Holiday Inn 2009 Annual Report Download - page 26

24 IHG Annual Report and Financial Statements 2009
Business review continued
IHG’s key measure from the survey is the engagement index,
constructed from a set of questions which measure employee
advocacy, retention and effort. During 2009, IHG’s engagement
index improved by one percentage point to 69%. The survey also
highlights that our people are proud of IHG and retention and
advocacy has remained stable during the year.
We have used our survey to track awareness and understanding of
Great Hotels Guests Love. Our November 2009 employee survey
results show that 90% of our people understand Great Hotels
Guests Love and that it has helped them focus on the right things
for the business.
Room to grow
To meet the demands of our growth and to deliver Great Hotels
Guests Love, IHG continues to focus on developing talent.
During 2009, we again conducted our annual review of the Group’s
1,300 corporate managers and hotel general managers to identify
skills required for the future and how to develop individuals. The
outcome is to increase clarity around our talented individuals, their
key development needs and the ability to move these individuals
into the positions which will enable them to enhance their skills
and meet IHG’s key objectives.
During the year, IHG continued to place importance on the growth
and development of its people in the owned and managed hotels,
and within its corporate and reservations offices, and ensured
training programmes were available to all of its employees. The
Group’s internal survey indicates that 85% of employees agree that
IHG delivers training to assist with their current roles, which is a
three percentage point improvement on 2008.
In support of the ‘Holiday Inn refresh’ programme, IHG continued
the intensive and comprehensive training programme entitled
‘Stay Real’ to ensure that all employees working in a Holiday Inn
or Holiday Inn Express hotel receive training to help them deliver
the service experience expected by guests.
We have leveraged technology by introducing a learning
management system to help employees find and book the training
and development they require. A number of online programmes
have been introduced to help people learn flexibly and develop their
skills in the workplace rather than attend courses in classrooms.
IHG has a number of development programmes in place to support
its managers in hotels and corporate offices to deliver Great Hotels
Guests Love. These include the assessment of individual potential
and capability, together with clarity on expectations and business-
related education. During 2009, 49 senior managers attended the
latest stage of IHG’s senior leadership programme, concentrating
on the role that leaders play in driving performance and results
through people.
The Leaders Lounge, an online leadership development system,
has been launched which provides cost-effective and high-quality
development and communication to all of our senior leaders. This
forum provides input from the Chief Executive and the Executive
Committee on key issues and challenges for the business as well
as inputs from external business thinkers.
We were proud to receive the CIPD People Management Award
2009 for Excellence through technology, sponsored by IBM, for our
Leaders Lounge. The Lounge was recognised for the innovative way
it trains people.
The succession planning process for senior leadership roles has
continued in 2009, enabling IHG to manage changes in leadership.
During 2009, the senior corporate team underwent significant
restructuring to become more efficient and better positioned for
the economic recovery. As a result, 18% of senior executive roles
were eliminated and 26 senior executives left the Group. To ensure
that the key functions and operations areas were appropriately
managed and to provide development for high-potential leaders,
a number of senior roles were combined. In the Asia Pacific region,
we took the decision to create two independent business units
focused on Greater China and Asia Australasia. This resulted in
one member of the Executive Committee leaving IHG.
Room for you
IHG’s compensation and benefits programmes are designed to be
competitive and to recognise and reward achievement. The benefits
offered to employees vary according to region. IHG contributes to
both mandatory and company-sponsored retirement plans to
ensure benefits are competitive within each local market. IHG’s
employee survey indicates that the majority of employees believe
they are fairly paid for the work they do.
The Group offers a range of benefits that are aimed at helping
employees to achieve a better work/life balance. Healthcare is
provided to some staff groups and, in our Americas region,
programmes are in place to help employees maintain a healthy
lifestyle and also reduce the cost of health insurance claims.
In some regions employee assistance programmes offer a
confidential counselling service to help employees deal with
financial and legal matters, relationship problems and stress.
IHG manages performance by helping people to align their
objectives to our core purpose. The Group also encourages
managers to acknowledge employee achievements or
contributions as part of our Winning Ways culture.