Lydia Berlage reveals the hotel’s HR priorities for the rest of 2019
Hilton’s number one HR priority is continuing our efforts to support our global HR strategy which is to “attract and retain the greatest culture and talent on earth”, according to Hilton’s Director of HR, Lydia Berlage.
The hotel chain’s HR strategy was formulated using feedback from team members, leaders and the external environment and includes a focus on three core pillars:
- Culture (Be the best place to work)
- Talent (Have the best team members and leaders in all jobs)
- Innovation (Be ready for the future)
“With over 3500 team members across Australasia, we are currently preparing for tremendous growth as we look to double our portfolio in Australasia,” Berlage told HRD.
“With this comes robust succession planning and crystallised talent pipelines to ensure our high potential team members are mapped to internal vacancies and ready for deployment into elevated career opportunities.”
Coupled with this is Hilton’s ongoing Great Places to Work efforts and their aim is to be number one across the globe.
“By mobilising through our HR priorities we will continue to enhance the Team Member experience and our focus on being the Greatest Place to Work in every country we do business,” said Berlage.
To support their aspirations of being a greatest place to work, they are expanding the infiltration of their Team Member Value Proposition, Thrive@Hilton, into their culture and looking at ways they can modernise the way team members work even further.
“Thrive@Hilton focuses on enabling our team members to grow and flourish in Body, Mind and Spirit in all that they do - inside and outside of work,” said Berlage.
“It’s our commitment to supporting team members well-being so that they can thrive in all that they do.
“We are on a continual journey to turn our team member ambitions, passions, and dreams into reality by providing an ecosystem of programs that enable them to Thrive@Hilton and be their best both at home and work each and every day.”
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So, if there is one piece of HR-related advice Berlage would offer, what would it be?
“Drive an outcomes-based culture. Don’t get caught up in outdated work paradigms that measure peoples effectiveness by a start and end time and how well they occupy their time in between. Instead of focusing on start and finish times, focus on outcomes.”
Berlage added that it’s important to set clear business objectives with your Team Members and then trust them to figure out how they get there.
It’s important to allow this by way of flexibility and be modern in your approach to how work gets done – working from home, flexible start and finish times, modified work hours, etc.
“Everyone has something that matters to them, make time to find out what it is for your team and support them to make space for it,” she said.
“As leaders, it’s our number one job to win hearts and minds and we do this by supporting people to creating space for what matters most so they can thrive in everything they do and bring their best selves to work. When you win hearts, people will never leave you.”
Over the last four years, Hilton has been recognised as a Great Place to Work in over 17 countries and Fortune recently recognised us as the #1 Best Company to Work in the US in 2019 - the first ever hospitality company to reach this distinction.
Currently in Australasia, Hilton have both Australia and Fiji on the Great Place to Work list.
