ITC Hotels adopts various employee engagement acitivities to ensure safety and health of their staff

 Anil Chadha, COO - ITC Hotels, said: “At ITC Hotels, we are extremely proud of our associates who are at the frontline of operations at various properties during the COVID-19 crisis. Be it through our food distribution initiative or providing guest services at this hour, they display extraordinary zeal and commitment.

"Our highly motivated associates working from home continue to share great ideas for the way forward. Their strong dedication and support has been truly exemplary and for us their safety and the wellbeing of their families is of prime importance. ITC Hotel’s ‘People First’ is dedicated to this incredible work force."

One of the key steps, according to a release they shared, is that the company had paid the salaries of employees before the national lockdown was announced so that the employees were not inconvenienced.

To ensure the wellbeing and engagement of the skeletal staff that are working and residing in the hotel premise for its upkeep, one member of the HR team has been stationed on premise 24/7 to ensure that help and assistance is available at any given time.

The hotel chain has laid a lot of emphasis on the aspect of timely communication and prompt action whenever necessary.

With their HR managers connecting with 10 employees daily, inquiring about the employees and their family members’ welfare, the group has already touched base with over 3600 employees in these troubled times.

Other efforts include leveraging the group’s association with ‘1to1help’ -- an employee assistance service consisting of professional counsellors – to assist employees in dealing with anxiety, stress, WFH arrangements, isolation, etc., and an SMS Blast service where the phone numbers of all 7000 employees have been collated so that they can be reached at one go, as well as communicating messages and important information related to care, safety and updates to all employees.

Apart from disseminating information on important aspects of safety related to Covid-19, the company has also been offering advisories about the pandemic, and posted an HR Approach document anchored on Empathy, Care and Concern were also shared with the units to reinforce ITC Hotels’ ethos, the company said in its release.

Said Sanjay Bose, EVP & Head HR, ITC Ltd - Hotels Division, "People First is a way of life at ITC Hotels. The wellbeing of our human capital is of prime importance to us. Together, they add up to a phenomenal number of 'experience years' which is such a significant asset for the organisation. COVID-19 presents a challenge at the time of lockdown.

"However, we have taken a multitude of initiatives to ensure they ride smoothly over the tough times. Training, learning and good mental health are some of our focus areas at this hour. We are in this together."

The organisation has rolled out a number of e-learning courses targeted at specific roles and levels through multiple platforms of E-Learning.

As on date, employees have cumulatively covered over 36,000 courses across different platforms, the hotel chain said.

ITC Hotels is also anchoring several virtual classroom sessions to not only anchor the induction of new employees but also to train its employees in functional and general management skills.

The organisation has also leveraged its digital infrastructure to continue the training sessions for its 53 management trainees, according to the release.

The release also said that adopting a holistic approach towards learning and team building, ITC Hospitality Management Institute, the learning institute of ITC Hotels & the L&D Team collaborated to organize an exciting online quiz competition for employees in the F&B department.

As a build up to the quiz, STEEP - powered by TYPSY, an e-learning platform was launched for the F&B professionals across the division.

With over 1,400 employees having completed over 38,000 courses, 15 teams were chosen to represent their respective units.
Four regional winners locked horns in the grand finale, where Team West represented by Ajay Tiwari and Anushka Pandekar of ITC Maratha emerged the winner.