The Landmark London is a five-star hotel based in central London that employs 300 members of staff.
To encourage wellbeing and engagement among employees, the business offers a wide variety of initiatives that aim to suit everyone, whatever their circumstances happen to be.
Nicola Forshaw, director of human resources at The Landmark London, explains that as well as offering healthcare support in the form of free on-site fitness classes such as boot camp, Zumba and yoga, the employer also celebrates team members’ birthdays, learning achievements and service anniversaries at a monthly afternoon tea event hosted by the executive team.
“We have a staff restaurant with its own team that includes a designated chef to provide free meals while workers are on duty, with hot meals, vegetarian options and a full unlimited salad bar," she says. "We recently introduced a four-day working week for our chefs to assist with their work-life balance and also have employee assistance programmes that offer counseelling and support on matters including mental health, emotional and financial matters."
In addition, the organisation has employee taskforces that give staff a voice to help shape the future direction of the business, as well as quarterly review meetings to highlight successes and regular all-staff meetings with the general manager and executive team to agree goals for the future.
Forshaw recommends that any organisations looking to implement support of this kind in the future should first listen to their team. “Try ideas and if they don’t have an impact don’t give up, just try again. One size doesn’t fit all, support and engagement varies for everyone at different times of their lives, therefore it may be best to have a wide variety available.”
Arguably, team engagement is vital for the success of any organisation. Forshaw believes that both individuals and teams must be engaged to deliver the standards and customer service that the hotel’s guests expect.
“In the hospitality industry, happy and engaged team members are essential and we spend a large amount of time working with our teams to ensure they are heard and we can deliver their expectations," she says. "It is important that people feel they belong and they have an impact on the organisation, so we ensure we have a culture that encourages this to happen."
