IHG NURTURES FUTURE LEADERS

Pascal Gauvin, managing director for the IMEA region of InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), highlights the specific programs used to recruit, retain and develop the skills of the employees working in the hotel industry.

How are you making the hospitality profession attractive to new/existing recruits?
At IHG, it is our people who make up the heart of our business and we rely on them to deliver fantastic guest experiences. Consequently, it is important for us to attract, retain and develop the best talent in the industry based on the following four pillars:
• We believe in developing a ‘brand-hearted’ culture within our organisation by positioning our brands at the center of every conversation and decision.
• We focus on making IHG a great place to work at, where colleagues trust the people they work for, take pride in the work they do and enjoy working with the people around them.
• We provide our colleagues with training and development opportunities, so they can be the best at what they do. We have developed a set of ‘People Tools’ used across all levels of seniority and incorporate our Leadership Competencies and Winning Ways for continuous learning.
• Lastly, we have a very strong leadership and performance culture at IHG. Our leaders create an environment where everyone is heading in the same direction, aligned and committed, in order to deliver great results and help grow our business sustainably and responsibly.

What are the challenges faced and how are you dealing with these?
One of the most common challenges that the tourism and hospitality sector is confronted with today is the lack of a skilled workforce. To overcome this challenge and to increase the proportion of the employable workforce for the hospitality industry, we instituted a program called the IHG Academy, which is a pioneering global collaboration between IHG and local education and community providers.
Additionally, we are committed to creating a diverse workforce and concentrate on continuous talent and succession planning to develop our teams. We do this through industry leading training programs such as our Future Leaders and GM Express programs that help develop our employees, whether they are just commencing their career in hospitality or moving up to an executive role.

What are the qualifications/qualities you look for in new recruits and what advice can you give?
At IHG, we believe in hiring for attitude and training for skills. It is important to us that candidates’ ideals are aligned with IHG’s organizational values i.e. our ‘Winning Ways’ – do the right thing, show we care, aim higher, celebrate differences and work better together. Furthermore, we also look for candidates with a positive attitude who have confidence, tenacity, perseverance, responsiveness and an appetite to learn and adapt.

What channels do you use when recruiting from universities, social media, head-hunters and internally?
We have our careers page that is promoted internally and externally, along with various social media platforms. While we focus on filling roles with the internal talent first, based on our succession plan, given our scale and diverse nature of our business, we also have exciting opportunities for talent from outside the company.

Do you have any internal educational programs/affiliations with hospitality schools?
We have strong internal learning and development programs for colleagues across job profiles. At entry level, we have a 12-month ‘I-Host’ program, which trains people for supervisory positions. Taking matters to another level, we offer an 18-month ‘I-Grad’ program for graduates, which trains them for managerial positions. Lastly, we expanded our ‘IHG Academy programs’, wherein we collaborate with educational institutions to give training and exposure to people, especially from local communities, for them to build a career in the hospitality industry.

ihg.com