Team member wellbeing
Wellbeing is critical for our teams to feel happy and engaged at work, bringing the best service for our guests while feeling supported and cared for. Safeguarding this approach and enabling an environment that allows our teams to thrive is of paramount importance to us.
At Whitbread our strategy focuses on three main categories, physical, mental and financial wellbeing. We want to support our teams in having a balanced and healthy lifestyle and to ensure they have access to resources to help them in challenging times, whether that be through our network of mental health first aiders, or in access to advice and tools to support financial wellbeing. During Covid 19 we launched a strategic wellbeing communication programme ‘Wellbeing Wednesday’, this regular communication was part of a wider aim to ensure that teams have easy access to support for every aspect of their wellbeing, as well as creating an environment that supports team members to discuss and share their experiences in a safe environment.
Alongside a varied and competitive range of benefits and discounts, we also work closely with Hospitality Action, our employee assistance partner. Hospitality Action provides free, anonymous, independent support and services to all our team members 365 days a year, 24 hours a day. This means that when times are extremely tough for any of our team members, they always have somewhere to turn.
We listen genuinely to our teams, ensuring their views help inform decision making. It is our intention to ensure that everyone within Whitbread feels listened to. Whether it is through taking part in a survey, a listening group, the Our Voice Employee Forum, or through regular conversations with their line manager – we know that we can learn a huge amount from each other and we make sure we take every opportunity to listen.
Read more of our team member wellbeing stories here
We are committed to giving our teams a voice to help shape our culture and priorities.
Our Voice (a name chosen by our workforce) was set up in 2018 to ensure that the views of our team members are considered in decision making. The forum facilitates conversations between our team members and senior leaders, including the CEO and the Chief People Officer. The programme is made up of elected representatives from across our hotels, restaurants and support centre, and creates an environment for open conversation where our teams can share their first-hand experiences and help to shape business decisions. Our teams are passionate about making a positive difference and we will continue to work with them to harness their commitment and enthusiasm.
Thomas is a Deputy Hotel Manager and Our Voice Representative
I decided to put myself forward as an Our Voice representative because I have a passion for creating a safe, happy and efficient working environment for our teams. Whitbread is well known for being an outstanding employer and I think it’s really important that we maintain that reputation and listen to the views of our hard-working teams.
Since becoming an Our Voice representative, I have really enjoyed communicating feedback to our Operations Director and Managing Director, and building relationships with multiple leaders in the business. They really show how passionate our leaders are about the wellbeing of our teams at our meetings. They have a real interest in how we can work in different ways to improve our business for our teams, and in turn, our guests.
“At Whitbread we believe in consistently refreshing the focus on our wellbeing initiative, often whilst fundraising through our charity partnership with GOSH.
‘My Everest’ is a project that combines the wellbeing of our teams with the abundant pride that we feel when fundraising. In 2020, over 300 team members across Whitbread decided that their ‘My Everest’ challenge would be to compete in the annual ’Race for the Kids’ event. In the October of the coronavirus pandemic, sadly we could not meet at Hyde Park as originally planned.
However, we would not give up on our personal challenges and fundraising goals. We each completed the event local to our homes, covering the country in fundraising activity and raising a huge £30,000. I’m proud, that in a world that is currently filled with so many limitations; we as a workforce strive more ambitiously to be a ‘Force for Good’.”
Whitbread has once again been recognised as a ‘Top Employer’ in the UK by the Top Employers Institute.
This marks an incredible 13 consecutive years of achieving this external accreditation. Only organisations considered to have the highest standards of excellence qualify as a Top Employer.
The accreditation involves a detailed review of all our people practices across our Operations and Support Centres. These are carefully assessed and validated by the Top Employers Institute.
We are absolutely delighted that our dedication to and from our teams, our guests and our suppliers can shine through in this accolade.
