Here is a glimpse of how Accor, a global hospitality giant, is firmly anchoring 'Diversity and Inclusion' in its organizational philosophy and executing best-in-class HR strategies.

Our Diversity and Inclusion ambition is structured around 4 priorities:

•   Gender diversity and equality; 

•   The integration of people with disabilities; 

•   A breadth of ethnic, social and cultural origins; and Multi-generational synergy.

RiiSE In October 2018, RiiSE, an international network, was announced for the Accor group to promote diversity, knowledgesharing, and inclusiveness. Why the ‘ii’? Because it symbolizes women and men who are committed to the values of sharing knowledge of solidarity, and of combatting stereotypes.

RiiSE, open for both men and women, is active across five continents via the mobilization of strong regional communities. Its action is based in particular with the sharing of knowledge through a mentoring program, with 900 mentor-mentee pairs in some 20 countries in 2018. It works on the promotion of especially female talent to positions of responsibility, and on combatting all forms of discrimination.

With continuous efforts towards female hiring and RiiSE Initiatives during 2019, we were able to recruit 22% of female employees. This helped us reach a total female ratio of 23% in our hotels. We aim to increase it to 30% by 2022. Recently, Pullman & Novotel New Delhi Aerocity hosted the first anniversary of RiiSE.
 

The HeForShe Initiative 

HeForShe is an international solidarity movement working for gender equality initiated by United Nations (UN) Women with an objective to ensure that actions promoting gender equality are also supported and driven by men. Accor has been named as an Impact 10 x 10 x 10 Champion alongside nine other companies to represent this movement around the world. With “HeForShe”, Accor pledges to achieve gender parity in management and equal pay, and sensitize and motivate male employees in favour of gender diversity.

HEARTIST 

“Heartist” is heart plus artist. It is a cultural transformation journey of Accor, based on the DNA defined by the teams around the world. This initiative mentions each employee as a “Heartist” — a master of the art of hospitality who serves others from the heart, with curiosity and inventiveness. Each employee is empowered and autonomous, learns from others, is engaged in sharing knowledge and experience, and relies on new digital environments. The promise to employees is that they will feel valued and the talent in each of them will be recognized, making them actors of their own progress. 

As a part of Heartist (Accor Hotel’s global Initiative) launch at Pullman & Novotel New Delhi Aerocity in January 2018, we have re-designed rewards and recognition programs into Heartist Excellence Awards. The aim is to recognize employees in various categories such as Incredible Associate, Incredible Executive, Feel Welcome Award, Women Leadership, Empowerment Award, Leadership Empowerment Award, Incredible Intern Award, Incredible Outsourced Employee Award, Stylish Starts, Trend Setter Award, etc. At Pullman & Novotel New Delhi Aerocity, we recognize 27 employees every month, and winners are awarded certificates and gift cards during month-end celebrations.

With the launch of the Heartist Campaign, we at Pullman & Novotel New Delhi Aerocity have decided to renovate all Heart of the House areas like Employee Entrance, Staff Area Corridors, Café Urbane, Lockers, Bunkers, and Admin Offices for all Heartist activities and initiatives.

Employee Satisfaction 

Accor has tied-up with Aon globally for regular employees to participate in Employee Opinion Surveys which have 64 statements on 16 parameters like engagement, growth and development of people, communicating transparency, developing sense of service, developing collaboration between teams, encouraging individual initiatives, ensuring good quality of work-life, giving meaning and direction, improving organization’s working conditions, improving perception of the company, recognizing individual and team contribution, strengthening support to employees, successfully onboarding new colleagues, supporting change linked to digital, and follow-up questions.

Pullman and Novotel New Delhi Aerocity has achieved the highest employee satisfaction score of 93% in Aon Employee Global Opinion Survey in 2019, which was 89% in the previous year.

INSPIRE 

Accor’s leadership development program ‘INSPIRE’ offers many opportunities for tomorrow’s leaders. The program is aimed at enabling passionate, motivated and agile graduates to start their career journey with Accor and build a leadership foundation through meaningful experiences. INSPIRE connects up-and-coming leaders to meaningful opportunities through a 12 to 18 months customized program. Participants have a choice between a crossexposure structure, where they are rotated between several departments across the property, moving into a focus area of interest, or specialization to develop their expertise by gaining experience in departments with a specific focus. In both cases, a personal mentor guides their progress. Other program elements include peer ambassador, property project, networking opportunities, jump up and checkpoints.

At Pullman & Novotel New Delhi Aerocity, we have promoted 80 high potential employees (12% of total manning) during the annual increment cycle and have transferred 28 employees from our hotels to other Accor properties in higher levels under mobility and talent development. We also visited 18 hotel management colleges for the campus recruitment drive to attract fresh talent and to generate employment for young talented students.

PLANET 21

Planet 21 is Accor’s sustainable development initiative with a vision to drive the change towards a positive hospitality experience.  A total of 21 commitments have been identified and structured under six pillars: 

•  Engage our guests in a sustainable experience;

• Co-innovate with our partners to open up new horizons; 

•  Work hand-in-hand with local communities for a positive impact; 

•  Move towards carbon neutral buildings; and

•  Strive for zero food waste and healthy, sustainable food.