THE company behind the running of Chester Racecourse and catering of venues including Chester Town Hall has put a renewed focus on staff welfare, with new employee benefits.

With the initiative of maintaining a happy and healthy workforce, Chester Race Company will be working in partnership with Racing Welfare to create an ongoing programme that supports and brings the best out of its employees.

The race company employs over 200 permanent members of staff across its various divisions of racecourses, restaurants, catering and events, hotel and staffing agency.

An employee engagement survey conducted in December 2019 found that 98 per cent of employees are proud to work for the company and 92 per cent would recommend the company as a great place to work.

Chester Race Company has pledged to further enhance the firm's employee benefits and devised an accompanying annual calendar of events.

Employees will have the opportunity to engage further with the business in 2020 and get involved in a variety of activities across the calendar year, including breakfast mornings, yoga sessions, Friday socials, a summer barbecue, team games such as rounders, a couch to 5k challenge, cookery classes and more.

The programme was unveiled to staff members at an annual employee conference, hosted at race company managed venue Chester Town Hall at the start of the year, where employees were also recognised for their achievements in 2019.

Events co-ordinator Katie Critchley, who received the Rising Star Award for her accomplishments throughout 2019, said: “I am so grateful to receive this award which recognises my hard work. Since joining the team from a non-events background this is an amazing way to celebrate my achievements.”

Pebble O'Donnell, people operations manager, added: “This is a fantastic opportunity for the entire Chester Race Company team to get together and celebrate the achievements of friends and colleagues.

"We also used the opportunity to launch our new Social and Wellbeing programme, which we hope will enrich our employees and further develop the community of colleagues that make up the Chester Race Company workforce.”

The new programme for 2020 will be underpinned with industry initiatives from Racing Welfare, ensuring staff are aware and engaged with the charity’s areas of focus for the year.

Racing Welfare is a charity supporting the workforce of British horseracing. Accessible to everybody in the world of racing, the charity provides a wide range of support for life’s challenges, including physical and mental health, bereavement, housing and homelessness, money advice, benefits advice, illness, addiction, relationships and retirement.

In addition, The Race Company will continue to support a range of initiatives including Racing to School, Racing Together (Community Day) Go Racing Green, Project 1000, Education programme and student enrichment.