Saga Travel Group, which incorporates Saga Travel and Titan, claims its move to new London offices and the introduction of extra employee benefits are helping it attract fresh talent.
The over-50s specialist closed its Folkstone office and moved to Kings Cross, next to Google, Nike, Havas and other global brands.
It covers travelling expenses for anyone living 20 miles or more from the office, has a total flexible working policy, offers flexible bank holidays if people who don’t celebrate Easter for example, would rather have the days off at another time, and allows people to purchase up to five days’ extra holiday each year.
It is also considering a 30-day ‘Work From Anywhere’ policy as another benefit, to allow people to work from overseas if they wish.
Chief executive John Constable claims all the measures have turned it into a national recruiter, with people now working for the group from anywhere, ranging from south Wales to Manchester.
He said it is now attracting ‘top level talent’ as a result, for both entry and more senior positions.
“We’re really up there in terms of what we offer. We’re now seen as very innovative. A company doing different things. In a market where candidates really have their pick of where they want to work, it’s a really easy for us to do a sales pitch about Saga Travel Group now,” he said.
People director Rachel Reddan said Saga Travel Group was also working with ProAge, the charity whose mission it is to equip leaders in organisations with age-inclusion intelligence, enabling a multi-generational workplace, to recruit more mature employees.
“We’ve identified a range of roles that really suit them, such as those that aren’t necessarily full time, involve working from home and involve interacting with our customers. These include drivers for our VIP home pickup service and in our customer service teams,” she said.
“ProAge is telling us that over- 50s are struggling to get back into work after the pandemic – in fact they report that 65% of employees over 55 believe the jobs market is closed to them for applying for roles. So we want to dispel that and also help our own diversity.”