Blog. CH&CO go Back to Business

May 27, 2022 | Author Giuliana Vittiglio

Our virtual #BackinBusiness Tour kicks off on Friday 10th June and we couldn't be more excited. Sponsored by CH&CO, long-term supporters and advocates of our work, the challenge will see us circumnutate the globe in aid of all those whose lives went backwards during the pandemic. We caught up with Matt Symonds, Managing Director of Gather & Gather to find out a little more about what they have in store:

What inspired CH&CO to sponsor and take part in the Back in Business Tour?

Over the past couple of years, the number of our people that have benefited from Hospitality Action’s Employee Assistance Programme has increased significantly, therefore when an opportunity came to help support HA again, we jumped at the chance. Our objective is to get as many people engaged and involved in this challenge as possible. We all know and recognise the benefit that doing some exercise can bring to both our physical and mental health. Encouraging our teams to participate in this challenge not only raises valuable funds for Hospitality Action, it also encourages them to get out, take some exercise and take some time for themselves. Our messaging this year is that no activity or distance is too big or too small, it’s about the taking part – contributing a mile walk a day will benefit our wellbeing and fundraising as much as a 50-mile bike ride, for example.

How do you plan to engage the team?

We want to get as many people as possible involved this year and make the challenge really inclusive. Regardless of age, fitness levels, time pressures etc. we want people to contribute in a way that suits them. If 1000 people take part and raise £10 each, that’s a much bigger impact all round than just 20 people each raising £100. 

We have already started encouraging participation through our internal communications tool, Yapster. Those already signed up have taken part in the challenge before and know how much fun it is, and it’s this message that they are taking to their teams and colleagues. We have to make this event as fun as possible and we’re viewing it as an opportunity to hold team building events and thank people for the hard work and effort they are putting in to keeping our business running, whilst raising money for HA of course!

Matt Symonds Head Shot

Can you let us know a little about what you have planned?

This year, we are planning some more social activities to bring our teams together. So as well as raising money and improving their wellbeing they can spend time with colleagues and build relationships with others in the business they may not know yet, improving their social wellbeing too. 

Events planned so far include:

  • Organised bike rides from our Reading and London offices. 
  • Beach and Park Cleans: We are doing another of our beach and park cleans, combining our sustainability and wellbeing activities. As teams walk along our coast lines, waterways and parks picking up litter, we will log the miles they clock up.  Last time one of our teams reached 12 miles, so a great way to do add to the team total.
  • New for this year, we will be organising some after work walks from our sites, and in city locations we will encourage teams from neighbouring sites to join together to do this.

What other initiatives do you have in place to take care of employee wellbeing?

The Hospitality Action Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) is a big part of our wellbeing support. We have seen an increase in use from our teams over the past couple of years, with the biggest growth in uptake being for support with mental health.  The EAP provides great counselling services that have benefitted so many people and this is something we are really proud to be able to offer our teams. 

Throughout the pandemic, we also held regular Wellbeing Wednesday online events, which tackled a variety of areas where people potentially needed help.  The feedback from teams was fantastic. Topics covered included financial planning, mental health, menopause, men’s health, sleep and eating better on a budget, to name a few.  Our focus on wellbeing continues through initiatives such as support on our internal communications platform, introducing the cycle to work programme and in our latest employee magazine, HA featured to raise awareness of the EAP and all the other wellbeing support it offers.