HR executives share their experience in human resources

Citation

(2009), "HR executives share their experience in human resources", Strategic HR Review, Vol. 8 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/shr.2009.37208bab.003

HR executives share their experience in human resources

Article Type: Practitioner profile From: Strategic HR Review, Volume 8, Issue 2

Carl SmithHead of HR at Novotel London West. He has over 24 years’ hotel experience, 14 of which are in operations and 10 in HR and training. Outside of Novotel London West, he is the chairman of the Hotel & Catering Personnel & Training Association and a Director for Pride London, an organization that aims to promote diversity and equality. E-mail: h0737-hr1@accor.com

In 2008, Carl Smith joined the team at the Novotel London West hotel and convention center as head of HR. Previously he was instrumental in the re-branding and amalgamation of three four-star properties for Thistle Lancaster Gate Hotels, following which he worked in HR for both the Cumberland Hotel in Marble Arch and Le Meridien Heathrow. In 2005, he became a training and talent manager for the Royal Lancaster Hotel, where he was responsible for 463 employees.

Going from a training and talent manager position to head of HR was a significant move, but Smith says there are similarities in the roles: “There is a large amount of crossover, as training and talent work closely with HR and also cover some of the key areas of HR. Moreover, with my experience I can easily relate to the burning issues within the industry using the skills and knowledge I have picked up during my days as a training and talent manager.”

Addressing the burning issues

So what are those issues? He says: “Within HR the current burning issues are recruitment and retention, new employment policies coming into place and changes within employment legislation. There are a number of ways in which these issues can be dealt with. This includes reviewing your current departmental head counts, strategic planning for the future, developing the people you have and regularly reviewing employee benefits and recognition.”

“In reviewing and growing employees I have found one of the biggest challenges to be people’s perceptions and not wanting to grow their own role. At Novotel London West we have regular formalized reviews to ensure that, should staff need training to help them become better at their roles, we are both open to suggestion and provide recommendations. It is this emphasis on developing staff that keeps morale high as it underlines their importance to the whole team and that we are investing in them.”

Innovative training programs

Customer service is at the core of Novotel London West. This is emphasized by its “Service Extraordinaire” customer care training program, which uses innovative training to re-iterate the message that the customer is key. An example is the “Five Senses Experience,” which is a training program designed to demonstrate how sight, sound, smell, touch and taste all impact on the customer’s enjoyment of food and to explore the overall customer experience.

Smith explains: “The whole team plays an important role in our clients’ enjoyment of the hotel and we emphasize this by putting everyone through The Five Senses Experience in our purpose built Five Senses kitchen. The initiative is all part of creating a higher awareness among staff of the needs of clients. Through the interactive and enjoyable training program staff are encouraged to think about all the different ways in which a client’s perception of the hotel can be affected, and to ensure that they have done everything in their power to create a positive experience.

“While food is the subject, there is more to the experience then just flavor and eating, with the focus on each individual’s senses using a series of fun experimentations. As an example, music played during an event can affect your guests’ enjoyment of the food and their experience of an event.”

Bringing out the best in people

Smith says gaining the national Investors in People (IIP) standard for development and training of people has been a highlight of his time at Novotel London West: “One of my greatest achievements is working with the team and gaining the IIP accreditation, as well as developing people and seeing the outcome of this over a period of time as they strengthen their roles. We are also planning for the future with our new ‘People of Promise’ initiative, or POP for short, which was pioneered by our general manager, Michael Sloan, and is something in which I am involved.”

“POP is designed to identify people who show potential and help them to become stars in the hotel industry through bespoke training programs developed for the individual. One of the key motivators behind the scheme is the forthcoming 2012 Olympic Games in London. With the run up to this international event, we need to encourage people to stay in the hospitality industry, particularly as those with the right skills will be in high demand during the event. This initiative is designed to obtain and retain a high performing workforce and ensure that we invest in people with budding talent so that they go on to have senior roles within Novotel London West and its parent, the Accor Group.”

Smith is keen to try out other innovative training methods at Novotel London West. He says: “Essentially I want to ensure that we bring as much creativity and interactivity into our training sessions as we can – something which both the Five Senses and our new POP initiative really deliver on.”