Reference no: EM133387950
WE Connections: Training and Onboarding New Employees
The Hotel Vancouver in Vancouver, British Columbia, is one of the world's leading hotels and is part of the Fairmont Hotel chain. Hotel Vancouver is known as 'the castle in the city' and is steps away from Granville Island, Robson Street shopping, Stanley Park, the Vancouver Aquarium and Canada Place. With over 600 rooms, the hotel employs approximately 650 full-time employees.
Hotel Vancouver is seriously considering implementing the employee orientation program used by Chateau Whistler, another Fairmont property in Whistler, British Columbia.
The orientation program for new employees at the Chateau Whistler reflects the same standards that guests enjoy at the Vancouver Hotel. New recruits have raw talents, such as energy and enthusiasm but need to be trained quickly in the art of excellent service,
On Day 1 of the orientation program, an 'Orientation Game' is played; then the employees are introduced to the hotel (types of rooms, the amenities, etc.). Then the following are discussed:
- Salary and benefits, including health care, pension plan, discounted ski passes, staff meals, food discounts, discounted rates at various venues, plus hotel health club access.
- Employment standards, human rights and labour relations
- Health and safety, including WHMIS (Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System) and MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheets) and the environmental program
- Harassment policy
- The Wellness program
- The Incentive program
New employees also receive a tour of the town of Whistler so that they can talk to guests about the key attractions and establish a network of friends.
Day 2 is devoted to the Service Plus Program. The Service Plus Code is spelled out this way:
S. Support / E. Empathy / R. Responsiveness / V. Valuing differences / I. Independence / C. Caring / E. Expectations
The Day 2 program focuses on the guest-employee interaction and strives to teach employees how to provide excellent service, deal empathically and effectively with problems reported by guests, and solve problems creatively. Training consists of role plays, such as 'handling the difficult guest'. Specifically, the new recruits gain an understanding of the Fairmont's Hotel mission statement and commitment to service, the changing service culture and the high service expectations of the guests.
The third component of the orientation program is "Guest for a Night", during which the employees who have been working at the hotel for three months eat at the restaurants, enjoy the facilities, and spend one night in the hotel as a guest. The goal of the Guest for a Night program is to ensure that employees can talk knowledgeably about guest rooms, restaurants and other facilities. and understand the level of quality the hotel provides.
As part of this program, employees are asked to fill out a feedback survey, just like a guest. Also, employees are invited to be part of a focus group to express concerns and provide feedback about their work experiences.
Through these orientation and training programs, employees develop knowledge and skills in service excellence. More importantly, they develop a commitment to the company.
Questions:
- In your opinion, why does Chateau Whistler invest so much time, money and energy into this orientation process? What benefits would Hotel Vancouver receive by implementing such an orientation program?
- Keeping in mind the needs of the Hotel Vancouver, if the Hotel Vancouver was to implement an orientation program, design an approach to evaluating the effectiveness of such a program. Please develop a 'cheap' and an 'expensive' proposal. As a general rule, 5 to 10 percent of the cost a training program should be used for the evaluation part of the program, depending on the complexity of the assessment.
- If you wanted to recommend a 'foolproof' evaluation - that is rule out other causes of success than the training program itself - what approach would you suggest? (To fully answer this question, you may require extra reading and research)