From Hospitality to Human Rights: Hemma Varma

12 June 2025

The twentyfifty team work with global companies to deliver on their commitments to respect human rights.

In this first edition of our new 'Meet the Impact Makers' interview series, we sit down with Senior Consultant Hemma Varma, who has worked at twentyfifty for just over two years.

Hemma talks about responsible recruitment and what sparked her interest in addressing forced labour. 

Not everybody is familiar with the area of Business and Human Rights. Can you explain – in simple terms – what twentyfifty does?  

Think about people – all kinds of people. This could be someone who cleans the factory floor or someone who is the chief executive officer. They do very different jobs, but both have the right to be treated with the same respect. 

Sometimes – through the way that businesses are run – things get in the way of that. 

Why isn’t everyone treated fairly? What needs to change? That’s where we can help. 

What brought you to twentyfifty? 

I worked in the hospitality industry for 25 years and led a global hospitality chain’s sustainability and social impact work for their European hotels. 

Part of that work was looking into potential incidents of forced labour, often involving migrant workers. I felt that – because the industry is a ‘people’ business – it was a top priority to look after the people that worked in it. 

I started working for the World Sustainable Hospitality Alliance on a project with the IOM (International Organisation of Migration), to create guidelines on responsible recruitment. It led me to want to broaden my experience. 

By joining twentyfifty, I had the opportunity to bring my expertise and my knowledge from all those other parts of my career, while learning something new. 

What does a day at twentyfifty look like for you? 

I work mainly with FMCG clients, but I've also worked with other clients in the industrial and tobacco sectors. I love that we work from the Boardroom to the factories and fields, and that you really can make an impact in this job. 

You help businesses understand how to take responsibility for their impact on the people they work with. It’s not always easy, but I find it incredibly rewarding to untangle those knots.  

Most importantly, we listen to people along the way. For me, that is key. Because how do you understand how your business impacts people, if you don't listen? 

Can you give an example of a project you’ve worked on to help ‘untangle the knots’ as you say? 

Last year, I worked with several clients on responsible recruitment practices, including developing and delivering a workshop for a client in the construction industry. It also focused on migrant workers, drawing out where there might be ‘blind spots’ and where the business was not fully tuned into the relevant issues. 

My work on this (and forced labour) has always been important to me. Technically I'm a migrant worker myself – I moved from Austria to the UK 30 years ago. I know how difficult it can be to leave everything familiar behind you and start fresh in a new country, and that helps me to be empathetic about this issue. 

In the workshop, we looked into how workers had been recruited, how they were being managed through their recruiters, and we gave them a voice. We thought through how they would raise a complaint if they had a problem, or when they might not feel comfortable making a complaint, and we discussed how to overcome language barriers. 

I left the workshop thinking ‘gosh, there's something really good happening here. There will be a lot of people who will hopefully now feel that they're being heard.’ 

I want to be part of the solution and not the problem. That underpins everything that I do. 

What advice would you give to Human Rights teams who are looking to make a greater impact? 

It’s important to make the work practical and applicable to everyday situations and help show what human rights means in your business on a day-to-day basis. 

We can help people to understand where there is an obligation for them to listen to the people who are being impacted, and to act, and to know that their company’s Human Rights teams can help them with pragmatic solutions and suggestions for even small changes. 

What tip might you give to someone who's looking to work in this area? 

I would say you should think about the qualities that you would need to be a consultant and then find examples from your current work that match that. 

For instance, in the hospitality industry, I worked with different stakeholders. While it wasn't consultancy, a lot of what I did was relevant to the job I applied for at twentyfifty. So, pull out your strengths and focus on those. 

If you're the right candidate, in my experience, twentyfifty will hire you, and teach you, and give you the space to learn. 

Given the subject matter, your work must sometimes be challenging? 

The job can be challenging. And sometimes you're dealing with topics that can be really upsetting. 

But we have a great team who talk about these things and help you through that. 

Finally, where can we find you when you’re not at work? 

I'm quite busy with my family, but my children are quite grown up and do their own thing. I like to learn, so in my free time, I'm studying for a CISL Masters degree in Sustainability Leadership.  It includes the environmental side of sustainability which I find fascinating and relevant to my human rights work and the impact on people.   

Thank you for your time, Hemma! 

Like many of our other colleagues, Hemma brings great expertise in working with clients on responsible recruitment and forced labour risks. If your company is looking for guidance on these topics, get in touch with us at info@twentyfifty.co.uk.