Retaining Staff- Marriott Hotels' Strategy
Talent attraction and retention is a hot topic
within the HR community. HR Magazine spoke to Regan Takitsadaporn, Chief Human
Resources Officer Asia Pacific, Marriott International Inc., to get this take
on these issues and what his firm’s strategies are in this space.
- He
considers communication and engagement with staff to be one of the
key strategies Marriott uses for talent retention. It chimes appropriately
with Marriott’s slogan of “putting people first”, which he explained
equally applies to staff as well as customers.
He pointed to the example of Hong Kong where Marriott office employees were recently empowered to have a say in the design and layout of their department’s workspace area.
In addition to consultation, Marriott has made strives to form a strong bond with its employees by launching initiatives such as “Associate Appreciation Week” which involved cooking classes, community service and a family day. This dialogue and sense of ownership should create a much more desirable workplace for staff, he feels. - He
is confident that they have good tools in place as part of their Human
Capital Strategies to attract high quality staff along with a strong
employer brand. With Marriott has grown from one hotel in Asia to 25 years
ago to 177 to present, a number expected to double by 2019. That level of
growth will bring its own challenges and human capital strategies at
Marriott revolve around preparing for that growth.
As part of retention, there has been a move away from a silo mentality historically - where each hotel’s talents are not necessarily encouraged to move within the group - towards a model where greater emphasis is placed on growing talent from within and allowing that talent mobility within the organisation.
To align the needs of the business as a whole with those of leadership, at each hotel part of management’s bonuses are measured according to the mobility of talent within the group. As of December 2014, 64% of management positions in the APAC region were filled internally.
In terms of development of human capital, every staff member at Marriott joins an ongoing development programme from day one of joining the company. This includes a “Voyage” programme for graduates that fast track them on to supervisory management positions within eighteen months of joining.
When discussing the qualities Marriott looks for in prospective employees, he noted that they are interested in “people looking for career rather than just another job.” He recounted at a recent hotel opening that he had a housekeeping member of staff ask how they could grow their career, which he felt was illustrative of the calibre of people they wish to recruit. Culture and competency fits were also seen as important criteria for new members of staff to avoid making expensive hiring mistakes. - On
mobilising Gen Y, he mentioned that Marriott put a lot of effort
into the human capital planning process with a yearly review starting at
hotel level to identify staff with exceptional potential, particularly
amongst the younger generation.
This knowledge is shared within the group to identify possible career moves within the organisation. He elaborates that, “Employees, particularly younger staff members, love the use of technology. We have ‘mobile apply’ as kids today spend more time on a mobile phone than on their desktop.”
This is location specific software that can be used to see all the Marriott jobs available in one’s immediate vicinity. So if you are having a coffee in Pacific place for example, you would see all the job application to be made from the mobile immediately, even by using the information from your LinkedIn profile.
He also added, “We are always thinking about what innovation we can use for our Voyagers (graduates). There is platform where they can interact with other Voyagers around the world - a kind of internal social networking.” - As Marriott faces stiff competition - not only from
hotels but also particularly airline/pleasure cruise industries that are
hiring people with similar competencies and backgrounds with competitive
packages - he sees the Marriott culture of putting people first as one of
the keys to successful talent retention.
At every hotel, before every shift there is a meeting, “the huddle” as it is commonly known in which an element of the firm’s culture is discussed. There is also “rap sessions” to enhance communication where the General Manager of the hotel meets with employees to discuss what they are doing well, what they are not doing well and what customer feedback they are getting.
Yearly interactive workshop sessions are facilitated by the hotel General Manager providing opportunities for feedback to senior staff and “Are something that staff really seem to appreciate” he added.
Three key points he felt any HR executive should bear in mind were firstly to fully understand the business and know where you need to focus to gain credibility with stakeholders. Second, for HR to remind themselves part of their role is to be there as an advocate for employees. Hence there is a need to be at the top table to remind management of the people side of the business. Finally, there is a need to constantly develop talent whom will become the next generation of leaders.
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