The Hospitality and Tourism Industry Wellbeing and Development Promise Northern Ireland

Hospitality Ulster in partnership with Tourism Northern Ireland and the Hospitality and Tourism Skills network will deliver the rollout of the ‘Wellbeing and Development Promise’ in Northern Ireland with the aim of attracting and retaining talent in the sector, boosting training and development opportunities, and promoting staff wellbeing. This scheme replaces similar schemes previously delivered on a regional basis.

About

Ensuring that team members are well-supported is fundamental to any successful businesses. This is particularly vital for the hospitality sector which, at its heart, is built on providing fantastic customer service, creating repeat visits and an exciting, enjoyable experience and drives social mobility in communities across the country.

It is therefore critical that jobs and careers are attractive for jobseekers and existing team members alike. To ensure success, retention is critical for upskilling the sector, and for retention to be delivered, team members must feel valued and supported within their workplace. In effect a positive focus on wellbeing within the workplace has been proven to boost productivity and reduce absenteeism. Creating such environments will deliver a sense of belonging, positively impacting on the mental and social health of team members.

The Promise seeks to ensure that team members are well supported in the workplace and feel valued in an environment that allows them to reach their full potential and flourish as an employee in the sector.

Industry best practice suggests creating a business or team ethos is critical to promoting wellbeing and building retention. This could be linked to a specific cause or your local community.

The Promise is not an exhaustive, nor compulsory, list for businesses to comply with.

The Promise

• Ensure that you create a working environment that facilitates respect between all team members

• Implement a diversity & inclusion policy

• Support a team member on their wider life issues, if appropriate, and provide assistance where possible

• Ensure that team members are well-rewarded for their work, considering a wide range of pay and benefits, communicated through a clear pay policy

• Where tips are received have a clear policy for their distribution and keep deductions to an absolute minimum and only to cover costs

• Identify training and development opportunities for team members at all levels, and promote these to your workforce along with provision of all necessary compliance training to keep our teams safe

• Be open to flexible working where you can and offer a range of shift patterns with reasonable notice on changes

• Produce and maintain a health & safety policy

• Be aware of the mental health challenges associated with working in hospitality and minimise these

• Enforce a policy of anti-harassment in the workplace

Employers are encouraged to sign up to the Wellbeing and Development Promise.

To find out more, visit wellbeingpromise.co.uk