Securing Success through People

The agenda included a panel of thought-provoking speakers, discussing the demands and expectations of today’s employees, and how leaders can harness these to create a stand-out, appealing and successful people culture.

Is it difficult to attract and retain talent in today’s climate?

There are many factors at play affecting the ‘war for talent’. Factors like Brexit, technology and generational differences, particularly with the Millenials and Generation Z at the forefront of the rapidly changing world and ‘age of the consumer’.  

Customer experience consultancy, CGA, data consultancy firm opened with an insight into the hospitality industry, identifying themes in consumer behaviours and the importance of engagement, experience and rising expectations in a complex market. 

Stephanie Hamilton, Head of People and Culture for ISS UK and Ireland, who has worked in the hospitality industry for 25 years spoke about how ISS define talent:

"Talent consists of those individuals who can make a difference to organisational performance either through their immediate contribution or, in the longer-term, by demonstrating the highest levels of potential."

Speaking of creating a culture that embraces each other and supports it’s employees, Stephanie said that that businesses must proactively manage talent and ‘enable’ – not just engage employees.

ISS is working on a number of initiatives to recruit, enable and retain talent including:

• ‘Great Conversations are the norm’ Individual job chats and appraisals are key to understanding people
• Performance – look forward, not backwards, we want everyone to achieve their potential
• Career jungles are replacing career ladders – opportunities come from all directions
• Mentoring programme to encourage different conversations
• Reverse mentoring – lots of people having lots of conversations
• Sponsorship programmes
• Succession Planning
• Graduate programme and alumnis
• Promotion of the Diversity and Inclusion agenda – ISS were announced winners of Best Overall Private Sector Employer and Inclusive Culture in the private sector last week

"We are pleased with our progress. Attraction is up, we are using fewer agencies, employee churn continues to drop and the most accurate measurement of all – our people are telling us it’s working. Initiatives like safety heroes network, CR Leaders and citizen programme, effective communication channels such as the myISS site, Reward and Recognition and investment in leaders to recognise the right behaviours and spotting talent are all effective mechanisms for talent management."

Other inspiring leaders from the hospitality industry spoke of people engagement, diversity and disruption, presenting some fantastic initiatives to foster an open working environment to get the best out of people. 

Followed by a panel debate about the use of autonomation and technology vs human interaction and service. Whilst some may prefer an app for room service or a human voice to chat to. It was an informative day covering many different angles but with one overarching theme. People are key.