MANAGING TALENT

Marriott Hires People Who Put Others First

What makes human resource management difficult in the hotel industry is that most positions are
hourly-wage jobs at the low end of the pay scale, involving a lot of hard work and not much glory.
Thus, it is all the more remarkable that Marriott International is known as a great company to work
for. This achievement is based on a philosophy to “put people first”—that is, if the company takes
care of its employees, they will take good care of the guests, and the guests will return repeatedly.
Employees appreciate perks such as discounts on rooms when they travel, but they especially praise
the opportunities for career development and the team spirit that develops in daily 15-minute
meetings that start each shift with enthusiasm.
To hire employees who will thrive and excel in this culture, Marriott focuses on hiring more
for attitude than for technical skills. The policy is “hire friendly, train technical.” Applicants for hourly
positions complete a personality test to measure their interpersonal skills, dependability, and
prevailing attitude. Scores provide information shown to be correlated with high performance, but
hiring man-agers balance the results with information gathered in interviews.
The qualities Marriott is looking for in an employee include trust, loyalty, and empathy. CEO
Arne Sorenson sums up the right kind of employee as someone with “a passion for the job.” To see
what this looks like in a management trainee’s job, consider MBA graduate Leticia Tavares, who took
a position with the company in Atlanta. Earning a graduate degree did not stand in her way when
she rotated through hotel jobs including housekeeping and kitchen duties. Rather, she enjoyed
relating to the employees in every department and predicts “endless opportunities” with Marriott.
The emphasis on personal qualities helps explain Marriott’s outreach to veterans. Marriott’s
vice president of multicultural affairs says the company’s data analysis found that military service
teaches values that translate well to great service in the hospitality industry. Therefore, the
company’s careers website includes a page for veterans. Job seekers not only can submit
applications but also can employ a tool that identifies how their military experience translates into
skills needed for civilian careers.

1
 Another kind of assessment isn’t part of the hiring pro-cess but helps workers decide if a
hotel job is right for them. The company developed a game called My Marriott Hotel, which it posted
on Facebook. Players make decisions required to manage various areas of hotel operations. For
example, in the restaurant, they buy ingredients, hire employees, and serve guests, all the while
winning points for happy customers and losing points when service fails.

Questions

1. Suppose you were hiring housekeepers and waiters for a Marriott hotel. What are two other
selection measures you would want to use besides the personality test? Why?

2. Imagine that you work in the human resource department at Marriott’s corporate headquarters.
Your team is thinking about ways it might use My Marriott Hotel game as part of the selection
process. How could you use it? How would you measure its effectiveness?

Sources: Company website, “Careers,” http://marriott.com, accessed April 20, 2018; “Great Places to Work: Marriott International,”
http:// reviews.greatplacetowork.com, accessed April 17, 2018; “Why I Love My Job: Leticia Tavares on Marriott’s Management
Acceleration Program,” Harvard Business School recruiting blog, February 14, 2017, https://www.hbs.edu; Leigh Gallagher, “Why
Employees Love Staying at Marriott,” Fortune, March 5, 2015, http://fortune.com; Dave Zielinski, “The Gamification of Recruitment,” HR
Magazine, November 2015, pp. 59–61; Apoorva Gandhi, “Strengthening a Commitment to Our Military Veterans,” Franchising World, May
2015, http:// franchisingworld.com.