Top award for Rossnowlagh's Sandhouse Hotel at Fáilte awards

The Sandhouse Hotel, Rossnowlagh, has won the Best Employer – Medium Business Award at Fáilte Ireland’s Employer Excellence Awards.

The awards ceremony, which took place in the Fitzgeralds Woodlands House Hotel & Spa, Co Limerick, celebrated businesses who have demonstrated their commitment to making the tourism industry an appealing and rewarding place to work through their participation in Fáilte Ireland’s Employer Excellence programme. This is the third year of the award ceremony, and there were 14 winners in all.

Speaking from the event, Fáilte Ireland CEO Paul Kelly said: “Tourism is fundamentally a people business, and nowhere is this more evident than in Ireland, where our greatest asset is the Céad Míle Fáilte provided by tourism staff and businesses to our visitors.

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“An engaged workforce is key to delivering successful businesses and this warm welcome to our visitors. The Fáilte Ireland Employer Excellence Awards celebrate the businesses that have set the industry standard for employee engagement and workplace culture. These awards will help drive further improvements in both the quality and perception of careers in the tourism sector.”

As part of the programme, a survey was conducted with staff of participating businesses, which gave them the chance to highlight the strengths of their workplace, along with areas for further development. Fáilte Ireland is now supporting these businesses to implement actions identified in their survey to further enhance employee engagement. The winning businesses completed management upskilling, engaged with HR experts and were then chosen based on employee feedback.

Jenny De Saulles, Fáilte Ireland’s Director of Sector Development, added: “Our latest figures show that since the programme launched in 2022, it has positively impacted 30,000 employees across the tourism sector nationwide. Employee engagement scores for businesses now in their third year of the programme have grown to 75%, 8% higher than the average across the wider employment sector, with significant improvements made in the areas of induction, reward and benefit, and management involving people in decisions affecting their jobs.

“So, it’s fantastic to gather together for these awards to showcase the best-in-class examples of employers along with those professionals who are thriving in the industry.”