Novus Leisure has reduced annual staff turnover amongst its hourly paid employees by nearly a quarter after implementing a comprehensive training programme that focuses on individual aspirations and personal development.
Career pathway initiative
Thanks to ‘Raising the Bar – From Novice to Novus’, the brand’s unique career pathway initiative, staff turnover has declined by 23 per cent amongst hourly paid employees, and 10 per cent amongst salaried staff over the last 12 months. This has helped to cement Novus Leisure’s track record for producing the best employees in the industry, who are expertly trained and love their craft – seeing it as a long-term profession not a temporary choice.
‘Novice to Novus’ sets out training courses and projects for each level to highlight progression throughout the company, from the moment an employee joins the company, whatever their aspiration in the business may be. These training courses cover a mixture of personal development and operational based training, utilising internal and external expertise.
Each department at Novus Leisure runs the training that is most applicable to them, to ensure employees learn from the experts; for instance, the digital team hold a Digital Rockstars course, teaching managers how they can utilise and enhance their own site’s website and engage with customers, while the HR department runs HR Levels 1 and 2 courses. External trainers are then used for aspects such as compliance and food safety, as well as higher levels of training.
Furthermore, Novus Leisure has also revamped and enhanced its online e-learning system with additional training modules, and launched an online personality profiling assessment tool, which is utilised to generate personal development plans and feedback for our senior salaried management.
Reducing staff turnover
Staff turnover is a key issue for many brands throughout the hospitality sector, and Novus Leisure has focused on reducing this as a priority over the last year.
Georgina Fleming, HR Manager of Novus Leisure said: “We get no shortage of applications from people keen to make it in the hospitality industry, and it’s important to us that they recognise the long-term career opportunities we offer them – our longest serving employee, who is General Manager of Strawberry Moons in London, has been with us for 22 years!
“Novus Leisure is a great place to work – we’ve got an incredible portfolio of iconic locations and are the London experts, with our finger firmly on the pulse of the coolest city in the world. Thanks to our terrific training and development tools too, we’ve managed to considerable reduce our staff turnover and ensure employees remain members of the Novus Leisure team for years to come.
Attracting ambitious candidates
“These tools are also helping us to attract the most ambitious candidates who are passionate about the industry and appreciate the possibilities we offer; a huge number of sites in London with a variety of management positions, and the potential to progress their career not just in one bar, but across our whole portfolio.”
About Novus Leisure
With 45 unique bars, restaurants and late-night experiences located in London’s most desirable postcodes and the UK’s biggest cities, Novus Leisure sets the standard for the bar and late-night sector. The company prides itself on doing late nights right.
CEO Toby Smith leads a team of 2,500 passionate people with a flair for delivering first class customer experiences, all building rewarding careers.
Novus Leisure was founded in 1999 and is the UK’s largest privately owned bar and club operator. Among its iconic brands and venues are Tiger Tiger, Balls Brothers of London, Premium Bar & Kitchen, Forge in the City of London and Mabel’s in Covent Garden.
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