How the Employee experience at Butlins drives the Customer experience
More and more businesses see the correlation between happy, inspired employees and increased profitability. Butlins, bought by Bourne Leisure in 2000, have been committed to utilising the power of the workforce to drive their huge improvement to Guest and Team Member experience and business success.
They have achieved many enviable awards including; 13th in Nunwoods Top UK Brands for Customer Experience Excellence and 5th in Sunday Times, Best Big Companies to work for. Their growth has allowed a huge £250million investment in three new hotels, apartments, waterparks and dining facilities. Proving their front line is the company’s bottom line.
I recently gained insight into how they engage their team of 5500 employees to create brand advocates while visiting as a guest and spending time with the culture development team. Inspired by their role model, Disney, Butlins has undergone a huge cultural shift.
Ensuring they recruit for attitude not skills they then focus relentlessly on six areas to drive their employee, customer and business success.
- A Compelling Story
In honor of the past and Billy Butlin’s invention of the concept of the British holiday, a video history of the brand is shown at recruitment and training. Billy’s purpose “Our true intent is all for your delight” is celebrated as a special piece of British history. Team Members are invited to be key players in the next chapter of the Butlins story. When employees buy into this, they begin to form an emotional attachment to the brand. They have a purpose and value to their role. - The Learning Roadmap
Switching from a central training department where employees attended a customer service course that didn’t really translate to their day to day life to an on the job tailored roadmap of learning has been one of the biggest shifts in their culture development.
Navigators (recruited within and at all levels across the organisation) create, deliver and steer the Roadmap programme that begins with people skills at the Butlins Academy and continues with technical skills within each department.
Navigator rewards are not money but personal development with each receiving additional training and coaching. Twelve each year are selected to visit Disneyland Paris. - Leadership accountability
Leaders are held accountable for support and sustainment of the culture and the training and continual high performance. They assign buddies to new employees, hold a four week review, give constant feedback and reinforce the belief that everyone brings equal value to the customer experience. - Fun place to work.
From my experience all team members smiled and oozed fun. If you read their employer reviews, openly available on the internet, “being a fun place to work” is a recurring theme on and off stage.
One employee said to me, “When you are working long shifts serving 6000 customers weekly the fun and welcoming team spirit keeps us going” - Pride
It is quite evident that the Team take a huge pride in working for Butlins and in delivering great service to their Guests.
The emotional attachment to the organisation drives them to succeed in their role and make whatever effort is required to capture the hearts of their guests and create wonderful memories. - Empowerment & Ownership
Every member of Butlins is empowered to resolve customer problems and act immediately to find a solution. They are supported by the leadership team to do what is right. If that means replacing a child’s ice-cream that was dropped before being finished or replacing a meal that is not what the customer expected then that is willingly done. Training in problem solving skills is part of the roadmap programme. They believe there is a win/win solution to almost every customer problem and don’t waste time weighing up whether the customer is trying it on.
The Butlins mission, “Our true intent is all for your delight” is not just written on the wall, it’s in the hearts and minds of all employees.
Leaders reinforce that all have a vital role to play in sales and service. You will never hear, “That’s not my job” from a team member. I observed a maintenance man approached by a customer with where to obtain a wheelchair. He owned the problem, went to get one and brought it to the customer.
It’s clear Butlins have worked very hard to create a great employee experience. The leaders make the teams feel good and the team members make the customers feel good and Butlins enjoys the business rewards.
A simple business philosophy really that many organisations find so challenging to make reality.
Anne Blackburn
Customer Experience Director
Anne Blackburn is Founder of Sidona Group who specialise in customer experience strategy, research and training. Anne’s expertise is with the Hospitality Industry to help them create and deliver more unique, memorable and profitable guest experiences. She helps teams identify and meet guest’s emotional needs and tailor their experiences with the right blend of attitude, behaviours, language and skills to create marvellous memories. Memories create stories and stories drive revenue and customer advocates.
Anne is a regular speaker at international hospitality industry events including The Boutique Hotel Conference, The Independent Hotel Show, Hospitality Exchange, The Hospitality Show, Hotelympia, The Hotel Design and Management Conference, Tel Aviv.
Anne is also a regular columnist for Hotel Industry Magazine, Caterer and Hotel Keeper, Travel Trade Gazette, Boutique Hotelier, Big Hospitality and Customer Experience Magazine.
Anne is also a judge for Visit England Tourism Awards, Boutique Hotel Awards, Customer Service Training Awards and Customer Experience Awards.
Connect with Anne
Email: anne@sidonagroup.com
Website: www.sidonagroup.com
Linked In: Anne Blackburn
Twitter: @SidonaG
Tel: 01395 519855
Mobile: 07743 399108