Slieve Russell is a Great Place to Work
AWARD Team presented with title following staff feedback
A Cavan business has received a coveted 'Great Place To Work' award that recognises a business's dedication to positive employee experience.
The Slieve Russell Hotel Golf and Country Club were announced as the winners of the prestigious accolade last Friday.
“It’s terrific to receive this award,” says CEO, Cathal Divilly from Great Place To Work who visited Ballyconnell to present the award.
“When we look at the survey results from everyone who participated in the survey, there's a great sense of comraderie among the whole team here, there’s a great culture within the hotel and there’s great trust among everybody,” said Mr Divilly.
When applying for the competition, employees from each company were required to complete an anonymous survey, noting their experience in their roles.
“This is obviously a very tough and challenging job market at the moment in hospitality but I think this will help us grow our talent and our people in years to come.“
Previous winners of the award include top companies such as Google and Workhuman.
Accommodation Manager Joan Walsh has been working for the company for almost 25 years and believes the employee experience in the hotel is exceptional.
“I’m here a really long time, I started as a young teenybopper in 1996. I got a job as an accommodation assistant cleaning rooms. I was also cleaning some of the public areas and then decided that I wanted to go to college and train in hospitality.”
Joan attended Cork Institute of Technology where she studied Hospitality Management before returning to the Slieve Russell Hotel to complete her required work experience.
“When my training was over, I got promoted to supervisor and from a supervisor I was an assistant manager for a long number of years,” she revealed of her career path.
In 2003, Joan secured a job as a manager in another Cavan based business, however after three months she realised the grass in the Slieve Russell golf course was, in fact, greener.
“I missed the plush carpets but more than that I missed the people here because they’re really my second family. There was a job offer and I ended up coming back and, within a matter of months, I was promoted to accommodation manager and I’ve been here since.”
HR Manager Orla Murphy was delighted to receive the award and believes a lot of work has gone into achieving it.
“We’re one of the leaders in Ireland in the hospitality industry, from previously winning the European EFQN award, this has now brought us at the forefront of employers of choice. If you think about all the different benefits that we have for the employees, they get free use of the leisure centre, lovely apartment blocks across the road, we have two houses in Ballyconnell for staff. We have health and wellbeing programs where they can go and have yoga on a Tuesday and we have pilates on another day. We have Fitbit challenges, there’s a lot of engagement things going on,” she revealed.
Chiming in, General Manager Tony Walker says “when we look at the breakdown of the survey results, they indicate three or four key finds. We have a fantastic culture here, it’s a really friendly place to work, there are terrific benefits to working here with career progression.
“It’s a privilege, we’re really really proud to win the award, not just for the management team but for all the staff as well. It’s great to get the recognition of being a great place to work.”
Great Place to Work is the global authority on high-trust, high-performance workplace cultures. Through assessment tools, consultancy services and certification programmes, it recognises the best workplaces across the world in a series of national lists including those published by The Irish Times and Fortune magazine (USA).