Roadchef putting ‘their’ people first delivers at Investors in People Awards
Restaurant News is Sponsored by Santa Maria Foodservice UK
Leading motorway services operator, Roadchef, has won a top HR Honour at the annual Investors in People Awards 2022. The company, which operates 30 sites up and down the country, took home the Reward and Recognition Award, which celebrates organisations that go above and beyond in rewarding employees for their hard work, dedication, and commitment.
Roadchef was up against eight other businesses for the award, which sees hundreds of organisations from across the UK battle it out for a trophy. The company has long put its staff at the forefront of its business strategy, recognising early on that its business is only as good as its people. As a result, it has always placed great emphasis on recognising and rewarding the great work of all its team members, as Laura Bunn, Roadchef’s HR Director explains:
“We are absolutely delighted to have won this award, which is testament to the value we place on our employees. At Roadchef, we recognise that reward and recognition is vital for morale, and making our team feel valued by the business. We are a customer facing organisation, and our teams on the front line, all contribute to our success.
“A successful business is built on the back of a happy, motivated team, and we truly believe this to be the case at Roadchef; as a result, we actively invest in many different tactics and strategies to ensure our employees can feel as passionate and driven about their work as possible. We encourage them to strive for the very best for themselves, while also constantly recognising the successes of everyone around them.”
Over the past 4 years, Roadchef has introduced a raft of award-winning HR initiatives that have really bolstered their employee achievement and retention stats. These include Employee and Manager of the Month, instant reward ‘scratch cards’ thank you cards for peer to peer recognition, Everyday Heroes awards scheme, management recognition at senior team meetings, pin badges aligned to company values and superstar sellers with seasonal incentives.
The company recently introduced an HR Toolbox Talk, which communicates and trains all employees on the reward and recognition scheme at Roadchef. This is discussed at the Joint Consultative Committee to obtain feedback at each site, so each Site Director can understand what motivates their team.
At the same time, the organisation also initiated a scheme to publicise those that are nominated for awards. Every quarter a recognition brochure is issued that details all employees and teams that have received recognition. This, Roadchef believes, has motivated its employees to want to be rewarded for a job well done.
In addition to winning the overall award for Reward and Recognition, two Roadchef employees – Aga Edwards and Jessica Skinner were also shortlisted for leader of the Year and Young Person of the Year (over 100 people) respectively.
Aga, Site Director at Durham MSA, is one of the top performing Site Directors, consistently achieving 3 star accreditation in the Best Companies to Work For in the North East regional list.
Jessica, McDonald’s Business Manager at Rownhams MSA, is passionate about team development has a great track record of developing internal talent and supporting employees to achieve their career goals.