How Nando’s Has Looked After Its Family During COVID-19

After a year of unprecedented difficulties, it may have come as a surprise to see no fewer than seven restaurants and retailers listed on Glassdoor’s Best Places to Work UK 2021. Despite all of the uncertainty and disruption of the last year, these companies have managed to remain among the highest rated places to work across the whole of the UK.

In particular, the hugely popular high-street chain Nando’s ranked 12th on this year’s list and has now been a Best Place to Work for five consecutive years!

We spoke with Colin Hill, Nando’s CEO in the UK and Ireland, to find out exactly how their unique culture has fostered a sense of family and security during COVID-19.

Congratulations on your win for being a Best Place to Work! What steps did your company take within the last year that may have led to this recognition?

Thank you! We are delighted to have been placed 12th. It’s been a tough time for many industries, but hospitality in particular has been hit hard through the pandemic, so it’s great to see four hospitality brands in the top 50. When lockdown first came into effect last year, it was simply a case of continuing to put our people first. We did our best to ensure we were transparent and communicated throughout the ongoing pandemic. It is essential that our Nandocas (the name we give our team members) feel safe and secure in terms of both job security and when returning to work in our restaurants. It is great to see that this has been reflected in our Glassdoor reviews. 

What is your company doing to build and nurture the company culture?

Since the very beginning, our culture has been built from our five values - Pride, Passion, Courage, Integrity, and most of all Family. They are the five things we live and breathe every day. Our culture has always been people focused and with the lockdown restrictions being in place over the year, building and nurturing a people focused culture has been challenging.

This is where our value of Family has come to the fore, as essentially, families look after each other. We’ve been doing our best to keep our Nandocas engaged using our internal app and hosting live events to stay connected with each other and the business, as we have all done with our families over the last year. We’ve also gathered continual feedback throughout to understand if there’s more we can be doing. Teammates is a common positive theme in our Glassdoor reviews, and to see comments like ‘feels like being part of a family’, particularly over the last year, is very rewarding and reflects on the culture we’ve worked hard to build. 

Many job seekers leverage the Best Places to Work award to help jumpstart their job search. What are some benefits and offerings that make Nando's worthy of top talent?

Free PERi-PERi chicken! Aside from the free food we get, our most loved benefits are our team trips abroad, conferences (where we’ve been to South Africa, Brazil, Portugal and others), Family Days, Christmas parties and sabbaticals (four weeks paid leave every five years). Understandably most of them have been put on halt for now, but we’ll be enjoying them all again soon, more than ever. In the meantime, there are plenty of other perks our Nandocas enjoy, such as Perkbox which provides discounts at plenty of high street retailers and our cycle to work scheme.   

While not necessarily a benefit, we are one of the most loved restaurant brands in the UK, and we’d love more top talent to join us and help us stay as that. During the pandemic, we’ve moved at speed to meet the needs of our customers, and our off-premises business has grown considerably. We’ve continued to use subsequent lockdowns to continue to improve and adapt, and despite all of the challenges thrown our way over the year we’ve remained a strong and healthy business, which we hope top talent will recognise.

Given COVID-19, what are you doing this year to prioritise your employees’ health and well-being?

We have strictly adhered to all government guidelines and advice in our restaurants and offices around COVID. We will continue to ensure our Nandocas are safe and healthy when at work and at home. We recognise that COVID has taken a heavy toll on the mental health of everyone, and so we held a virtual conference with all our Patraos (the name we give our General Managers) on supporting them to be the best version of themselves. The event was all about discovering the unique balance between Mind, Body and Soul and how they can support their teams. We also continue to provide our Nandocas with the resources to support mental health and access to a free and independent wellness and support line.

What do you do to engender a sense of belonging at your company?

One of our key brand pillars is that Everyone is Welcome, which does what it says on the tin. Our business was born out of the apartheid in South Africa, so it has always been a part of our culture, it is who we are and why we want our Nandocas to love working for Nando’s. Earlier this year we signed two charters, Diversity in Hospitality, Travel and Leisure and the Race at Work Charter. We signed these because we reject discrimination of all kind and every door will be open to any Nandoca irrespective of their makeup, background, or outlook on life. We value difference and respect all our Nandocas for their individuality, abilities, and inspirations. We are incredibly proud of what we have achieved in this space, yet there is more we can do to make our Nandocas feel part of the Nando’s family and grow here. We recently recruited a Diversity & Inclusion team to help build on what we have achieved and ensure this pillar is alive across our business.

How do you ensure there are pathways for career growth for your people?

We want Nando’s to be a place where every Nandoca can be the best they can be – not only at Nando’s, but also in life. Growing Others is at the heart of this – a commitment that we all share responsibility for. We are incredibly proud of our talent and have a strong focus on internal progression; we plan to fill 70% of our new roles by promoting within.  We are currently tracking at 67% internal progression across our business. To support internal progression, we run two programmes, Flying Higher, which is a step-up programme which plays a key role in spotting, developing, and promoting our internal Nandocas, Managers and Patraos. We also have a senior leadership programme which is the 3rd stage in our leadership step-up ‘curriculum’. It looks at the key skills, knowledge and behaviours needed to grow and develop our internal talent into the role of a Regional Managing Director. We offer a suite of modules focused on growing and broadening the leadership skills and behaviour.