At Hostelworld, we have a community spirit like no other. We bring people together from around the globe and always look out for each other. We believe in taking a holistic approach to wellbeing, with many programmes and employee benefits aiming to promote healthy and balanced lifestyles, build resilience against life stresses, provide resources to plan for the future, and create a culture of social inclusion and belonging.
As part of our commitments to our teams' work-life blend, we offer enhanced annual leave, wellbeing days, flexible and remote working options, enhanced paid family leave, working from abroad options, social club and team events, and career break opportunities.
Wellbeing calendar and wellbeing days
We provide regular advice, support, reading materials, and virtual events to attend, to equip our team members with the tools and knowledge needed to manage their mental health and build emotional resilience. To support our team's mental and emotional wellbeing, we provide access to a global Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) which offers six free counselling sessions for team members and their families, as well as guidance on a variety of matters, from legal and financial guidance to life coaching.
Since the launch of our three annual wellbeing days, we regularly encourage team members to use them and continue to see an uptake. Our wellbeing days are there to support our team members when they just need to press pause and take time to disconnect, relax and recharge. Building upon the introduction of wellbeing leave, we enhanced our global annual leave policy, allowing individuals to take up to 27 days of leave.
Sometimes it’s good to talk to an understanding colleague and we see this as invaluable to supporting the mental wellbeing of every team member. To promote mental health awareness at work, we have trained Mental Health Champions across many teams, who can help and support those who might need someone to talk to and support them through life’s challenges.
We promote and educate our teams on how to take care of their physical health. In 2023, we hosted a variety of webinars and e-learning opportunities and welcomed guest speakers specialising in specific areas of health. For example, our teams learned about neurodiversity in the workplace and how we can work together to make a more accessible environment for those who are neurodivergent.
How we support and champion ongoing career development is fundamental to our success at Hostelworld. We are committed to providing access to best-in-class learning and development initiatives that are tailored to the individual’s needs. Growing together is a key component of our ethos, and through mentoring, coaching and recognition programmes, we enable our team members to shine. Underpinning this, our Performance Development Process enables constructive two-way conversation centring around goal setting and development planning. We want our team members to feel supported throughout the process and advocate a culture of continuous feedback and coaching.
Social connection
Our social committee was re-established in 2022. They organise several gatherings throughout the year, ranging from monthly pizza parties to wine tasting to immersive adventure gaming events. Our summer and end-of-year parties saw our European-based team members travel to Ireland and Portugal, to enjoy time together for the first time since 2019. This provided an opportunity for new team members to network, foster relationships with colleagues, and spend time with members of other departments in a relaxed environment.
