Community and partners

colleagues

“PUTTING THE ACCENT ON OUR PEOPLE” AND “HIRE FOR TALENT AND TRAIN THE SKILLS” IS THE CORE OF OUR HUMAN RESOURCES AND TRAINING PHILOSOPHY.

The hotel business is a people’s business, and the success of our business is directly linked to the commitment, attitude and passion of our colleagues. At Swissôtel, sustainability means we engage with our team members and refine our leadership capabilities, to inspire and create a dynamic, high-spirited and fun work environment.

In 2007, Swissôtel decided to undergo the Investors in People (IIP) assessment to evaluate its management strategy. The IIP accreditation programme helps companies meet and exceed their goals. Swissôtel Europe was successfully assessed and recognised as an Investor in People in 2011, and all properties were certified as Investors in People in 2012. In 2014, the Swissôtel brand received the certification Investors in People Silver.



Pierre Botteron
Vice President Human Resources, FRHI Europe



The Investors in People framework is very challenging and requires a broad range of detailed criteria to be fulfilled. It also means we live what we preach, since the auditors conduct live interviews on site. We aim to ensure our colleagues enjoy a good work-life balance, and being authentic, creative and asking “Why?” is something we value. Every team member is an ambassador of the brand and investing in them means investing in our company and its continuous success.

Learn more at: www.investorsinpeople.co.uk



colleague health and safety

At Swissôtel, we believe that all team members and partners should have the right to a safe and healthy work environment, free from injury and illness. To make certain this is the case we:

  • ensure that health and safety is a core objective of hotel managers

  • promote the well-being of guests and team members

  • assess health and safety risks at each location

  • operate a health and safety audit programme

  • join appropriate health and safety initiatives and groups, including corporate-wide OHSAS 18001 certification (ISO certification on Food Safety)

  • investigate all complaints and non-compliance and act on our findings

  • provide team members with the necessary training and personal protective equipment to safely do their job

Feedback from our colleagues on this issue is also monitored through our yearly colleague engagement survey. In addition, we operate a global, 24-hour hotline for colleagues to report non-compliance.

PROGRESS: The number of work-related injury cases has decreased by 19% in the past three years.




colleague diversity

A global employer, Swissôtel counted 7,419 colleagues in 2014. Of those colleagues, 42.80% were under 30 years old and 11.60% were over 50 – which is a great sign of generational diversity.

Despite that strength, Swissôtel is still struggling to significantly improve in other key areas of team member development:

  • turnover lies at 37.66% (0.9% lower than in 2011)

  • internal promotion has risen slightly to 11.66% (2.5% higher than in 2012)

  • the proportion of female team members is 35.51%

  • and the rate of female managers is 36.73%

Such average performance is structurally linked to the nature of the hotel industry. Although we perform better than our competition, it is still much lower than in other industries and therefore requires our attention.



colleague engagement

Colleague engagement has been a focus of the Swissôtel brand since 2009. Please note that data from 2010 to 2013 where measured by Gallup (scale on 5) while 2014 data were measured by Kenexa Surveys (% scale).

PROGRESS: Colleague engagement has continued to increase since 2010, reaching 88% in 2014.










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