Best Companies-Marriott Hotels India.

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A friendly air: Transparency and openness make Marriott a different place to work

WHAT MAKES MARRIOTT AN EMPLOYER OF CHOICE

Two-way communication: For new entrants, there is an event called ‘Koffee with
the GM’ to interact with the GM and share their views over a cup of coffee. For employ-
ees too shy to talk, there is the option of anonymously calling up the Integrity Hotline, a
24X7 toll free number.
THE

Best
COMPANIES
Employee benefit initiatives: Employees are given six offs in a month and finan-
cial support for higher education. Each and every employee on their birthday can stay
TO WORK in the hotel for one day with their spouse or family and can dine anywhere.
FOR IN INDIA

11
Knowledge initiatives: Every Marriott hotel has a learning centre that has a collec-
RANK tion of books and videos, along with an internet connection.

Defined span-of-leadership: There is a Leadership Performance Process man-

agement system which defines nine competencies which a Marriott associate should
have and develop.

Reward system: There are two kinds of awards for individuals or groups to recog-
nise outstanding performance. Each Marriott hotel in India has its own awards. This
is apart from an overall event involving all Marriott properties globally.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY RACHIT GOSWAMI

ing a great employer, globally.
Marriott International, according
to Fortune, is amongst the 100
best companies to work for in the
world. It has made it to Fortune’s
list for the 10th consecutive year.
An open-door policy along
with a first-name culture is just
one manifestation of how Marriott
connects with its workforce.
There’s a perfectly logical reason
Marriott Hotels India vious day’s events at the hotel.
You’re still a bit fuzzy about how
for such transparency: It results in
quick decision-making, be it an
employee-related decision or a
guest-related decision. Elaborates
Jatin Khanna, a Front Office
Manager at the Renaissance
Mumbai Hotel, one of the brands
owned by Marriott Hotels (the
others are the JW Marriott,
Marriott Resorts, Courtyard and
Marriott Executive Apartments):
“Marriott is a completely different
place to work in. One does not
need to seek appointments to meet
the senior management. You can

Power of One
things work at Marriott—it’s your just walk into their room and dis-
first day, after all—so you decide
to walk into the corner room SNAPSHOT cuss issues. An absence of the ‘Sir’
culture was also a big revelation
that’s occupied by the head of
Total employees: 2,502 for me.” Khanna has spent a
At Marriott Hotels India, there are no employees, only associates. Marriott’s India operations. “Hi
Average age: 24 decade in the hospitality sector.
Philip,” you grin.
Attrition rate: 32 per cent Adds Philip Bryson, Chairman,
The associates take care of guests, the guests come back...that’s Such conduct would be con-
Male:Female ratio: 4:1 Marriott India Business Council
good for business, and for the associates too. ANUSHA SUBRAMANIAN sidered bare-faced in most or-
ganisations—barging into a head

Average career tenure: 3 years and General Manager for
Renaissance Mumbai Hotel &

HR Cost: Rs 1.07 crore
ICTURE THIS: YOU’VE JUST Corridor,’ where the walls are newspaper with plenty to read, honcho’s cabin and going on to Marriott Executive Apartments:

P

Promotion rate: 37.6 per cent
hopped on board plastered with all the information you realise: It has a theme for the address him by his first name on “You earn respect from the job
Marriott Hotels India you need to know about Marriott. day, events for the day, birthdays one’s first day at the office would
Training budget: Rs 1.36 crore you do and not from the position
as an employee. Corre- You then pick up the Daily Packet, of associates, mentions of guests’ only invite scorn, if not the boot,
Training man-days: 4,337 days you hold in an organisation.
ction: You’re not an an in-house daily newspaper recognition of efforts put in by at more common workplaces. But
Revenues: Rs 448 crore * Everyone from a line manager to a
employee but an associate. You brought out by the human re- associates, an HR ‘eye-opener for then this is Marriott Hotels, a
Gross Operating Profit: Rs 240 crore* sweeper to a chef is on one plat-
take a walk down the ‘Associate source department. This is one the day,’ and reports on the pre- company that prides itself for be- * Figures are for the period Jan.-Sept. ‘07 form, and we all function as one.”

000 BUSINESS TODAY NOVEMBER 18 2007 NOVEMBER 18 2007 BUSINESS TODAY 000
Best Companies-Marriott Hotels India.qxd 11/15/2007
THE
Best
COMPANIES
TO WORK
FOR IN INDIA
Bryson and other senior managers
spend time individually with all
the employees every day. In fact,
Bryson says it takes him 30 min-
utes to walk into his office each
morning as he spends time with
those on the job.
That power of one may sound
almost Utopian, but it appears to
be working like a charm at
Marriott India. At the core of this
approach is the belief that happy
employees are good for business.
Bryson recalls the words of the
founder of the global hotel chain,
J. Willard Marriott: “If you take
care of your employees, employ-
ees take pride in their work. If
they take pride in their work,
they serve the customer at their
best. If the customer is served
well, they come back and the
business is taken care of.”
Trickling down from the
premise is a host of initiatives
that eventually all come together
to make Marriott an employee’s
paradise. Pampering isn’t a bad
word in the Marriott lexicon,
which is evident in the six holi-
days each associate gets every
month (the average in the service
industry is four). The ‘Marriott
Way’ is also to empower associ-
ates who, for instance, are al-
lowed to give complimentary gifts
to their guests. There is a high
degree of pride in the unique re-
lationships cemented with guests.
All these work in favour of the as-
000 BUSINESS TODAY NOVEMBER 18 2007
12:13 PM Page 4
Chairman Q&A
“Everyone Is Considered Equal”
Philip Bryson, 40, Chairman, Marriott India Business Council, has been
associated with the Marriott chain since 1994. He spoke to BT’s Anusha
Subramanian about the Marriott culture. Excerpts:
In your words, why is Marriott Hotels one of the best places to work?
Our whole business premise is built on the fact that if you take care of your
associates, they will take care of the guest and guest will come back and the
business will take care of itself. We have all the necessary training tools for our
associates, who are well motivated, receive good career guidance and good
rewards and recognition. And they are happy. We are not hierarchical in na-
ture and everybody from a general manager who is the highest in rank to a jun-
ior associate is referred to by their first names. It does not matter what job you
do here and at what grade you are in the organisation; everyone is
considered equal.
How do you ensure there is a good connect between employees and the
company as it grows rapidly?
It all starts at the selection process. When we conduct interviews with
prospective employees we ask them what they know about the hotel. Most
of them know something. Alternatively, we do not look for people who
have the right skills to work here but look for people who have the right attitude.
That’s because we can train them and give them the skills but we cannot give
them the right attitude. When they join the company they have to go
through a three-day induction programme where they learn about the hotel,
the brand and the history. We are an 80-year-old company and still very much
a family company, and we are proud of our heritage. On a daily basis,
there is a meeting within every department. We have high-delegation visits from
Marriott International. Thus we ensure the employees are well connected with
the organisation.
The biggest challenge today?
Turnover! We take care of our employees. But we also train them so they are
ready to be poached as well. I think with the growth that is likely to take place
in this industry, retention and recruitment is going to be a big issue.
How do you attract the right talent?
A lot of it is word of mouth. We have a rigid selection process. The prospec-
tive employee has to go through an online screening, a personality profile. They
have to first get vetted by human resources and then they go for an interview
with the department head and then they go for an interview with the operations
head and they have a final 10 minutes with me. I do not interview them. I just
chat them up to find out what kind of a person he or she is and make it clear
to them from day one that we are serious about our people.
How are employees aligned with the business?
The business goals are linked to the functional and strategic balance scorecard,
which has parameters that are linked directly to the organisation’s goals. There
is a monthly balance scorecard for the entire department and individual bal-
ance scorecard for each employee who has different targets to meet. This way
each and every employee is aligned with the business and the organisation’s
business goal and has to perform accordingly.
Best Companies-Marriott Hotels India.qxd 11/15/2007
sociate, who earns reward points.
Marriott also follows a house sys-
tem, just like it is in schools.
THE All associates, right from the
Best
COMPANIES senior management to the junior-
TO WORK
FOR IN INDIA most, are equally divided into four
houses: Elephant, Lotus, Peacock
and Banyan. Each house has an ac-
tivity every month, through the
year, around areas such as lead-
ership and training. Competitions
are also held through the year,
which enable associates earn re-
wards and points for their house.
“This is one way of ensuring em-
ployee connect and there is in-
creasing communication within
associates,” explains Bryson.
It’s great to be on the Marriott
ship, but climbing on board in-
volves a rigorous recruitment
process, something Gurmeet
Singh, Country Director of
Human Resources, Marriott
Hotels India, is proud of.
Extensive online psychological
tests help the hotel chain pinpoint
the right candidates for specific
roles. This is followed up with a
series of interviews—with HR,
with the department head, with
the operations head, and a final
meeting (which isn’t an interview)
with Bryson himself. “I just chat
12:13 PM Page 5
Playing a part: Employees have activities round the year
them up,” he says (see Everyone is
Considered Equal).
Despite such efforts, the BT-
Mercer study indicates that
Marriott Hotels India’s HR cost
per employee is a minimal Rs
4,316 annually and the training
budget is just Rs 1.36 crore per
annum across the five proper-
ties. Singh explains: “One must
understand the hotel industry’s
business model. We cannot be
compared with any other indus-
try. If a person is a dishwasher
you cannot train him to do a
management job.” Globally
Marriott sets aside $750 every
year for every manager for train-
ing and development.
Singh agrees that Marriott
isn’t the leader in salaries, “but
we do give each and every asso-
ciate an 8.33 per cent guaran-
teed bonus every year.
Performers can earn a bonus of
up to 20 per cent.” Attrition lev-
els at 32 per cent are higher than
the industry average of 30 per
cent but they are below the 36
per cent norm for the Mumbai
market. “Attrition has become a
way of life. That is something
you cannot shy away from. The
only thing we can do is be more
proactive, aggressive, and inno-
vative in the way we hire and
train,” says Singh. One such
proactive initiative is promotions,
with 37.6 per cent of the work-
force being promoted last year.
The average time for a promo-
tion has also been crunched to
two years. Singh takes consola-
tion from the fact that Marriott
seldom loses people to competi-
tion. “They do not leave us to
work for another hotel but to
work for a cruise liner or to work
in another country or for fur-
ther education. And the kick we
get is when they come back—
and that rate is good,” says Singh.
That’s another upshot of the
Marriott way. You can’t hold on
to associates for ever, but you
can always expect some of them
to come back.