A HOTEL near Kidderminster has been nominated for a hat-trick of prestigious industry awards for its work supporting employees’ training and wellbeing.

Brockencote Hall Hotel in Chaddesley Corbett is part of The Eden Hotel Collection, which has been shortlisted for the Best Employer award, Best Training Programme award, and Employee Health and Wellbeing award at the 2023 Springboard Awards for Excellence.

The nominations recognise Eden’s continued growth this year, working against the backdrop of the Covid pandemic to maximise staff retention, training and wellbeing through the launch of a number of new programmes and initiatives.

This includes a project designed to align Eden’s leadership and company values with that of its employees, running interactive values workshops to involve employees in the process of defining its new values to create an inclusive employee proposition.

This is alongside the rollout of its new employee communication platform Eden Engage – providing a hub for all employee access to their electronic personnel files, access to policies and procedures and a space to share good news – and its new benefits and wellbeing platform Eden Extra’s.

Eden Extra’s offers tailored support to all the group’s employees related to their financial, mental and physical wellbeing with initiatives including a new benefits portal for financial support, 24-hour GP and dental access, a Fair Pay Promise and commitment to regular pay reviews, supported by the hotels’ regular Tea & Talk sessions where employees can talk about any personal concerns or stresses.

Other people-led initiatives by Eden this year include improving staff facilities, taking part in awareness days, the launch of new ‘Wellbeing Champions’, the creation of a menopause policy, and driving retention by introducing ‘Settling In’ surveys for new starters.

The combined initiatives have helped to reduce Eden’s vacancy rate by 62 per cent and the employee 90 day-retention rate increasing to a monthly average between 90 per cent and 100 per cent.

The nominations have further recognised Eden’s commitment to talent retention and training provision through its in-house Thrive and Rise leadership and apprenticeship programmes.

The Thrive academy, which launched in September, is helping to combat a national skills shortage in the hospitality sector and provide staff with pathways to progression through tailored workshops, webinars modules and mentoring at management level; whilst the Rise programme is geared towards team members at supervisory level, providing work-based learning alongside supported education.

Lisa Redding, Group Head of HR, said: “I am absolutely delighted. Our shortlisting across three categories, including the prestigious Best Employer award, is testament to our continued development over the past 18 months.

“Having emerged from the pandemic and facing a recruitment struggle, I am very proud of the clear growth and direction we have shown in our increased wellbeing, training and development provision for employees.

“We are very proud of our success, and supporting the health and wellbeing of our employees which only serves to further enrich the brilliant service we offer our guests.”

Jack Hartshorne, General Manager of Brockencote Hall Hotel said: “I am really pleased to see the excellent training and wellbeing initiatives offered at the Brockencote Hall Hotel and across the Eden group recognised in these great nominations. We all have our fingers crossed for the final.”

The awards take place on Thursday, April 20, at Oceandiva on the River Thames in London.