Best places to work 2018 7


THE CHOCOLATE QUARTER (ST MONICA TRUST) In a nutshell This £60m retirement


community, run by the charity St Monica Trust, opened in late 2017 with 136 assisted living apartments and a 90-bed care home, Somerdale restaurant and B-Block pizzeria Location The former Fry’s chocolate factory at Keynsham, Somerset Employees 39, including front of house, pizza chefs and kitchen staff Average staff turnover Two – one returning to Spain and one for a new career Annual sales turnover The organisation has been trading for under a year


The Chocolate Quarter is St Monica Trust’s fifth retirement village and although it only opened late last year the charity’s employment strategy has not missed a beat. One of its top achievements is respecting work-life balance, with 91% of Chocolate Quarter respondents satisfied against a benchmark of 68%. The majority of employee respondents say the charity lives up to its promises and 94% are content they work well as a team to get good results. Certainly, all teams are involved in operational day-to-day procedures, with oppor- tunities to give input through regular tasting sessions of new dishes and wines. To ensure career fulfilment, all staff have four supervision sessions during the year and there is scope to move between departments, such as marketing, maintenance, and so on. “We’d rather keep our best people within the charity, even if we have to lose them from B-Block or Somerdale,” says facilities opera- tions manager Mark Thomas.


The lucky employees also get lots of thank-


yous. To date, this has been in the shape of Love Hearts on Valentine’s Day, hot chocolate and a mug at Christmas, and Easter eggs No wonder 93% of Chocolate Quarter respondents to the Best Places to Work sur- vey would recommend their employer. As one says: “It’s a great place to work and the staff are trained to a very high standard, with great working benefits and working environment.”


8


THE OLD STOCKS INN In a nutshell A former 17th-century coaching inn transformed by owner


Jim Cockell into a 16-bedroom boutique hotel, bar and restaurant Location Stow-on-the-Wold, the Cotswolds Employees 23, but at high season up to 30 Average staff turnover 16%, with the average team member having 2.2 years’ service Annual sales turnover: £1.3m in 2017 (£1.5m forecast for 2018)


Underpinning it all is the company’s recognition of good service. This reassures employees that they will be rewarded as they progress, inspiring them to take a personal interest in growing the business. Employee of the month awards, for instance, offer self- development prizes such as molecular cocktail classes, spa days and hotel stays. The success this company has had in creat- ing an engaged, focused team who act as brand ambassadors has resulted in a great employer reputation and an excellent staff retention rate. One employee, for instance, started as a part-time waitress aged 17 and loved the job so much she stayed, progressing four years later to events co-ordinator. “I have grown so much as a person. I absolutely love my job and my colleagues,” she says. She is not alone. Some 92% of her col- leagues say it is a good working environment, with notable comments including “it is run with a soul and a heartbeat”.


9 The Old Stocks Inn


Operating with a small team in a rural area, the company makes sure its employees are happy. Front of house staff work 42-hour contracts with paid overtime, and the kitchen team work 48 hours maximum with 2.5 days off a week. Some 90% of staff respondents to the survey say they have a good work-life balance. There are lots of perks too. The team get


28 days’ holiday a year – plus their birthday off and one other special day. When they’re on duty, staff sit down to cooked breakfasts and a group family meal at 5.30pm, and to nurture them as brand ambassadors, they get 50% off when dining at the inn as well as discounted rooms for friends and family. Development is taken seriously, with access to in-house training and an online training platform called Flow Hospitality.


CEME CONFERENCE CENTRE In a nutshell The Centre for Engineering and Manufacturing Excellence (CEME)


is a not-for-profit education and skills organisation with purpose-built conference facilities in 18 acres of campus Location Rainham, Essex Employees 22 (including support services) Average staff turnover 4%


Service standards are consistently high at this state-of-the-art venue. Its expertise in host- ing conferences for up to 600 delegates (as well as meetings, exhibitions and events) has attracted gold standard accreditation from the Meetings Industry Association and member- ship of Venues of Excellence.


CEME’s remit to provide an inspirational environment for learning and business growth means the organisation takes the motivation of its own team seriously. As part of its 2017 learning and development plan, CEME invested in emotional intelligence profiling for its employees. According to conference centre director Eamonn Cole, the benefits were two-fold: staff gained insights into their emotional make-up through com- pleting the profiles, while HR improved its workforce understanding, interaction and communication through the evaluation. The results are tangible, with team and indi-


vidual performance against task completion increasing by nearly 10% and engagement scores improving to 9.2/10. The Best Places to Work survey pro- vides further evidence that the organisation has a great people strategy: an astonish- ing 100% of CEME respondents say they want to do a good job and that their leaders are inspirational.


The Chocolate Quarter 40 | The Caterer | 27 April 2018


As one employee puts it: “CEME is an organisation that truly lives up to its values of exceeding expectations, positive attitude and presentation. The staff all commit to be the very best that they can be for the benefit of all our customers.”


www.thecaterer.com


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