French hotel operator, Accor, which owns spa and wellness brands such as Raffles and Banyan Tree, has launched a range of programmes and apps to support the mental and physical wellbeing of its staff.

“In these unprecedented times, many of our colleagues are facing reduced hours or stand-downs and we know this is causing enormous stress,” said Michael Issenberg, chair and CEO Accor Asia Pacific.

“Everyone is talking about the medical impact of this virus, but the reality is that this period of isolation and great change is also having a huge impact on mental health and it’s important that we recognise that,” he said.

“We’re committed to offering assistance to protect the mental and physical wellbeing of our teams to ensure they can get through this and emerge stronger than ever when the rebound comes.”

Accor’s global teams are being supported by a range of individual schemes.

Accor Australia has created the Lifeworks Total Wellbeing app to provide employees with 24/7 access to counselling and wellbeing resources.

In Thailand, Accor’s corporate wellness programme provides employees with exercises to do at home while on lockdown. Designed to keep staff active and focused on health, the programme sends daily exercise challenges to team members who work collaboratively to earn points for every task they complete, which they then publish to compete against other Accor employees.

“The tourism industry has always been very resilient and these resources are designed to help our teams protect their own resilience and wellbeing,” said Issenberg. “We hope it will help them all to get through this in the best health possible.”

Accor’s support has also extended into funding medical support for specific employees.

The company claims to be the first hotel operator to announce an employee fund to protect staff who face medical bills and don’t have access to insurance. Called the ALL Heartists Fund, the initiative was started with €70million, from withdrawn dividend payments, to cover hospital expenses for employees and provide assistance to partners and suppliers.

Accor is also offering healthcare providers free accommodation close to their workplace through its recent launch of Coronavirus Emergency Desk Accor (CEDA) to provide accommodation solutions for healthcare staff across France.