The Hindu Business Line : ‘Freedom at work forges employee engagement’

If you happen to visit any of The Park Hotels in the country for a drink, don’t be surprised if the steward, after serving you your drink, pours one out for himself.

“We encourage our stewards to interact with our guests and don’t not mind if they share a drink with them,” says Sundeep Kumar Mathur, Corporate Director, Human Resources, The Park Hotels.

He explains saying that the steward, who may well be earning around Rs 35,000, would know how to conduct himself at such occasions. This is just one example of the modern style of work followed at The Park. Mathur adds that a degree of freedom could go to improve employee engagement and bonding with the company.

Similarly, while taking guest orders, stewards at the hotel often crouch and speak to their guests at eye-level, rather than standing up while taking their orders.

But, that is not all. Salary, he says, is crucial to ensuring a sense of wellbeing among employees and The Park group was one of the best paymasters in the domestic hospitality sector, he said.

The HR policies of the hotel chain were rated the best in Asia, he said. The group is also one of the winners of the 2007 Gallup Great Workplace Award given by the Gallup Organisation USA.

According to Mathur, the hotel’s HR policies addressed a range of issues such as employability, welfare measures, corporate social responsibility and flexi-work options.

According to him, it was necessary to accommodate today’s employee. The hotel’s flexi-work option, for instance, enabled staff, especially women, to work part-time. Employees also had the option to opt for retainerships with the hotel or employment based on agreements.

The Survey

The Gallup survey comprised of two parts — an employee satisfaction and a customer satisfaction survey.

According to him, the 1,700-plus employees were given Gallup’s Q12 questionnaire. Officials from Gallup even visited employees at their homes and sought their views on their employment in total confidentiality. The survey was conducted over four years from 2003 through to 2006.

SAP application

In an attempt to further streamline administration of its human resources, the company has implemented SAP’s HR application. According to Mathur, the records of each one of their employees could now be viewed at the tap of a button. Since the system was Web-based, employees also had the choice to view their employment particulars. The interactive nature of the application had also encouraged employees to equip themselves with Net skills.

The six Park Hotels located at Bangalore, Chennai, New Delhi, Navi Mumbai, Kolkata and Visakhapatnam, are managed by Apeejay Surrendra Hotels.

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