This article was originally published in the Summer 2023 issue of Hospitality Ireland Magazine, in July of 2023.
All over the world, tourism is fundamentally a people business but nowhere more so than in Ireland where our greatest asset as a nation is the Céad Míle Fáilte provided by tourism staff and businesses to visitors. But to attract and retain the best people to work in tourism, we need to consistently ensure we provide quality workplaces. Fáilte Ireland’s Employer Excellence initiative has been designed to do just that. Through the initiative businesses will continuously improve their work practices to make tourism a career of choice for employees. The initiative is a key element of Fáilte Ireland’s strategy to ensure businesses can retain and attract the staff it needs immediately while also building a future pipeline of skilled employees.
Last September, Fáilte Ireland launched the Employer Excellence Programme, an industry-wide initiative to help tourism businesses recruit and retain staff in a highly competitive employment market. The programme helps tourism and hospitality businesses drive improvements in employment practices and provide businesses with tailored action plans and a trusted symbol that denotes a rewarding and appealing workplace.
170 businesses registered for the programme in 2022 which afforded them access to dedicated people management training, an independent industry recognised accreditation.
Speaking about the initiative, Fáilte Ireland’s Director of Sector Development, Jenny de Saulles said:
“The ultimate ambition of this programme is not only to help businesses to build their own employer brand and attract the talent they need now and into the future, but to create a way for the industry to collectively work together to demonstrate the best of careers and employment in the sector in a way that will ring true for key audiences – employees, jobseekers, the talent of tomorrow in secondary schools and their key influencers including parents and guidance counsellors. We’ve had fantastic uptake for the first year of the programme with tourism and hospitality businesses across the country setting a new industry standard for employee excellence. We’re currently open for registration for 2023 participants”.
The Sandhouse Hotel wins top accolade at the inaugural Fáilte Ireland Employer Excellence Awards. From left
Jenny De Saulles, Fáilte Ireland’s Director of Sector Development; Paul Diver, Sandhouse Hotel – Co. Donegal;
and Paul Kelly, CEO Fáilte Ireland.; Pic: Naoise Culhane
Employer Excellence Awards:
To celebrate and recognise the 170 businesses who have demonstrated their commitment to making the tourism industry an appealing and rewarding place to work, Fáilte Ireland hosted the inaugural Employer Excellence Awards which took place in the Guinness Storehouse in April 2023. The winning businesses were chosen based on employee feedback.
Explaining the importance of the awards, Sharon Balmaine, Head of Tourism Careers, Fáilte Ireland said:
“We know there are excellent employers and great workplaces in the industry but to attract and retain the best people to work in tourism, we need to highlight the best of careers and employment in the sector. A key element of Fáilte Ireland’s Employer Excellence programme is putting the views of tourism employees front and centre and tonight’s winning businesses have all been chosen based on employee feedback. Over 20,000 tourism employees have already been offered the opportunity to participate in the employee survey and have been positively impacted by the initiative through the proactive actions of the participating businesses. So, it was fantastic to gather for the inaugural Fáilte Ireland Employer Excellence awards to showcase the best-in-class examples of employers along with those professionals who are thriving in the industry.”
Eleven businesses in total were presented with awards on the night, including The Sandhouse Hotel, Co. Donegal which received the overall Outstanding Employer Award.
Paul Diver, The Sandhouse Hotel added: “Many hotels now realise that our staff are our biggest assets and we as employers need to look at ways of empowering them by giving them a voice and encouraging employee engagement and development to ensure staff retention going forward. We didn’t really have a problem with staff retention as some of our staff have been here for over 50 years, but being part of Fáilte Ireland’s Employer Excellence programme has made management of staff much more inclusive and has defined roles within the organisation”.
THE FÁILTE IRELAND EMPLOYER EXCELLENCE 2023 PROGRAMME:
The Fáilte Ireland Employer Excellence Programme is open for registration for 2023 participants. Businesses are encouraged to sign up where they will get access to:
- Best-in-Class Fundamentals of People Management Training developed especially for this programme by Fáilte Ireland with top HR experts
- An employee survey provided by Great Place to Work®
- Opportunity to be certified and recognised as an excellent employer
- Bespoke supports to help develop and implement employee engagement initiatives within your business.
Tourism businesses who are interested in joining Fáilte Ireland’s Employer Excellence programme can find out more at https://www.failteireland.ie/employer excellence.aspx”
Read More: Hospitality Ireland Summer 2023: Read The Latest Issue Online!
