The business was awarded the ‘Best Employer’ award for Ireland’s Hidden Heartlands
Elbow Lane Brew & Smoke House, Cork won the Best Employer Food and Drink Award at Fáilte Ireland’s Employer Excellence Awards which took place in the Lyrath Estate Hotel in Kilkenny. Pictured from left are Joe Timbrell and Jerry O’Sullivan, Elbow Lane Brew & Smoke House and Paul Kelly, CEO, Fáilte Ireland. Pic: Dylan Vaughan
The Goldie Fish & Ale Restaurant, Cork City won the Best Employer – Ireland’s Ancient East Award at Fáilte Ireland’s Employer Excellence Award. Pictured at the ceremony were from left Jerry O Sullivan, Goldie Fish and Ale Restaurant, Cork and Jenny De Saulles, Director Sector Development, Fáilte Ireland. Pic: Dylan Vaughan
Ballyhass Adventure Park was amongst the three Cork businesses that were recognised as top employers at Fáilte Ireland’s Employer Excellence Awards at Lyrath Estate Hotel in Kilkenny on Wednesday.
The business, which has bases in Mallow and Coachford, won the award for ‘Best Employer’ in ‘Ireland’s Hidden Heartlands’, part of which was based on the feedback of its employees.
The Goldie Fish & Ale Restaurant, based on Oliver Plunkett Street in Cork was recognised as the best employer in ‘Ireland’s Ancient East’ while Elbow Lane Brew & Smoke House was honoured as the best employer in the ‘Food and Drink’ category.
A total of 14 businesses from all over Ireland were recognised as best employers by Fáilte Ireland, which developed the Employer Excellence Programme to “continuously build quality workplaces that offer appealing and rewarding careers where employees can develop and progress”.
Over 260 tourism businesses are currently participating in the programme, which launched in September 2022. As part of the programme, a survey was conducted with staff of participating businesses, giving them the chance to highlight the strengths of their workplace and areas for further development.
Fáilte Ireland said it is now supporting these businesses to implement actions identified in their survey to further enhance employee engagement. The winning businesses were chosen based on this employee feedback as well as completion of a dedicated management training programme.
According to Fáilte Ireland, considerable progress has been made with 64% of employees in the industry saying they enjoy the benefits of their role and over 70% recognising improved employee communication and involvement.
Jenny De Saulles, Fáilte Ireland’s director of sector development, said that the fantastic career opportunities on offer in the tourism sector, courtesy of great employers, needs to be continuously highlighted.
“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,” Mrs De Saulles said.
“Over 27,000 tourism employees have already been engaged and positively impacted by this initiative. So, it’s fantastic to gather together to showcase the best-in-class examples of employers along with those professionals who are thriving in the tourism industry.”
Tourism businesses who are interested in joining Fáilte Ireland’s Employer Excellence programme can find out more at https://www.failteireland.ie/employerexcellence.aspx.
Today’s News in 90 seconds – 19th April 2024