Hays Travel will pay for one employee’s housing costs and bills as part of a thank-you giveaway and has upped sales bonuses in the face of the steepest rise in living costs in a generation.
The winning staff member of the September prize in The Big Hays Travel Thank You will have their mortgage or rent and bills covered for six months, until March 2023.
The scheme involves Hays Travel holding a prize draw each month on pay day and announcing the prize for the following month’s draw.
In July, agent Richard Farmer won a car, while later this month a winning employee will receive a £5,000 cruise.
News of the next prize comes as energy bills are set to soar from this autumn. Agency owner Irene Hays said: “The staff have been fantastic during Covid and now face yet more challenges. This is a way of saying thank you and bringing more excitement into travel.”
The company has also boosted its bonus scheme for sales staff by a multiple of 20 since the start of its financial year in May. Staff are incentivised to meet targets to receive the bonus, now paid monthly instead of annually. Chief operating officer Jonathon Woodall-Johnston said: “It’s really driving performance.”
Hays added she was “delighted” to see a “significant number” of staff receiving the bonus, which varies by role but is applicable across retail sales, including apprentices, travel consultants, assistant managers and branch managers.
The news comes as the company trains its largest cohort of apprentices to date. It currently has 542 apprentices – its most at any one time – with another intake due in the autumn.
The UK’s largest independent travel agency chain restarted recruiting apprentices last year amid the pandemic, taking on 450 last September plus a further 92 since January this year.
The 542 comprise 464 in branches and 78 at head office. They now make up around 17% of Hays’ 3,200-strong workforce.
Hays said: “It is more than we’ve ever had. This is the first time we’ve been able to mobilise the apprenticeship scheme at such a scale [since Covid].”
She added: “We’ve always invested in apprentices but it’s never been more important to make sure we continue to attract young talented people as well as experienced ones.”
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