Holiday Inn 2011 Annual Report Download - page 28

26 IHG Annual Review and Summary Financial Statement 2011
To become one of the world’s great companies
we need to become one of the world’s best people
companies, building experiences and hotels our
guests love through a passionate, focused and
skilled team of people. We will do this by:
› CREATING A BRANDHEARTED CULTURE;
› MAKING IHG A GREAT PLACE TO WORK;
› DELIVERING WORLD CLASS PEOPLE
TOOLS FOR OUR OWNERS; and
› BUILDING A STRONG LEADERSHIP TEAM.
Achieving these goals has never been more
important, with 90,000 additional people needed
in the next three years across our franchised and
managed business to support IHG’s ambitious
growth plans.
CREATING A BRANDHEARTED
CULTURE
Our people are the face of IHG, and every
day we rely on them to deliver fantastic
guest experiences. These experiences
are something guests will seek out time
and again, helping us to win market
share and drive revenue. To create this
culture we introduced BrandHearted –
a change in our culture so that every
decision and action we take is designed
to strengthen our brands and inspire our
people as brand ambassadors. Everyone
wants to work for a great brand – a brand
to be proud of and that people love.
BrandHearted is about engaging our
people on all of the reasons to love our
brands and what it takes to bring them
to life in a way that is right for our guests.
We have been introducing this culture
change throughout 2011, supported by
key initiatives such as a new Heart of
House which has transformed the hotel
‘back of house’ into a place that involves
employees by inspiring them on IHG,
their brand, hotel and team. It should be
an environment that stands up to the
guest experience we provide at the front
of our hotels. In hotels with a remodelled
Heart of House, engagement with our
people increased by 13 per cent showing
that an improved working environment
really does make a difference.
MAKING IHG A GREAT PLACE
TO WORK
The profile of our future workforce is
changing. Our talent pool will soon be
dominated by Generation Y (currently
13 to 33 years old) and we need to ensure
our plans attract and retain the very best
talent by accommodating their needs. For
them, social media is the reliable source
of word of mouth information, and they
expect us to build and maintain our
relationships with them online, reaching
them digitally, as we do our guests. In
2012, successful recruits will visit our
new online orientation programme
where they learn about our brands
and culture before their first day.
When they join us they also gain access
to a Facebook-style online recognition
scheme called Bravo, so they can publicly
‘like’ (recognise) each other’s achievements.
Industry recognition helps to attract future
employees, which is why we continually
benchmark our programmes against the
world’s best companies. In 2011 we won
16 awards from ‘The Sunday Times 25 Best
Big Companies to Work For’ to Aon Hewitt’s
‘Best Employer’ in Singapore, Malaysia
and Australia. And in January 2012, we
were delighted to be recognised in Fortune’s
‘100 Best Companies to Work For’ list in the US.
When it comes to retention, few
organisations account for the cost of
replacing knowledge. Our twice-yearly
Careers Week publicises opportunities
for employees to grow their careers
within the IHG family, with employees
updating their job profiles on www.ihg.
jobs each year.
PEOPLE
Our brands are a promise brought to life by our people; and when we touch the hearts of our
people, they touch the hearts of our guests. Tracy Robbins says “everything IHG does is designed
to create an emotional connection for our people so they can deliver our brand promises, as this
drives profitable returns for both IHG and our owners.”
“Our owners have really
championed the people agenda.
They’re great advocates of how
you deliver a unique guest
experience through our people.”
Tracy Robbins
Executive Vice President,
Head of Human Resources
and Operations Support