Among workers who doubted anything would happen, 20% felt comfortable speaking up, compared with 78% of those who believed it would. Frontline and junior staff were least confident, and 31% felt comfortable raising concerns while 21% believed action is taken, against 63% and 56% among senior managers and owners.
“It tells us that having policies isn’t enough,” Murphy says. “VERiFAIR has to represent real accountability, not just a badge on the wall.”
A chef’s perspective
Sally Abé, chef-owner of Teal by Sally Abé (www.tealbysallyabe.com/), is a VERiFAIR standard holder and a Lightspeed customer. She built her restaurant’s culture with intent. “It was about creating the culture deliberately from day one,” she says. Her advice to other chefs about the verification is brief: “Do it. It gives you an opportunity to look honestly at how you operate and show your team that you take their working environment seriously.”
The business case
The survey also links culture to retention. Some 58% of respondents had considered leaving a role because of workplace culture or behaviour, rising to 81% among those who had experienced poor behaviour, against 12% of those who hadn’t. Overall, 95% said a verified fairness standard would influence where they work (67% yes, 28% maybe).
“Better culture helps you attract good people, retain good people, and build a stronger reputation,” Murphy says.
What the partnership with Lightspeed means
Lightspeed will support the growth of the standard across UK hospitality. “It means a lot to have a company like Lightspeed supporting what we’re trying to achieve,” Murphy says. VERiFAIR’s goal is a future where holding the standard is normal, job seekers look for it and responsible employers display it with pride.
