General Queries

Applicants may be required to provide the following supporting documentation prior to acceptance onto the programme:

• Evidence of targeting domestic and / or international visitors.

• Evidence of address (recent utility bill or similar)

• Tax Reference Number (TRN)

The number of employees in your business can include part-time or seasonal employees. Any numbers less than 5 may lead to unreliable data. Small sample sizes tend to result in larger variability in the data. This means, for example, that one negative response can sway the data, impacting the results of your survey. This can make it challenging to identify true trends or patterns and may present an inaccurate view of your business. In some cases, when the sample size is very small, it may also be possible to identify individual respondents based on their answers, raising privacy concerns.

Yes, if you meet the minimum staffing requirements. Fáilte Ireland understands that staff numbers will change throughout the year. Your survey provider will work with you to execute the survey at a time of year that works for you.

Public Bodies: Any business that is owned and operated by, or in direct funding from, the following public bodies are eligible to apply but must cover the cost of the supports offered through the Employer Excellence Programme:

• Office of Public Works

• National Parks and Wildlife Service

• Local Authorities/County Councils and their commercial subsidiaries

• National Museum

• Waterways Ireland

• Coillte

The following are deemed ineligible and therefore excluded from applying for this Programme:

• Those that do not meet the eligibility criteria as defined above under Q6.

• Accommodation providers not included on Fáilte Ireland’s National Quality Assurance Framework are ineligible to apply under this Programme.

• Property Marketing Companies/Groups/Organisations

• If the applicant is an Irish Based Inbound Agent and does not operate in the Republic of Ireland as an Irish based inbound tour operator, DMC or PCO who package, sell, and market the Republic of Ireland’s tourism product overseas.
  
  Decisions taken by Fáilte Ireland on eligibility are full and final and not open to appeal.

If you do not meet all criteria, please email employerexcellence@failteireland.ie

To be accepted onto the Programme, businesses are asked to make certain commitments in terms of their involvement and engagement. To qualify for certification and awards, businesses must complete their employee engagement survey annually and share key survey data with Fáilte Ireland. Businesses must actively engage in programme activities, including HR clinics, training, action planning, and promote the programme internally and externally.

General commitments include:

• The programme is a 2-year commitment for your business, though we encourage businesses to remain on the programme on an ongoing basis to continue their commitment to become an excellent employer.

• An annual employee survey is required from an Approved Employer Excellence Survey provider. (link to list of providers)

• You agree to act on and implement, where possible, any recommendations which arise from the action planning session based on the results of your employee survey.

• 70% of your management team enrolled on the Fundamentals of People and Performance Management must successfully complete the training their first year of the programme.

• Applicants are asked to commit to participating in Fáilte Ireland’s Business Survey which takes place annually. This allows Fáilte Ireland to gather accurate and robust data relating to employee numbers and other key indicators for the Applicant’s business/organisation, to support our ongoing development of the Tourism sector.

Full details of the commitments for participating businesses are available in the Employer Excellence Programme Guidelines

A business will be considered to have exited the programme if:

• The business terminates its contract with the approved survey provider and does not replace them with another approved provider. To remain in the programme, a business must have an active contract with an approved survey provider.

• The business opts to leave the Employer Excellence Programme. Though this decision does not affect their contract with the survey provider, it will impact the eligibility of the business for future FI supports such as Climate Action, Employer Excellence, capability building programmes, sales platforms (e.g. Meitheal) and other funding and/or marketing supports. The business may also be required to re-imburse Failte Ireland for the costs of participation in the Programme (e.g. cost of 121 HR expert clinics, certification, training and attendance at awards).

Fáilte Ireland may terminate the Employer Excellence Agreement with a business if the business is not actively engaging in the Employer Excellence Programme and/or where in the opinion of Fáilte Ireland unsatisfactory implementation of the programme elements/ Action Plan is observed. Fáilte Ireland will notify the business in writing of the issues and of the potential for the Agreement to be terminated. A clear timeline for termination within a stated timeframe will be outlined in the notification.

A key priority for Fáilte Ireland is unlocking the competitive potential of tourism businesses no matter their size or stage. We have created an extensive range of business supports to guide you through operating and growing your business. These have been developed in consultation with industry experts to meet your needs across areas most critical to business performance.

More information on these supports can be found here on the Business Supports Hub.