Environmentally-focused companies recruit ‘the best’

A travel company that has a strong environmental track record will not only retain its staff but also recruit the “best of the best” to its ranks, The Travel Corporation (TTC) has said.

After outlining the 40-brand company’s carbon neutrality plans during a Travel Weekly webcast, TTC chief executive Brett Tollman said he was aware of travel brands outside the company claiming that they had struggled to recruit during the pandemic.

But he highlighted how “everybody” support environmentally conscious action and that such a mindset would actually help recruitment drives.

He said: “I think it’s a great way to recruit and retain people as we come out of this [pandemic].

“That’s one thing again, just a warning to all of us, is we’re seeing more and more people in our industry saying they cannot recruit new people as the world is recovering.”

Trafalgar chief executive, Gavin Tollman, who joined his cousin on the webcast, agreed. He said: “As Brett just said, it is one of the most powerful things we are seeing in recruitment.

“And particularly for the younger generation, when you are cognisant, and conscious of your footprint, you are attracting some of the best of the best. So there’s a win-win when making sure this is part of your business model.”

During the webcast, Brett Tollman played a video in which the company, which has 40 travel and hospitality brands, pledged to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030 or sooner.

But Brett Tollman later revealed that he expected every TTC brand within the family-run company to become carbon neutral by 2025.

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Last month, on Earth Day (April 22), the company announced a five-step action plan to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030. Youth travel operator Contiki is set to be the first TTC brand to go carbon neutral in 2022.

“My hope and expectation as a family and as a business is that all of our brands will be carbon neutral by 2025,” he said, adding: “[This] is my goal as opposed to in everyone kind of kicking it further into touch for 2030.”

Brett Tollman plans to announce which TTC brands would be next in line to go carbon neutral “by the middle of next year”.

Gavin Tollman also explained how “the desire to make sure that the money we spend is helping those in the places we go” is a “global phenomenon”.

“There is no doubt that one of the consequences of the coming out of Covid-19 [pandemic] is the desire for people who do travel, to make sure that you know that their travel pound actually does make a difference,” he said.