How Michèle, Régis and Jacques Marcon involve their employees in

Sustainable Development
Posted the August 18, 2015

How much has been achieved since 2005, the year in which Régis Marcon opens Saint-Bonnet-le-Froid "his new
house which marries a hill to allow you to be more in touch with the nature we want you to discover and share "As
he tells his customers. With Michèle, his wife for the hotel part and Jacques his son for the restaurant, they have
continued to deepen their "forward-looking and sustainable development" approach.
A permanent and progressive improvement
They keep investing, to take advantage of nature while preserving it, so, gradually, they install all possible
devices. For example, in terms of energy, already the construction of the rooms, partly troglodytes, offered an
exceptional natural insulation, a system of double flow with recovery of energy added comfort and thermal solar
panels heated the water. But since then, photovoltaic solar panels, allow to produce green energy and a partnership
with Netseenergy, a subsidiary of EDF, thanks to the installation of sub-meters, allows a fine follow-up of the
consumptions by sector of activity: rooms, wellness area (sauna, bathing, massage area), kitchen ... Better, for
tomorrow, Régis Marcon is studying the possibility of installing a deep geothermal device. With Jean-Louis, the
maintenance manager at the levers, these very heavy investments but judicious, will be quickly profitable. Also the
most difficult is elsewhere, in what the technique can not offer, in the way of maintaining the implication of all so
that the approach bears all its fruits.
Beyond all the technical devices that make it possible to limit in a significant way, the consumptions of energy,
water, matter, sustainable development is also a state of mind and a daily repetition, at the level of the collaborators,
of eco gestures that, by their systematism, will produce the expected results.
A desire to involve all employees from the most experienced to the new trainee
Michèle, Régis and Jacques Marcon have implemented a simple but effective device to involve their employees
daily. They have chosen the European Ecolabel to guide their approach. The renewal every two years of this label is
a powerful sting. On the other hand, the monitoring of the multiple criteria and the vigilance on the various action
plans which result from the audits is not easy to reconcile with the intense activity of their establishment. So they
chose to be accompanied by an external collaborator: Pauline Roche. This specialist in QSE (Quality, Safety,
Environment) intervenes once a month.
The restaurant is closed in winter for climatic reasons, Saint-Bonnet-le-Froid is aptly named at the end of March, a
big meeting of re-entry is organized. Are present the 40 permanent and some seasonal already arrived. During this
presentation meeting of the company, teams and trades, Régis Marcon took the opportunity to highlight the policy of
the establishment on the environmental plan, the criteria for action and the desire of the house to make live a
participatory improvement approach. This very stimulating meeting gives everyone the desire to get deeply
involved.
Encourage your employees to be attentive to others
Upon arrival, new employees receive an eco-hospitality booklet which in a few pages presents the approach of the
establishment. In the booklet are then described all the achievements in favor of the environment: reduction of
energy consumption, preservation of water, waste management, eco-responsible shopping. Finally a paragraph,
unconventional, entitled: Watch and listen to each other, invites everyone to "learn and learn. Inform you and ask
you. Respect the calm of the place and its environment. Be attentive to the other, to the living and working
environments proposed ". Then a page describes the simple gestures that the newcomer can make to participate in
the process and invites him to give his ideas and to get involved: "be an actor, a leader, participate, circulate
information,
These new ones are accompanied by 8 tutors for their professional training but also on eco-gestures. To make this
device live, Régis Marcon reviews once a month with the tutors.
Focusing on human contact
In parallel, Michèle Marcon and Pauline Roche organize eco-gesture training meetings for professions, for example
with chambermaids or when there are enough new trainees to form a group. These very participative trainings allow
very constructive exchanges around the environmental approach. For example, with the chambermaids on how to
reduce the use of chemicals or with trainees from all over the world, on the specificities of ecological approaches in
their countries of origin.
Regis Marcon always favors human contact and oral communication, he organizes every Sunday a meeting /
briefing of half an hour to which are invited about forty collaborators, the teams of room and kitchen. Each time a
product is selected and announced in advance to allow everyone to think about it. For example: Fishing, when
should it be harvested? How to work to express all its qualities? Etc. The sommelier offers a food and wine
pairing. A tasting of the product studied takes place and a small summary booklet is given to each. This briefing is,
if necessary, an opportunity to recall the rules of life in common, but above all it is a moment of generative
exchange according to the formula of Régis Marcon "energy of innovation". Jacques, for his part, makes daily
briefings focused on the activity of the moment. They both also made a lot of effort to develop interviews with each
employee to deepen the relationship, the exchange of ideas and contribute to the evolution of individuals and the
company.
Another sign, very symptomatic of this human policy, the perfect integration of a handicapped person, Guillaume,
who works, in his wheelchair, in the kitchen.
The quality produced by all this investment, environmental, economic and human, is appreciated by the
customers. They come to Saint-Bonnet-the cold to live privileged moments in this place where the shared values are
"hospitality, generosity and respect for nature".