Hotel Cateys 2023: Best Use of Technology Award – Lore Group

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In a world of instantaneous bookings, AI and the metaverse, an HR transformation project may not sound like the most obvious winner of a Best Use of Technology category. But this year's winner undertook an impressive 18-month digitisation project that had a direct impact on more than 1,200 employees across the six hotels it operates, and in turn helps to provide an enhanced service for guests.

The project was initiated in response to the growing need to streamline and integrate all of Lore Group's HR and payroll systems. Group chief executive David Taylor and people director Jon Dawson spearheaded the ambitious project, which looked to consolidate all people data and HR systems into a single customised system across the entire "hire to retire" employee journey.

The project began by establishing with managers and employees what was needed from a new system, and the standout response was to have everything accessible within one mobile app. The business chose Workday's full suite of products, but customised it for the business's specific needs. This monumental task involved transitioning data from 21 systems – including HR, payroll, scheduling, learning and development, recruitment, employee communications and performance management – from three countries, and consolidating into one global system.

HR and IT professionals will understand how complex this type of a transformation project was to undertake and the intense planning required, the execution, and the co-ordination throughout the 18-month implementation and change management process. In fact, as Ron Goodisman, a Lore Group employee who has been part of other HR-related projects pointed out: "One thing I learned during my previous experiences is the complexity and difficulty of HR transformation projects. In fact, many people may not be aware that 76% of such projects fail, according to McKinsey."

But Lore Group's project most certainly did not fail. In fact, since the new system went live in October 2022 it has contributed to a 31% increase in employee engagement, contributing to the group being on track to end 2023 with its highest ever employee retention rate.

Another testament to the technology is the uptake from the group's employees.

After training people on the new system it now has 100% usage rate with 61,283 log-ins on average per month, the majority of which come from mobile devices, equating to each employee using the app an average of 51 times each month.

The group is also on track to save 4% of hourly operational payroll, saving hundreds of thousands of pounds which it will reinvest in improving guest services. In addition, it has identified significant savings in recruitment and administration costs next year once it gets to grips with the AI technology the platform has to offer.

What the judges said

"A different and super-successful implementation encompassing the most important part of the business – people!" Jane Pendlebury

The shortlist

• Imperial London Hotels
• The Londoner
• Lore Group
• Rockliffe Hall