From Full-time to Part-Time, There’s room for Flexibility at Travelodge

Travelodge is proud to offer flexible working across its business, giving colleagues the opportunity to work hours that suit them in a secure job whilst also encouraging its people to be the best they can be in whatever they choose to do.

This year Travelodge launched a new initiative as part of its flexible working arrangements which now ensures that all of its Hotel Manager and Assistant Hotel Managers positions are advertised as part-time as well as full time to ensure that a job can fit around a colleague’s life outside of work.

Travelodge has always been supportive in helping to create a healthy work-life balance for its colleagues – whether that be working parents who need flexible hours that fit around the school run and the holidays, students who choose to work at both their home and studying locations, or colleagues who simply wish to step back as well as those looking to reach other goals alongside their working commitments.

Lynn Johnson, who is 66 years old and has been working at one of Travelodge’s hotels located close to the seaside at Whitstable for 14 years, is an example of how Travelodge continues to develop new initiatives to allow colleagues to work the hours that suit them. After many enjoyable years working at Travelodge, the time was approaching where Lynn was starting to think about retiring.

However, with the launch of Travelodge’s new part-time working initiative for Hotel Managers, Lynn loved the fact that she could now have the opportunity to continue working as a Hotel Manager but part-time. Lynn felt that this would give her the additional downtime that she was wanting to spend more time with her children and grandchildren but also ensured that she could continue to work on terms that better suited the lifestyle that she now felt was right for her.

When did you first join Travelodge and what made you want to join Travelodge?

I joined Canterbury Whitstable Travelodge in 2010 as a member of the Housekeeping Team. I was looking for a job that would fit around my 13 year-old twin daughters, particularly the school drop offs and picks as well as the school holidays. My parents had been supporting me with childcare ever since the girls were born but I felt it was time for me to look at alternative arrangements so I applied to be part of the Housekeeping Team at Canterbury Whitstable Travelodge.

The hours of this job were already flexible, it meant I would be able to drop my children at school and also be able to pick them up, all in a day’s work! We are very fortunate at Travelodge that if our Hotel Team Members need to start early or a member of the team is unable to do specific hours, Travelodge offers flexible working to all of its hotel team members.

This is particularly beneficial for working parents, as I know first hand. As a Hotel Team Member at Travelodge you can, as well as fitting your working day around the school runs, change your hours during the school holidays so that you are able to spend more time at home with your children and not have to worry about the mounting financial pressures of childcare. This goes hand in hand with the many of our Hotel Team Members who are students that we have working across our 600 hotels, they are able to switch between working at hotels that are close to their studies whilst they are at university or studying away from home and then also work at their local Travelodge close to where they live out of term time. Hotel Team Members are also able to ‘pick up and put down’ hours to fit around their lifestyle whether that be children, studies, a second job or life outside of work.

Did you do any training to develop your career at Travelodge?

I started on the company’s Internal Development Programme in 2013 and completed the course 18 months later. The course was very insightful and it definitely helped me to progress in my career. Not long after graduating the programme, I applied for the job as a Hotel Manager here at Canterbury Whitstable Travelodge.

What do you enjoy most about your career?

I think one of the best things about my career with Travelodge has been the variety that comes along with the role, no two days are ever the same – I can be catching up with the team members and our guests one minute, then doing paperwork and checking rooms the next!

What does your job involve on a day-to-day basis?

Since taking on the role as a Part-Time Hotel Manager, a typical day for me starts on Reception, as well as checking in and out guests who have stayed with us. I also have meetings with my team to chat through the day’s tasks and responsibilities, talk about any concerns or questions they have and update the team on any early arrivals or late checkouts.

I then spend my time going through my day-to-day managerial tasks such as updating rotas for our Team Members. I also do all the checks of our 40 hotel rooms and prepare for our next guests to check in before handing over to my Hotel Supervisor or another Senior Team Member before going home.

What are the challenges of your role?

Being part-time is great, however it does mean that there are some adaptations and as this is relatively new to me and my manager we are still learning the best way to manage my role and responsibilities.

Having a good solid team behind you is the key to this. We all support one another on a day to day basis and they have been crucial to my jump from full-time to part-time.

How does flexible / part-time work help your team?

We have a variety of different colleagues at our hotels stemming from students to working parents and people like myself who just want to have more flexibility at work. All my team members work on a part-time or flexible basis which means I can adapt and change the rotas and always swap shifts if somebody needs a morning or afternoon off, or if one day is more suitable than the other. Having part-time roles, really does enable flexibility for each and every one of us and this is the culture across all our 582 UK hotels.

Why did you decide to go part-time at Travelodge and how has this initiative helped you?

I felt it was the perfect balance between working and having more time at home whilst still being able to maintain a managerial position. For me, being the age I am now, I knew I didn’t want to continue full-time. Going part-time as a Hotel Manager has allowed me to have a healthy balance between working, spending time with my family and also having some time just for me!

The Part-Time Hotel Manager initiative is a great opportunity especially with the additional flexibility that it offers. It is ideal for parents who may have already worked their way up in the career ladder, don’t want to step away from their position but need more flexibility. It can also work the other way, if there are parents or even students who want to work their way up to a more senior position but aren’t able to commit to full-time hours, part-time roles allow that opportunity to move into a higher position, gain knowledge and skills whilst still being able to manage out of work commitments.

It is all about Travelodge’s aim to ensure everyone can learn more, earn more, and belong.. Having this new Part-Time initiative really embraces the culture at Travelodge ensuring each and every one of its 13,000 employees can do their part in making Travelodge the brilliant base it strives to be.

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