It might seem an odd move for a travel company that consists mainly of women to recruit the services of a male mental health expert, but that’s one of the latest initiatives from The Travel Network Group (TTNG).
Around 80% of the personnel in TTNG are women, yet it has recently brought in The Men’s Coach Ryan Parke to provide a package of emotional support services for its entire membership.
This includes a six-part video around male health and well-being, a menopause workplace policy and signposted resources for menopause and mental health via TTNG’s The Hub.
“We had already done a huge amount for the ladies in the business, such as around the menopause, perimenopause, that whole conversation, and when we looked at what we wanted to do for the men in our business, who might be struggling with their mental health, we came up with Ryan Parke,” said TTNG CEO Gary Lewis.
“It came from the ladies in the business who said to us, actually that is my husband or that’s my dad or I’ve got a son going through these challenges, and that feedback led to us offering this whole package of emotional support for all members.”
Introducing Ryan on stage as a guest speaker at TTNG’s overseas conference in Bucharest this week, TTNG Retail Director Julie Pinkney said: “Just as women are now being heard, it’s time to ensure men are too.”
During the conference, themed Winning hearts, Creating Journeys, Ryan talked of – among other things – the benefits to mental health of the male hormone testosterone and how to boost it (in short, cut down on booze, exercise regularly, get plenty of sleep and sunshine, eat healthily and back winners).
“The impact that speech had on members has been remarkable,” added Gary. “It’s changed immediately what they are going to do as a behaviour.
“I have spoken to four members who have individually come up to me, two of them ladies, two men, all of them talked of phoning their wives and husbands afterwards. One of the men told his wife he was going to challenge himself to make the changes suggested to feel the positive impact.
“We want to inspire, grow and protect our individual members as people, as well as organisations,” added Gary. “If we truly believe the only differentiator in our business is the people, then what are we doing to look after them?
“The priority for business owners should be looking after themselves and looking after their people and we are giving them the tools to do that.”
Gary added: “Recruitment and retaining talent is a big challenge for the industry. We have spent the past 18 months helping our members recruit people and training them. In the last 18 months, 183 of our members staff have gone through our new-to-travel training.
“Going forward, it’s going to be about the person behind the professional, so that emotional package, emotional intelligence, female mental health, male mental health, giving them the skills sets and support around things that are impactful outside of being a professional.
“The reason we feel the need to do this now is because the crisis that is going on in society is around mental health.”
Gary said 178 new businesses or homeworkers have joined TTNG in the past 18 months, since its last overseas conference in Munich, but he insists its ‘key obsession’ is looking after its existing members and improving the service they receive.
“For us, it is always about growing organically, not aggressively. We have been growing organically since we bought Worldchoice in 2008,” he said.
During the conference, Chief Commercial Officer Vim Vithaldas revealed that TTNG booked customers were up 3% year on year and revenue is up 10%, but he warned that the family market was ‘really struggling’ and the mid-market was being squeezed due to the economy.
However, Gary said: “The only thing we are terrified of is another pandemic. Members can adapt to other things, such as the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine. We are used to adapting.
“The key thing for us right now is that we are seeing passenger numbers increasing, that’s important for future growth. Last year’s success was an increase in revenue, but passenger numbers were flat, and in some cases down, but this year we are seeing 3% growth, which is significant.
“What are members should be doing is focus on developing and building relationships with their customer base.”
