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"How do you keep your team motivated and support your people’s career development?"

1

Talent Pipeline

Sarah Dore MBII
The Alexandra, Wimbledon
It all begins with our strong induction programme. We always try to promote from within and very rarely recruit for senior positions from outside of our team. Young’s has robust training and development programmes, and we always train to people’s strengths and develop our team across a variety of roles, with appointed champions for the cellar, front-of-house and so on. We’re proud that several of our team have left us to manage their own pubs – people are continually moving up the ranks. But also, we are pleased that a lot of our team have been with us here throughout our 14 year journey. Some are in senior positions and some are happy to be where they are, but they all are really strong and help us progress.

2

Rewards & Recognition

Lee Reeves
J.W. Lees
There is a big focus on reward and recognition, ensuring our managers are well-equipped and have the tools they need, including the ability to give on-the-spot rewards. We continually support our rising stars within the business, through succession planning meetings, as well as identifying where individual development is needed. Our Learning & Development partner will build bespoke training programmes, and within our brewery, we make the most of our apprenticeship levy. We have a strong rewards and benefits package in place and we are working hard to make sure every team member knows what is available to them, so a big focus is on making sure they understand what’s on offer and are able to access the benefits available.

3

Sales Bonus Scheme

Jo Whalley MBII
Wigan Central Bar, Wigan
We’re a wet-only bar with a relatively small team, so we don’t have formal training. But I have a 5% sales bonus incentive scheme, which is split between the team, once we have achieved a certain target. It helps them focus on up sales – which we call a passive upsell. “As we are very beer orientated, with seven hand pulls on keg, 150 bottles of beer from all over the world, plus four cider lines, our team are encouraged to taste and become educated in beer styles and flavours. I only recruit people who have a real passion for it, as we’ve nothing to hide behind here – no food, music, etc. I’m a qualified Level 2 Cicerone (professional beer qualification) and my manager is currently doing her Level 1.

4

Making Sure the Team Gets Praise and Positive Feedback

Vikki Hunt FBII
The Lodge, North Tuddenham
We like to make sure we share, on the group chat, any good reviews we’ve received on Google or TripAdvisor, as it’s nice for everyone to get that extra thank you. We hold regular appraisals, which again gives us an opportunity to thank them again and to also guide them towards any new targets. For instance, if someone has a new skill they wish to learn, like a chef wanting to improve their butchery skills, we will do that either in-house or externally. We recently took on an in-house training and development manager in the kitchen, who works across both of our sites, not only training our younger members of staff, but overseeing back-of-house, menu development, as well as cooking skills. It’s keeping everything fresh and getting the whole kitchen team involved and highly motivated, as they all get to suggest dishes for the specials’ board, etc.

5

Reasons To Love Coming To Work

Chris and Jason Black FBII
Cornish Inns
We treat all of our team equally and motivate them by offering career development in-house. We recruit with a view that every team member can progress with us across our five sites. We set each team member targets monthly and yearly, so they have a clear focus. We offer a fun and friendly working environment with a healthy sense of competition within the team (sales targets, upselling side dishes, etc). Little things make a big difference, so we try to find little ways to ensure our team love coming to work.

6

A Tailored Approach

Ollie Coulombeau
The Turk’s Head, Twickenham
We will always aim to train, encourage and coach team members to be able to excel at whatever they are trying to achieve. Whether this is through face-to-face training or more formal learning – we want a job here to give everyone the opportunity to be the best they can be. We want to create a supportive work environment that encourages our team to excel and grow in their careers. Each person has unique needs and preferences, so it’s essential we tailor our approach to each person whenever possible. We are always looking to provide the best possible experience for our customers and know that our team being motivated, well trained and focused on excellence is the biggest component of achieving this.

7

Better Pay & Hours

Alan Nicholls MBII
The Regent
Your team is the greatest asset to your business. If team members enjoy their job and are happy at work, it shows! Which is why we are a supporter and subscriber to The Living Wage Foundation and have pledged to increase all wages in line with this increase. In addition to this, we’ve also recently introduced a four-day week, we know that working long hours and late nights can affect our lives in adverse ways so having three days off per week helps to redress the work/ life balance. Customers pick up on the positive atmosphere and this environment helps to create a pleasant and welcoming experience.

8

Meaningful Investment

Sean White FBII
Queen’s Head, Pinner
Keeping your team motivated is the most important part of their career development, but is also the most important part of the business’s future development. A motivated team is one which is invested in – staff must see their jobs as having a level of future proofing, and future prospects. This can only be achieved by meaningful investment in external and internal staff training, with career opportunities in formal apprenticeship training at all levels. Supporting staff development does not come cheap, and ultimately this is a cost which has to be passed on to our customers. To date, I have not found any customers object to something so worthy as investing in your team!

9

Career Pathways

Tim Tomlinson FBII
The White Cross, Stonewell
With three venues, the ability to move people between the venues gives me more flexibility, and with a young team of people running the pubs, individuals can see there is mileage to stay and move up through the business. One of the big differences I’m seeing at the moment is with our chefs and kitchen teams, who are being paid a lot more than they were three to five years ago, and with a solid pay packet that is competitive with other careers, they want to see a pathway to head chef. Some of them have left to experience other venues, but they return, which is very motivational for the team. Our management training courses make a big difference too. It’s important to show you care by offering formal training, even if they don’t stay with you, it’s helping them to develop a career.

10

Focus On Their Wellbeing

Michael Pearson MBII & Charlotte Salaman
It’s our primary focus – they are our greatest asset and the driving force behind sales income and financial returns. Their wellbeing is all important. We pay the living wage and apply top-end London weighting for all salaried positions. We restrict the working week to a maximum of 48-hours, and we are flexible in terms of requests for time off. We have a very low staff turnover, saving us thousands on recruitment, and we have ongoing training and development – our aim is to upskill all members of staff and have at least three people back- and front-of-house more than capable of running shifts and managing their area. Our teams happiness is expressed in the dishes they produce and the service they provide, and it creates positive energy and a warm welcome.

This interview can be found in the Winter 2024 edition

Read the full issue

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