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IN the midst of the worst crisis the hospitality industry has ever seen, Accor, the leading hotel operator in Asia Pacific, has prioritised the mental and physical well-being of its staff through a range of programmes and apps that can be used at home.
According to Michael Issenberg, Chairman and CEO Accor Asia Pacific said in these unprecedented times, many of our colleagues are facing reduced hours or stand-downs and we know this is causing enormous stress.
“We are committed to offering assistance to protect the mental and physical well-being of our teams to ensure they can get through this and that they emerge stronger than ever when the rebound comes,” he said.
Issenberg also mentioned that the Group’s employees are called Heartists because they deliver the art of hospitality from the heart and that caring for these Heartists is more important than ever.
“We want to give our staff access to counsellors in complete confidentiality as and when they need help. Everyone is talking about the medical impact of this virus, but the reality is that this period of isolation and great change is also having a huge impact on mental health and it’s important that we recognize that,” Issenberg noted.
He added Accor was the first hotel operator to announce an employee fund to protect staff who might face medical bills and who don’t have access to insurance. Called the ALL Heartist Fund, it was started with €70 million from withdrawn dividend payments to cover hospital expenses for employees and provide assistance to partners and suppliers. Some of this funding has also been put aside for front line healthcare professionals in their fight against the coronavirus. [sources/traveltext.id]
