It's not just about the pizza

The pizza was amazing – but there is more to it than that…

The past five days have been important as we strive towards a vision/ambition/dream of an industry where ‘Good Employment’ is the norm. 

Lucy Katan, EEA Executive Director, gives her views...

"Today, as I ate a margarita with my four year old daughter, I was also following on social media equestrian yards embracing our new initiative. It made me think that we probably should explain the vision behind it.

Every day, as a team who all work from home, we have an online cuppa at about 10.30am. As we were brainstorming the 2019 Good Employment Week plans my Sainsburys shopping arrived…. as I unpacked the pizza’s, this gave me an idea!

Thus, the first ‘Give Your Staff a Pizza Day’ was created – and it is not really about the melted cheese…

Tullis Matson, the President of the EEA, describes best why we came up with the initiative,

It really doesn’t take much to order some take-away pizza’s in for lunch, or even to buy a few frozen ones and pop them in the oven and have a true sit-down team lunch hour.

In my time when working with horses, I can’t remember anyone that I ever worked for taking the time to organise such a simple thank you for the team of grooms, for their staff.

I think in these times of constantly being too busy, where we are all forever rushing about and trying to get everything done, the simple things can be forgotten about – and the simplest one of all is a simple gesture of a thumbs up.

So, we set to work on delivering the plan.

First, I needed some pictures of pizza (and preferably with a groom or two). So I contacted my local yard, Kingston Riding Centre, and asked if they would mind if I turned up with four delicious pizza’s at lunch time... unsurprisingly, the answer was yes, please come!

Kingston is an example of Good Employment and a place of prestigious HR practice in action. The staff retention is exemplary and the team of six that I met were polite, mature and all genuinely happy with where they worked.

They enjoyed their pizza, which was shared with their managers, and we all had a great chat about life in our industry. I saw with my own eyes the impact the simple gesture of something hot and yummy could have on a cold day, especially when it is a surprise.

Next, I needed someone else to buy into the idea. I contacted our BGA Patron, Charlotte Dujardin and dressage supremo, Carl Hester. 

Yup, they were in… and I got sent this great photo and the following:

What influential words from two superstars which really sum up the ethos of why we created the day over a cuppa.

I hope that this simple idea of inspiring equestrian employers to give their staff a moment of thanks and to share some goodwill, will have helped some to themselves take a pause.

A pause to evaluate if they are adhering to Good Employment principles, or if there are a few things that might be tweaked to improve.

Even if that simple improvement is by once in a while is ordering a pizza for the team.

To learn more about what Good Employment looks like, have a look at the Code of Good Employment.

I also hope that all the grooms who got pizza today, are grateful for having fabulous employers who appreciate the importance of saying thank you.

If you would like help and support when it comes to employing your staff have a look at how we can help you today.

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