Monte-Carlo Société des Bains de Mer has opened two new spaces for its employees at the 11th floor of its Aigue-Marine headquarters, a training centre and a staff restaurant, as part of a wider investment in employee wellbeing.
Stéphane Valeri, President-Delegate of the Group, and Sophie Vincent, the Group’s HR Director, inaugurated both spaces on Thursday, October 1, alongside members of the Executive Committee.
The training centre, named Monte-Carlo SBM Academy, spans 226 square metres and was designed by Saguez & Partners in collaboration with the Group’s Construction and Built Heritage Department. It includes an open space, several offices and three training rooms, allowing up to 40 employees to train there at the same time.
The Academy builds on SBM’s e-learning platform, My SBM Academy, launched a year ago with modules covering topics across the Group as well as more specific technical and trade-related content. Monte-Carlo SBM Academy adds a further 20 categories of training, delivered either by vetted external providers or by trained internal staff, alongside bespoke modules developed entirely in-house. Some of these courses are certified by the EHL Hospitality Business School, including a newly launched Trainer in Practical Arts programme developed with the school, which will equip future in-house trainers with teaching tools suited to their specific roles.
SBM, the Principality’s largest private employer, covers 130 different trades across the Group. More than 1,700 employees received at least one free training course through SBM in the 2025-2026 period, and the Group says it eventually hopes to widen its range of certified courses and open some of them to people outside the company.
Alongside the Academy, SBM also opened a new staff restaurant on October 1, named Espace Marie Blanc by employees themselves through an internal competition. Also designed by Saguez & Partners, the 327-square-metre space includes 113 seats across two dining areas, a lounge area and a space for meal deliveries handled by an external SBM partner. It is open seven days a week, bright and modular, with a lounge area and views over the Rock and the sea. The design draws on elements associated with the wider Resort, including historic stained glass from the Café de Paris Monte-Carlo representing the seasons, with an opus incertum floor of irregular natural stone.
Employee wellbeing has been a priority for SBM since Stéphane Valeri’s appointment as President-Delegate in 2023, under HR Director Sophie Vincent. The Group’s roughly 5,000 employees, rising to 6,000 during the high season, already have access to yoga, strength and stretching classes, reflexology and meditation workshops, naturopathy consultations, chair massage sessions and awareness modules on eye strain and breast cancer, alongside annual bonuses including profit-sharing, a social bonus and a Grand Prix bonus for eligible staff. Seasonal workers can also be housed in one of 334 beds SBM makes available.
Image courtesy of Monte-Carlo SBM