The County Arms Hotel Birr, Offaly, recently hosted its annual Employee Appreciation Week to recognise the contribution of its staff towards the success of the thriving four-star hotel. Organised by the hotel’s management team, Employee Appreciation Week included a series of events and activities to thank staff for their hard work and dedication during an extremely busy and successful summer season that brought many visitors to the top Midlands hotel.

Activities included morning fitness classes such as Boxing, Circuits and Weightlifting, a Treasure Hunt and a walking tour of Birr Castle Gardens - all facilitated by the team in the Springs Leisure Club.

A special ‘Bring Your Kids to Work’ afternoon included a disco, fun games and a kids buffet for the children of team members. There was fun for the adults too, with ten brave managers and supervisors taking part in a charity ‘Pie-in-the-face’ game, to raise money for St. Vincent De Paul Birr, the hotel’s ‘charity of the year’ for 2023.

The fittest department in the hotel was decided with an interdepartmental sports day, where employees took part in Egg and Spoon, Wheelbarrow, and sack races as well as long puck and penalty shootout competitions.

Barry Kennedy, General Manager at County Arms Birr, stated “It is so important to reward and celebrate our teams’ achievements over the past year. Just 18 months ago we had a little over 60 employees and now we have grown our team of 140 staff. Our team spend each and every day doing their very best to look after our wonderful guests, so we believe it is equally important to show them how much they are valued and appreciated.”

Employee Appreciation Week concluded with a Summer BBQ and live band in Kelly’s the Green, where the Employee of the Year was announced. This year’s worthy recipient was Betty Mulrooney from the hotel's breakfast team. Betty received an all-expenses paid two-night stay in a 4-star Cork City hotel.

Employee Appreciation Week at County Arms Birr was well-received and will return next year.