luxury locations issue 21

How many staff do you employ and what’s the secret to maintaining a happy and dynamic workforce? We were up to 130 staff during Christmas; that thins out over summer. The secret to maintaining happy staff is that there’s no secret. It starts with simple things like making sure everyone has a voice and treating everyone with respect. We try to operate in an environment where line staff can challenge their supervisors, our HR can be contacted any time they have a grievance and we try to always deal with matters in a head-on, mature manner. The main thing is to nurture a strong, positive culture and that’s what we try to maintain as a group. We also try to help our employees

understand the direction in which the company and themselves are moving in. For example, if someone wants to become a supervisor but they’re not ready, we’ll help them understand where they can improve to achieve their goals. We often find ourselves adapting roles to fit certain individuals, understanding where a team member’s passion lies and setting them up for success. Of course it’s by no means flawless and we have our challenges. One in particular is trying to keep the small, family business mentality with our teams as we grow and expand. We are a couple of directors, a dozen managers and lots of troops below so we have to try a bit harder to keep in touch with everyone now, but I think the team in general are happier than ever.

What’s the key to running a successful business in Antigua and Barbuda? Again, there’s no magic answer but the number one thing is understanding that Antigua and Barbuda is not like anywhere else. It’s definitely not like any place I’ve ever lived or been in my life. Everything that seems difficult when you first arrive, like lack of systems, challenges with supply chains and cultural differences, all these things you grow to love the longer you’re here. I see a lot of new restaurants open on island; some are really successful and some come and go, because they think Antigua’s the problem. They don’t realise you have to adapt to the environment you’re in. I think one of the reasons we’re so successful is that we worked really hard

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