Paid annually, the bonuses will be calculated as a percentage of profits, and presented as a percentage of salary. The percentage will be the same for everyone regardless of salary, but the scheme is only available to staff that have been at the company for two years or more.
Partners Mark Sainsbury, Michael Benyan and Jason Catifeoglou said the scheme was inspired by The John Lewis Partnership, and took about nine months to implement, though the idea was born much earlier.
“Coming up with a formula is relatively easy once you get some good advice and figure out what you can and can’t do. It’s a case of who wants to sacrifice profits – that’s the catch.
“The answer for us was absolutely, it was the obvious thing to do, because we want to share the success of our business with people that have been with us for a number of years and make sure they are looked after and feel a true sense of belonging,” Catifeoglou told BigHospitality.
Live communication
In order for the scheme to be successful, he believes continued communication throughout the year is necessary. For that reason, the firm will hold quarterly briefings to which all staff will be invited, and share financial results and commercial objectives.
“It’s a double aim: one is retention and the other one is sharing the success, encouraging people to do better and make a better contribution because they will see the direct impact that contribution has on the bottom line and therefore their percentages,” he pointed out.
Retention benefits
Though quite popular in retail, profit sharing schemes are unheard of in the hospitality sector – despite its potential benefits for staff retention.
“I think it’s going to be quite a catalyst in terms of staff retention, which is why we said from a two year point onwards – it is to encourage longevity but also to share the success of the business with people who stay with us.
“The announcement of this scheme, which was done recently, had a huge response for all levels, and we haven’t even made a payment yet,” added Catifeoglou.
Industry-wide change?
It is hard to predict whether or not other hospitality businesses will jump on the profit sharing bandwagon – despite John Lewis’s publicised success with the Partnership, not all department stores followed.
He explained: “The difficulty is accepting that you will have to sacrifice part of your profits. To us it’s obvious but I don’t know if it is to anybody else.”
The Zetter Group profit sharing scheme completes an employee benefit package that includes maximum working weeks, neck and shoulder massages, staff discounts, access to private loans, referral bonus of up to £1,000,wine purchase at cost and bike and annual travel card loans.