The Interview Jonathon
Woodall-Johnston, Hays Travel
Chief operating officer speaks candidly about his career progression and sudden promotion in the wake of John Hays’ death. Juliet Dennis reports
I
f the 16-year-old Jonathon Woodall- Johnston had been told he would one day be chief operating officer
of Hays Travel, he wouldn’t have believed it. “I wouldn’t have thought I could,”
admits Woodall-Johnston, now 34. “I wasn’t academic and had to resit maths and English while at Hays!” As a school-leaver he had set
his sights on being a holiday rep or cabin crew. “I’d only just turned 16 and you couldn’t get those jobs at that age,” he adds. So he joined Hays’ Peterlee branch
as an apprentice in 2004. “I thought Hays would give me a step into travel and then I could move on,” he says. Woodall-Johnston is an example
of how young talent can flourish given the right support and opportunity. He embarked on a two-year customer service and travel and tourism NVQ while working at Hays, which at the time had just 30 branches. The fact that many others at
Hays started as apprentices and were encouraged to work their way up has been a factor in his own progression. “My Peterlee manager started as
an apprentice. She told me, ‘You may have apprentice on your business card but you’re one of us. I want you selling by December.’”
12 1 SEPTEMBER 2022 In fact, he was selling by
November. He even recalls his first booking: an Alpha Travel coach holiday to Weston-super-Mare. “I still remember celebrating with
the team and getting a box of Roses for doing the booking,” he laughs. But it is the late John Hays he
credits for learning what he needed later in his career to get him where he is today. “I am forever grateful; I wouldn’t have been able to get to where I am now if John hadn’t given me the opportunity.”
Career ladder Woodall-Johnston’s career progression included becoming assistant manager at Hays’ original Seaham store before being recommended for a finance role at head office. Despite the “culture shock” of
switching to the group’s “behind the scenes” internal audit division, this soon led to him studying two nights a week over three years to become a qualified accountant and promotion to finance manager. “Internal audit was the grounding
for where I am today. When I was promoted to finance manager in 2012, I could see my future at Hays. I was responsible for overall payments to over 300 suppliers,” he says. The next step was far more nerve- wracking. He recalls: “In 2016, John
asked if I’d consider a new role as head of commercial and of the Hays Travel Independence Group. I kept thinking of what could go wrong. I had my comfort blanket taken away.” Woodall-Johnston was only in his
mid-20s but now reported directly to John, who became a friend as well as a boss. “He was so invested in us; he wanted everyone to succeed. He’d always listen and give good advice.”
Pandemic When the Covid pandemic hit and the UK went into lockdown, Hays Travel had just acquired Thomas Cook’s shops, boosting its store network to 650. The company furloughed most of
its 5,000 retail staff to safeguard jobs, only to invite them back a month later to work from home as call volumes rocketed with cleint demands for refunds and amendments. “We introduced a ‘Save the Sale’
app and encouraged staff to retain sales so they wouldn’t have to do refunds,” says Woodall-Johnston.
A recommendation from a staff
member also led to Hays Travel pitching for government contracts to deal with the Covid-19 crisis from early in the pandemic until May this year to generate extra income. Woodall-Johnston recalls:
“Everyone was working remotely. We trained our staff once we got the contracts and supported customers to book Covid tests or vaccinations.”
John Hays In the middle of the Covid crisis, on November 13, 2020, the sudden death of founder and co-owner John rocked the company. “It was a shock. I’d had a one-to-
one with John that morning on the phone,” recalls Woodall-Johnston. His promotion to chief operating
officer followed in the days after John’s death as co-owner Irene Hays sought to secure the running of the company while coming to terms with her husband’s passing. “Irene said it was always in the
planning and she’d be in the business
We were fortunate in that we had cash in the business because John and Irene had not taken a dividend for 10 years
travelweekly.co.uk
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