Global hotel management firm Valor Hospitality Partners aims to support employees’ wellbeing through a range of low-cost initiatives and campaigns.
When the organisation allocates its wellbeing budget, which is flexible and set at different times throughout the year, it ensures it is done in the most effective way for its more than 3,000 UK staff. This includes training mental health first aiders (MHFA) in all hotels and offices to listen and signpost staff to support, and wellbeing champions in each hotel who hold wellbeing initiatives, such as Wellbeing Wednesday. This involves tips on healthy eating, walking and running clubs, litter picking, and tea-and-talk sessions. The champions also share wellbeing best practice on the employer’s internal system, where staff can download a free wellbeing toolkit, as well as contribute wellbeing ideas all year round, so the budget can be adapted as needed.
Allowing its MHFAs and wellbeing champions to plan and deliver activities or advice, and giving staff the time to get involved, is an effective and low-budget way of putting Valor Hospitality’s wellbeing strategy into practice, explains Moira Laird, people and culture director.
“We hold an annual Healthy Habits campaign, through which we encourage staff to make small changes to their physical, mental or financial wellbeing, and share wellbeing practices with each other,” she says. ”These could be small things, such as book recommendations or recipe sharing, or bigger activities such as charitable efforts and exercising together. We aren’t telling them how they should live, but giving them the space to get the best out of themselves and each other.”
The organisation also offers digital bitesize wellbeing learning through its learner management system. This includes a range of books on sleeping, resilience and self-kindness. It launched these resources in line with awareness days or seasonal trends, such as releasing the Healthy Eating book during its Healthy Habits campaign, and it was downloaded over 600 times. Meanwhile, its Winter Wellbeing book, which was released in January, was downloaded more than 750 times.
It has also introduced a platform, provided by Wagestream, which offers access to financial advice, setting up saving plans and accessing cash ahead of payday for all employees. It also plans to launch Let’s Talk cards, aimed at helping managers start conversations with staff around different wellbeing areas.
Valor Hospitality believes that a strong wellbeing strategy is needed in today’s world, and that its job is to ensure employees have the tools to balance stresses and the support they need.
As Laird says: “Our team members are our greatest asset and we care greatly about their wellbeing. We are committed to their mental health and wellbeing by ensuring our work practices, the work environment and our workplace culture will add value to, enhance and protect their health and wellbeing. By giving employees the skills to support one another, we collectively take early action in times of mental health distress.”
