Case study: lone workers in a hotel and hospitality chain
About the client
Our client is a historic chain of managed breweries, pubs, hotels and inns with over 1,000 full and part-time employees. They are a major player in the hotel and hospitality sector, and their beers are sold across the UK and beyond.
Note: the hospitality brand has asked to stay anonymous for security reasons. For this article, we will simply refer to them as HHB (Hotel & Hospitality Brand).
The Challenge
Looking after 25 properties would be a daunting undertaking in any year but 2020’s COVID pandemic gave HHB’s property management team a challenge unlike any other. Not only did the UK’s hospitality sector go through an unprecedented upheaval but, like many companies, HHB had to furlough the majority of its workforce.
HHB’s biggest concern was the safety of its team. During lockdown, its property management team spent a lot of time visiting empty hotels, without direct support or supervision. HHB were worried that, if a team member was injured whilst alone in a hotel, no one would know.
There were further challenges with regards to organising the team. At the time, staff members would schedule their day with an online calendar but, with such an active and independent team, it was hard to keep track of everyone.
The Solution
Safety
HHB appointed Safepoint as its trusted solution to keep their lone working staff safe on their travels. The company opted for Safepoint’s self-managed solution as they felt they had the resources to manage any potential alerts themselves.
When HHB’s lone working staff are on-site, they start a task on their Safepoint app and set how long they think it will take. Sometimes tasks will take longer than expected at which time their assigned guardians will get an alert and would call and check that everything is okay.
“My tasks always overrun” said one of the team’s property managers, “but when they do it’s actually really reassuring to get a call from someone. That quick ‘are you alright?’ makes all the difference”.
On one occasion one of HHB’s property maintenance managers had to visit a hotel at 4 am due to a break-in. Walking completely alone through the 60-room site could have been an unnerving experience. Instead, the maintenance manager told us how reassured she felt to have Safepoint with her.
Without Safepoint, we were told that the property team would have had to create a buddy system or their manager would have to make frequent safety checks. In this way, using Safepoint saved the team money and time, and allowed everyone to safely get on with their jobs without distractions.
Better organisation
Since using Safepoint, HHB has not only felt the difference in keeping their staff safe but also in keeping their staff organised.
In preparation for the lifting of national lockdown, the chain’s IT team was going from location to location, setting up a new contactless ordering system to encourage social distancing. When one of their supervisors got a call from an engineer to say that he couldn’t get into a building, the answer was simple: he looked on the Safepoint Portal, saw that a key-holding team member was working round the corner, and asked if they could come let their colleague in.
When managing a team spread across the UK, being able to see all staff in one place has been a great benefit to the HHB team.
“It has huge potential – from managing the team, protecting lone workers, and even in our auditing process. Safepoint has really made communication between the team much more fluid.”
Into the future
Over the past year (like most hospitality teams) HBB has had to face incredible uncertainty and many sudden changes. Safepoint has not only been there during multiple lockdowns but also during periods of intense activity as restrictions have been eased.
Now the team is looking towards a brighter future. As restrictions lift for (hopefully) the last time, HHB will face new challenges but also new opportunities. COVID has brought hospitality to the forefront, but there have always been risks in the sector. Going forward, Safepoint will be there to help keep the team organised and safe –whatever the future brings.
