Human Resource Team of The Year 2008 – The Dorchester

Human Resource Team of The Year
Sponsored by ThirdForce

When 97.2% of your employees state in the annual Employee Satisfaction Survey that they're proud to work for your company, you know you're doing something right. Or at least, you can rest assured that your HR department is - as is the case with the team at the Dorchester - this year's winners of the Human Resources Team of the Year category.

And you might imagine that such a well-established hotel as the Dorchester would have a fittingly well-established HR team. Not so. In September 2007, the HR manager and the training development manager joined the team, making it fully staffed for the first time in months.

Fast forward a few months and the Dorchester has been awarded one-star accreditation in the Best Companies to Work For 2008, been dubbed one of the Best Places to Work in Hospitality 2008 by Caterer and Hotelkeeper, and achieved its highest overall score yet for the annual Employee Satisfaction Survey.

Judge Harry Murray, managing director of Lucknam Park Hotel, praised the team for its "clear strategy to provide career structure, training and staff development". Of course, training is a big part of this strategy, with them implementing a 12-month induction programme, the "Dorchester Debut", (which has led to an increase in employee retention and performance standards), as well as increasing the number of in-house employee training courses offered (there are now 30 per month).

Morale and motivation are also key elements of the team's plan, with creative initiatives such as the first Dorchester yearbook, featuring key departmental and hotel achievements and employee pictures. It was this creative outlook that impressed Jane Sunley, managing director of talent retention specialist Learnpurple.

She said: "The team at the Dorchester showed innovation and creativity in their approach and clearly understand the business benefits of engaging and retaining their people. They are constantly pushing the boundaries to do ‘the people stuff' better and better."

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