Dishoom and Dorchester Collection singled out as best places to work

Dishoom was named the best place to work for ethnic minorities in the ‘big’ company category, scoring 91% engagement among 525 survey respondents from ethnic minorities, who represent about a third of the Indian restaurant group’s 1,534-strong workforce.

The group was praised for boosting team engagement through a Dishoom-Wallas app with tools for colleagues to give each other kudos, and staff events such as a cricket competition and annual celebrations such as the Family Mela, a Christmas party, and Iftar, Janmashtami, Holi and Diwali events for employees and their families, with the intention of promoting diversity and unity.

Hotel management and development company Valor was named one of the best places to work for disabled employees, also in the big company category. According to the Sunday Times,​ 60 employees with disabilities who filled in the survey had an 85% engagement rate with Valor last year creating an ‘infinity group’ last year to do more for staff needs, joining the government’s ‘disability confident’ scheme.

Two hospitality business were also recognised as being the best places to work for employees aged 55 and over. MOTO Hospitality came top in the ‘very big’ category with more than a tenth of employees at motorway services company over the age of 55. In the big company category Dorchester Collection came top with almost 10% of the 1,000-strong workforce aged 55-plus.

Businesses from the hospitality sector featured heavily on this year’s list and include Bella Italia, Burger & Lobster, Flat Iron, Individual Restaurants, Mowgli, Las Iguanas, Permanently Unique, Wingstop, Wagamama, Jamie Oliver Group, Rare Restaurants, Permanently Unique, JKS Restaurants, and Heartwood Collection.

Other hospitality-related business to appear in the list include ingredients supplier Belazu and wine company Chapel Down.

“To be recognised as one of the best places to work in the UK is a massive achievement and I am extremely proud of everyone at Heartwood Collection. This award is particularly special as it’s voted for by our teams,” says Richard Ferrier, CEO at Heartwood Collection.

Reacting to the recognition JKS Restaurants says: “Looking back, our team is, and always has been, at the heart of what we do. This award goes some way to recognise our efforts to create an inspiring, safe and nurturing place to work — as we embark on a journey to aim for excellence.”

The annual Sunday Times Best Places to Work ​​awards is based on analysis of 70,000 organisations by the employee experience specialist WorkL. To get into the list organisations must score well across WorkL’s six-step framework that includes reward and recognition; instilling pride; information sharing; empowerment; wellbeing; and job satisfaction. The survey is also based on answers to a range of questions with organisations having to achieve a minimum 70% overall engagement score to feature on the list.