Hand Picked Hotels' staff facing having hours cut

Staff at Hand Picked Hotels, including The Grand in Jersey, have been told pay is being cut temporarily

BBC The front of the Grand Hotel in Jersey. The building has a beige facade with multiple windows, and the sign is mounted on a triangular section of the roof. Below the sign, there is a glass structure with a dome-like shape. — Staff at Hand Picked Hotels, including The Grand in Jersey, have been told pay is being cut temporarily

Staff in the Hand Picked Hotel Group have been told pay may be cut temporarily.

In an email seen by the BBC, staff across the group, which has about 1,000 people at 21 sites and venues across the UK, including five premises around the Channel Islands, were told the decision had been made because of a drop in demand.

A staff member at a site in Jersey, who contacted the BBC and wished to remain anonymous, said: "We have just had to work really hard and endless hours over Christmas and they do this. Some staff are talking about walking out because of it."

Senior bosses said they had "made the tough decision" to reduce "payroll hours in the short-term" and they were "committed to our people."

Redundancies announced

The group announced redundancies in Guernsey before Christmas.

The Jersey staff member said: "There was a call with the CEO and owner a couple of weeks ago and they talked about how much money the hotels have lost and they can't keep losing.

"They have closed the bar all day and only open at night times. We can't even try and make money and serve because everything is shut."

Staff were told that the situation would be reviewed on a weekly basis and decisions would be made in line with hotel and departmental needs.

The Hand Picked Group said the decision had not been "taken lightly"

St Pierre Park is a red brick hotel with balconies that has planting and a lake in front of it. It is a blue sky day and there is a post and chain fence in the foreground. — The Hand Picked Group said the decision had not been "taken lightly"

In a statement, the Hand Picked Group said "challenging market headwinds and reduced guest demand" resulted in the "tough decision to reduce the number of payroll hours in the short-term, by up to 12.5% in total".

It said: "This is not a decision we have taken lightly and it does not affect the £3 per-hour pay rise implemented for all employees across the 21 hotels in 2022."

It added: "Despite operating in a challenging economic environment, with on-going rising costs and lower consumer confidence, Hand Picked Hotels remains committed to our people and to delivering the best possible service to our guests."

It also said: "Two other ways of showing our commitment to our people, besides by offering higher hourly wage levels, is to increase training and to increase the flexibility of employment hours so that individuals who do not want to work long unsocial hours can be accommodated positively in our workforce."

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Hotel staff redundancies due to 'low demand'