Kidderminster hotel lands double recognition for workforce welfare
A boutique hotel in Kidderminster has landed double recognition for its commitment to colleague welfare at a major hospitality awards ceremony.
Brockencote Hall Hotel is part of The Eden Hotel Collection, which has collected prizes for Employee Health and Wellbeing, along with Employee Engagement at the prestigious 2024 Springboard Awards For Excellence, which celebrates the UK and Ireland’s hospitality superstars.
This year saw 50 hospitality businesses shortlisted following a record 200 entries.
Both award wins for The Eden Hotel Collection highlighted the organisation’s ‘Money, Mind, Body & Heart’ people strategy to enhance colleagues’ wellbeing, which has seen vacancy levels reduce by 62 per cent across the Group and the business’s 90-day retention rate improve to 96.4 per cent.
Forming a key part of Eden’s award entries was the introduction of a new reward and recognition programme for staff to celebrate each other – called The Happy Hub – which promotes feel-good hormones amongst teams; including a social recognition wall, instant rewards through gift vouchers and peer-to-peer e-cards.
Acting on survey feedback was also a core part of the winning entries – particularly around financial welfare – which has not only seen staff receive a number of significant pay increases in the last few years, but also the introduction of Wagestream – a digital tool that enables staff to access their earned wages prior to a routine monthly pay day.
Lisa Redding, Group People Director at Eden Hotel Collection, said: “Our people, like many others across the UK, have had to deal with a pandemic and a cost-of-living crisis in quick succession, and as a business our priority has been to provide meaningful support to our people based on their feedback.
“We want our teams to feel like they can be the best versions of themselves – both at work and at home – and not only have we introduced financial support, but emotional support too with the introduction of The Happy Hub, as well as a number of development pathways and a leadership programme for career development.
“The benefits we have introduced to our people are wide-ranging, reflecting our near 50-50 gender split and have undoubtedly helped us to attract and hold on to top talent.”
This year’s award wins mark two consecutive years of success at The Springboard Awards For Excellence for The Eden Hotel Collection, having scooped the Best Training Programme award last year.
Jack Hartshorne, General Manager at Brockencote Hall Hotel, added: “It’s fantastic to see our hotel and the wider business recognised for making the organisation such a great place to work.
“Being able to recognise people in different ways for doing a good job has been really well received by the team at Brockencote Hall Hotel, and has created a great environment where people feel motivated and driven to support each other and uphold the highest standards of service.”
Mark Chambers, Managing Director at The Eden Hotel Collection, added: “These award wins underline the business’s dedication to creating an environment where our teams feel valued, motivated and have opportunities to develop and grow both personally and professionally.
“We want our hotels to exemplify all that is good about working in a hospitality sector that has had various challenges with recruitment and retention – especially since the pandemic – and central to that is investing in our people.
“To see our own staff retention levels at a record high is fantastic, and vindicates the people first culture we have created here which in turn will help to drive the business’s future growth.”
By Adam Dale - Contributor
