The Making of a Great Place to Work – the Story of Marriott International

The reservation of a Great jell to Work the story of Marriott International A fighter was narrating his story of an experience at the Ritz Carlton hotel. He was suffering from a sore throat and decided to get hold of his mothers advice and c altogethered manner service postulation for a glass of hot milk sundry(a) with a spoon of turmeric. Three years later after checking into the uniform hotel, he promptly receives a phone call from the room service, Sir, would you exchangeable your favorite hot milk with turmeric Much as he hated drinking hot milk with turmeric, my friend was impressed by the memory of the hotels staff. The Ritz-Carlton is one of the legion(predicate) brands of Marriott International. Take cargon of the associates, and theyll accede favorable c atomic number 18 of the guests, and the guests will come back. This was what J Willard Marriott said numerous decades ago. The founder of Marriott has since been vindicated many times all over.Today, Marriot t International has nearly 2,900 populate properties located in the United States and 67 other countries and territories. Between in a flash and the end of the year it will add another 100 properties to take the tally to 3000 properties. Marriott International, Inc. , is a leading lodging company. Its heritage weed be traced to a root beer stand opened in Washington, D. C. , in 1927 by J. Willard and Alice S. Marriott.Today, the company manages and franchises hotels and resorts under the Marriott, JW Marriott, Renaissance, Bulgari, The Ritz-Carlton, Courtyard, Residence Inn, SpringHill Suites, TownePlace Suites, and Fairfield Inn brand names develops and operates vacation ownership resorts under the Marriott Vacation Club International, The RitzCarlton Club, Grand Residences by Marriott, and Horizons brands operates Marriott executive Apartments provides furnished corporate housing through its Marriott ExecuStay division operates conference centers and manages play courses.Marri ott consistently makes it to Fortunes Best Employers List. And it is number 5 amongst the Top 25 Great Places to Work in India. Visit a Marriott property and you will sense the enthusiasm and energy of their swains (They call their employees Associates). I decided to visit their Juhu property and talk to a few employees to ascend aside what makes this hotel an employer of choice. Heres what I found. 1. A strong steel Marriott International does not own the hotels it operates. It owns the brands and runs the management. In this sense it is a lawful professional services firm.A lot of people can progress to a world class property it takes a Marriott management team to make it a world class hotel. When I was massageing with a rival chain, I kept on wondering, if Marriott can do it, wherefore cant we, confided a senior manager. When I decided to interchange from Delhi to Mumbai, I had a colleague who used to work in Marriott in Mumbai. She almost forced me to come for an interv iew at Marriott, shared the incumbent head of Training. Great Place to work Institute,India 2. True authority Empowerment is the nates of the Marriott way. Marriott has numerous theoretical accounts of how their Associates feel empowered. Employees decide when to give a harvest-home basket or other complimentary items to guests. in that location is a naughty degree of pride in the comical relationships they form with their guests. One example quoted was how an Associate in a restaurant offered the most expensive store of champagne to an unhappy guest- as a complimentary gift much(prenominal) examples are applauded and recognised. In the employee website, as well as, the company website you will get hold a number of stories of exemplary behaviour of Associates. . Guarantee of comely intercession Marriott employees feel empowered because they know that fair treatment is a cornerstone of the Organisations philosophy. This is what J W Marriott, Jr, real Chairman and chief operating officer has to say, I want our Associates to know that there really is a roast named Marriott who cares about them tool, as he is affectionately called, makes sure these are not empty words. Each manager has to give an undertaking of fair treatment. There is a process of escalation of employee grievances (Speak Out process), right up to him.Indeed, as the current HR Manager found out, getting a call from Bills office to enquire about an employee grievance is not surprising. Considering that Marriott employs over 150,000 employees globally, this is a strong example of the emphasis placed on fair treatment. And for employees too shy to write to Bill, there is always the option of anonymously calling up the Integrity hot telegraph wire, a 24 by 7 toll free number. As one employee commented, A very unique thing in this place is the work culture. I think all Associates are treated equally.At an singular level there are differences but no one turns their back when someone act ually require help. 4. Communication If fairness ensures that employees are not penalised for doing the right thing, communication processes are what ensures that employees know what the right thing is. This is what Bill Marriott says in his blog (http//www. blogs. marriott. com), more years ago, Marriott did something revolutionary at the time for hotels. We not only began asking guests about their stays, what they liked and didnt like, but we also took that information and created databases and tracking mechanisms so we knew how each hotel was doing. Marriott is the only hotel I know of which has a daily newspaper, called the day-by-day Packet. The Daily Packet is a communication tool which comprises of the Hospitality prefatory of the Day, Events for the day, Daily Birthdays, Special guest recognition of associate efforts, HR optic opener for the day, Daily occupancy rate, etc. Great Place to work Institute,India So the chances are the Associate who offered the bottle of ch ampagne to the customer, did it with the full acquaintance of how well the business is doing, and whether she can afford to spend that much on service recovery.An all important(predicate) part of the communication process is the performance communication. each quarter the GM addresses the associates and shares the Balance Score Card which comprises of the Revenue, Guest joy Survey results, Turnover rate, Audit Scores etc. The winners for departmental and individual recognitions schemes are awarded during this Quarterly Associates Meeting. This is followed by the department head along with the line manager conducting a quarterly performance review with the Associates.This is to give the Associate feedback and an overview of the last quarter and set his goals and action plan/development for the future(a) quarter. 5. The Marriott way I cannot end an article on Marriott without emphasising their 12 rules of success. deal any other great Organisation (Remember J&Js Credo), Marriott has defined its 12 rules of success as under 1. Continually repugn your team to do better. 2. Take trade goodish care of your employees and theyll take good care of your customers, and the customers will come back. 3. Celebrate your peoples success, not your own. . Know what youre good at and mine those competencies for all youre worth. 5. Do it and do it now. Err on the side of taking action. 6. Communicate. Listen to your customers, associates and competitors. 7. See and be seen. Get out of your office, walk around, make yourself visible and accessible. 8. Success is in the details. 9. Its more important to hire people with the right qualities than with specific experience. 10. Customer needs may vary, but their bias for quality never does. 11. Eliminate the cause of a mistake. Dont just sporty it up. 12.View every problem as an luck to grow. The to a higher place rules are supported by 20 Basics staple behaviours that exemplify the above rules. Marriotts brand beliefs can be summarised in one line as their spirit to serve- their Associates, Customers and Community. In line with the above Marriott adjudge awards for Community Service and Diversity. Do not be impress if you see hundreds of Marriott employees (joined by enthusiastic guests) descending on Juhu beach to clean it up. They did precisely that. Just as they took care of 26 school kids and many others during Mumbai floods. Great Place to work Institute,India I recall visiting a friend of mine in the HR department of a reputed quintuplet star hotel in the beginning of my career. The HR department was in the basement. My friend took me to the staff canteen, a dimly lit place where we were served some overcome rice (Poha) from an Aluminium Container, in a steel plate. I was astounded to see the difference between the basement and the other floors. Times have changed. The HR department in Marriott is at the same level as the Reception. And the basement is no less.For Marriott the Heart of the Organisation is as important as the Front of the Organisation. As you walk through the Associate Corridor which is knowing to make you proud to be in Marriott, and enter the Associate canteen, you cant help exclaiming, Are all restaurants in this hotel as good as the Associate canteen? ____________________________________________________________ ____________ The author is CEO of The Great Place to Work Institute, India. He can be reached at emailprotected in Views uttered are personal. Great Place to work Institute,India