Special Features - HR Today - Ms. Mohana Priya, Director of Human Resources, Park Hyatt Chennai
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Now that the world is getting vaccinated and spaces opening up, what does the hospitality landscape look like from an HR perspective?
The market trends and demands of customers are constantly changing and these factors have had their effect on the global hospitality industry for a while now. This industry was on its path to adopt the digital overhaul and another factor came into play, ‘COVID-19’. The pandemic affected everything that had anything to do with social interactions and brought life to a complete stand-still for the hospitality industry.
This industry was forced to adopt measures like reducing costs, letting go of employees or altogether closing up, to mitigate these losses.
However, the pandemic is slowly but surely receding and people are getting ready for the new normal by getting themselves vaccinated. It has brought immense hope that everything will return to normal and this sector can begin its journey of revival.While this situation created a crisis all over the industry; it also helped to create opportunities to innovate new strategies, services and products. It helped the players in this industry to adopt technology faster, creating better avenues suited for modern consumers. The technology in itself is the key to the faster revival of this industry in the post-vaccine era.The hospitality industry has a bright future and its revival is necessary in the post-vaccine era.
How did you keep the staff motivated during this difficult time? Focus was on – ‘the experience that employees have with the company, reflects on the customer experience’.
However, thanks to the slew of changes caused by the pandemic, the employee experience has taken on a new shape and meaning. “The battle of the hearts and minds of employees” has become even more important, especially when the leadership/management and employee relationship in a number of instances is very different from how it was previously.Formerly in-person connections have become completely technology-based. When it comes to leading and engaging people, you never really know how someone responds best until you’ve worked with them for a while and entered into a meaningful dialogue with them.
Another way to improve the employee experience in uncertain times is to give employees a voice. Gathering feedback from employees and then acting on their input is the best way to improve experience. It has been found that it’s very important for a company to listen to feedback and also found the following benefits of ‘turning feedback into action’-
· Employees are twice as engaged compared to those at companies without a listening program
· Almost 70% are very or extremely likely to stay with a company longer
· More than 90% will be more resilient in the face of change
What lessons do you feel you have learned from this period?
Importance of recognizing mental health - one of the most palpable impacts of the pandemic has been its effect on mental health. We’re living in unprecedented times. The stress and uncertainty facing vast amounts of the population have taken a toll. As we all scrambled to react to a crisis that was beyond control, it put well-being forward as a factor that couldn’t be ignored.
Is hiring coming back soon?
It is a well-known fact that the Hotel Industry is a people driven industry. During the Covid-19 pandemic the job opportunities and careers of many have been affected. Many have lost their jobs or are being paid much lesser salaries which has made life a struggle for hotel associates. In time to come, as India and the whole world see a silver lining in the sky due to the vaccination program and the daily count of COVID-19 positive people slowly but steadily reducing, we anticipate the Industry getting back on its feet soon.
Did you experiment with any new L&D ideas/tech?
Yes, we conducted trainings by using video conferencing platforms and we also conducted online orientation and number of employee engagement activities through Social media platforms. Weekly Quiz Time for all employees was organized via a WhatsApp group.
Hyatt’s first Global Wellbeing Week was organized virtually in June 2021 with employees attending a series of activities such as online Zumba, talk on health and wellness by the Hygiene Manager, and expressing gratitude to each other through e-cards.
