labor laws and regulations, social
security rules by labor ministry,
insurance for employees (including
pension) property insurance,
third party insurance and all other
insurances required by law.
STAFF HIRING PLAN
As per the manning guide
and depending on operational
requirements by respective
departments, employees were
brought on board during various
stages of pre-opening solely needs
based with other staff hires staggered
based on anticipated recruiting
and training time in line with our
recruitment strategy. Some of the
key factors that were considered and
evaluated within the employee hiring
plan included:
• Preparation of manning guides
| staffing levels for the resort
(opening vs. stabilized levels)
• Market survey and review of
competitive salary and employee
benefits - salary and wage range
and balancing market rates to
anticipated service levels. (i.e.
“Can we attract the talent we
need to be successful?”)
• Negotiating points, remote
location policies, benefits
and other expenses (e.g.
management relocation |
recreation - vacation | remote
location expenses)
• Unique issues that might
affect staff hiring (i.e. labor
agreements, location, security
requirements, transportation,
etc.)
• Nationality break up |
maintaining Local vs. Expat ratio
and position specific job profiles
• Adequate recruiting/training
area availability
Keeping in mind that the 1st year of
operation is usually affected by an
exceptionally high turnover, and/
or dismissing rate we did work on
alternate plans to backfill critical
positions with some outsourcing
options in place. We also actively
developed a database of shortlisted
applicants to outreach in event of
any crucial requirements.
STAFF ENGAGEMENT AND
MOTIVATION
Slowly as we ramped up our
recruitment plan and the team
started settling in at the site, the
resort became a bit livelier with the
right people doing the right job. As
a division head for Talent & Culture,
getting quality personnel for a
remote island location resort such as
ours was a challenging task however
not impossible. I used my previous
connections, and with my own team
including L&D Manager & Assistant
T&C Manager, made recruitment
a systematic approach for each
personnel we recruited. We followed
the principle of being transparent
and fair while keeping our word of
promise
for each hiring with terms
and conditions enlisted in the
employment contracts for all our
candidates. From the pre-joining
stage candidates were made aware
of the pros and cons of working at
an island location in a multicultural,
multigenerational and diverse cross-
cultural milieu. We anticipated their
needs in terms of their wellbeing,
career aspirations, lifestyle and
ambitions when the recruitment
was made. Despite doing this we
still had many staff members who
joined us on a trial basis and left
after a short duration, however,
employee turnover has never been
a difficult task to handle nor did we
have a high turnover during this
crucial stage. With the support
from the General Manager we kept
the teams engaged and interested
and several team activities and
communication forums were set
up to ensure team engagement
and motivation as we built strong
relationships internally which paved
the way for us to run a smooth pre-
opening operation. Various activities
such as “Power Saturdays” (3rd
Saturday of the month – an inspiring
learning initiative for the leadership
team to learn a new leadership |
management skill) and monthly
Town-hall meeting (monthly open
forum communication platform
to communicate with employees)
created a new trend to teach and
learn in a very engaging and inspiring
environment.
LEARNING & DEVELOPMENT
Our learning and development
strategy did not restrict itself to
mundane classroom training sessions
however our goal was to reach out
to every colleague and to identify
their talents and learning aspirations
while instilling “Accor” values and
beliefs. Our passionate and energetic
Learning & Development Manager
brought in a change in the way to
enhance and invigorate the culture
of engagement and learning within
teams. With the General Manager’s
direct personal involvement and
constant mentoring, we established
a path to culture of learning that is
crucial for sustaining and retaining
our values and work ethics in a
self-motivated spirit. With the help
of our Regional Accor Academie
the employees are being trained on
brand specific service standards and
leadership trainings to gear up for
the resort operations as per Mercure
ILHA 37