Investing in our people

A combination of the furlough scheme, Brexit, and people exiting the industry has resulted in us not having a full team at any point. This is despite increases in salaries, benefits and improved working hours, it is sadly a problem across the industry. To put it into context, the industry headcount is down nearly 35% on pre-Covid-19 times.

We know that at Ideal Collection we are doing very well at retaining the people we have and are welcoming new team members every week, but we are still struggling.

In normal times, we would be able to speak with an agency and arrange cover but even they are not able to provide anyone at the moment. It has meant that to cope with demand, we have had to recruit fast and not always offered employees the level of training we normally would or be able to recruit as experienced individuals as we would like.

Marc Wilson, Group Training Manager

Our solution to this is to create a new role of Group Training Manager, and we are delighted that Marc Wilson (above), who some of you may know from visiting Kimbridge Barn is stepping into this role. We are heavily involved with Apprenticeships and the company has had the largest intake in this area ever. We hope by making these investments, our service offering will continue to improve and we are focussing first and foremost on the sites that have been impacted the most.

Mental Health First Aid Course

On the 22nd and 29th November, we will be putting a team member and all our support office team through the mental health first aid course which will help us recognise and support those struggling with their mental health within our workforce. This has become an increasing need across hospitality especially since the pandemic and we see it as just as an important investment as training our teams the technical skills of their job.

We have a few places available over both workshops, at a cost of £300. If this would be of interest, please contact genevieve@idealcollection.co.uk