Employees at the InterContinental Toronto Centre have few reservations about working at the downtown hotel—they’re checked in and engaged
When Dallas Hopko, director of HR at the InterContinental Toronto Centre, walks to his office in the basement of the hotel (known as the “heart of house”), there’s more than just a spring in his step.
Across from the HR department is housekeeping, where, every morning at 8 a.m., head of housekeeping Anil Datt leads a 10-minute team-building Zumba session with the housekeepers to get them ready to clean the hotel rooms. (In August, when many fitness professionals stayed at the hotel for the canfitpro conference, the hotel arranged for one of the top Zumba instructors to lead half-hour Zumba classes—one at 7:30 a.m. and one at 10:30 a.m.—with hotel employees in their uniforms. Housekeeping staff, sales and the front of house all got into the groove.)
And that’s not all the InterContinental does to keep employees energized and motivated. The hotel holds Celebrate Service Week in June, where every department (15 in all) is recognized for the service it provides.
“That whole week is dedicated to just recognizing the colleagues for all the work they do,” says Hopko. “We love to see our employees happy and engaged, so we make every effort to do so.”
Five-star Rating
Hopko has been at the hotel for five and a half years. When he arrived, surveys found that the employee engagement rate was quite low. (The hotel does two employee engagement surveys annually, one in the spring and one in the fall. For example, the survey asks employees if they’re proud to work at the hotel, if the way they’re treated makes them put in extra effort and if their job gives them a sense of achievement.) “When I walked into this hotel, there was a division of communication. And there wasn’t a lot of cross-division mingling,” says Hopko. “Now you see staff intermingling and talking to one another and feeling more comfortable—and that’s because we have implemented really great programs and events for the staff to participate in.”
He also noticed that there were a handful of basic employee recognition programs at the hotel. Since then, it has been a priority of the hotel to add new recognition programs—the number has almost doubled—to engage and celebrate staff. In addition to Celebrate Service Week, there is Team of the Quarter, Leader of the Quarter/Year and Colleague of the Month/Year, Service Recovery Incentive and WOW cards for employees who go above and beyond. The employee entrance has even been renamed the “Avenue of Stars.” “Everyone who walks into this hotel is a star—that’s how we look at our colleagues,” says Hopko.
Today, the hotel’s employee engage- ment rate is much higher: 68% and growing higher every year. Within the housekeeping department specifically, the score has doubled since Datt came to the InterContinental two and a half years ago.
And employee engagement isn’t just an HR initiative. Hopko works closely with all department heads to improve engagement scores, see where the deficiencies lie and devise action plans. There are monthly department meetings, and the hotel has quarterly town halls and involves all the employee staff. Each department has a daily “stand-up” meeting to communicate what is happening that day.
Hopko says that in trying to engage staff, managers have to listen to what their staff members really want. “Not everyone wants to be engaged in the same way. Some people like public recognition; some like private recognition. Some prefer just to come to work, do their job and go home; some really want to get involved.”
Group Rate
For Hopko, wellness partners well with employee engagement. From an overall company perspective, InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) [the hotel’s parent company] has a Journey to Wellness program, in which the company focuses on a women’s or men’s health issue each month—for example, cancer or respiratory conditions.
At the hotel level, there is a solid benefits program (80% drug and dental coverage and paramedical services). But over and above these benefits are other perks that, according to Hopko, no other hotel in downtown Toronto has for its employees: Porter Airlines discounts, Zipcar discounts and a free massage at the hotel spa every month.
InterContinental also has an employee referral program, dry cleaning, a 35% discount at the hotel spa, a 50% discount at the hotel’s restaurant, employee rates at all IHG brands, friends and family rates at the IHG hotel collection, and gym discounts at GoodLife Fitness.
Whenever there are staff meals, the culinary team and planning committees ensure that there are healthy options. The hotel has also held annual health and wellness fairs, including nutritional seminars to guide staff in making healthy food choices and psychotherapy seminars to aid with stress and moods.
Hopko is also a firm believer in employees taking allotted vacation time, as well as needed time off for illness—also important from a wellness standpoint. “If someone’s sick in the family, I think it’s important for you to take care of them,” he stresses. “Will your boss be there when you’re sick in bed, holding your hand, saying, ‘It’s all going to be okay’? It’s going to be your spouse, or your children, or your parents. Family comes first.”
Hopko understands that work can’t be everything. “If all you have is work, then I always tell people, ‘Get a life.’ Work/life balance is so important to being engaged at work.”
Room With a View
While not all employers have the service culture of a hotel, employee engagement is always a key objective, no matter the kind of company. And, for Hopko, engagement starts at the top. When the general manager or any of the executives make an appearance throughout the InterContinental, “you see [employees’] faces light up. The team feels like they care, they want to be here, and they care about us,” he says.
“I challenge CEOs and VPs to get out of the office—walk around, talk to people—but actually be genuine about it. Don’t do it because you’re being seen as doing it; do it because you want to do it. And if you don’t want to do it, then step down and let somebody else take over.”
While Hopko feels that engagement scores provide a numerical measure of success, connecting with employees is most important. “That’s how I win them [over] in engagement—because I truly believe [that] when I engage with them, it’s genuine.”
Brooke Smith is managing editor of Benefits Canada.
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