Seaham Hall, the award-winning five-star hotel in the North East, is tackling its staff recruitment problem by pledging to return 40% of future profits to its employees.
A first for hospitality?
Modelled on the successful John Lewis Partnership profit-share scheme, the new deal at Seaham Hall is designed to attract quality staff and incentivise existing employees. It is believed to be the first of its type introduced in the UK hotel industry.
The 20-room award-winning property at Seaham, on the County Durham coast, has undergone a £2 million upgrade by new owners over the last 18 months. Yet finding and retaining good staff remains a concern, said general manager Ross Grieve.
“Seaham Hall has almost 100 employees and 90% have been recruited locally. We currently need more people for the kitchen, in food and beverage, and trained spa therapists, so we must try to get these people from outside the area.”
He added: “I’m delighted that we have attracted some really impressive staff, but we urgently need more exceptional and motivated people to share in our success.”
The incentive scheme
The employee incentive scheme will see 40% of net profits divided up and returned to each member of staff equally.
Recent refurbishment at the hotel has included a new look for its award-winning Serenity Spa, a glamorous new lounge bar and new restaurant led by celebrity chef Martin Blunos. In November Seaham Hall won the Small Hotel of the Year title in November’s North East England Tourism Awards.
About Seaham Hall
Built in 1792 on the coast at Seaham, County Durham, Seaham Hall has a colourful history. The notorious Romantic poet Lord Byron married there in the 1800s, while in the 1920s it was used by illegal whisky brewers. It first became a hotel in 1984, but its transformation into a luxury property with ground-breaking spa took place in the late 1990s and it was named the AA’s Hotel of the Year in 2004. A lack of investment in the intervening years was halted with its purchase in 2012 by a private businessman determined to restore Seaham’s reputation as a sophisticated and exclusive first-class hotel.