In Picture from Left to Right: Ong Wei Ling (Associate Assistant Director, Talent and Culture), Png See See Kemmy (Senior Manager, Talent & Culture), and Tan Ngak Wang (Assistant Director, Learning & Development)
When talking about Back-of-House departments and roles, we often overlook non-operational, but equally essential departments to upkeep the Hotel’s operations. One core department is the Human Resources team, responsible for managing the life cycle of hotel employees, from hiring to training to compensation and benefits.
Over at RC Hotels (Fairmont Singapore and Swissotel The Stamford), Human Resources is recognised as the Talent and Culture Department. In a bid to increase productivity by cutting down paper-intensive and time-consuming tasks, the team turned to technology, namely the INES System, as an opportune solution. The Integrated Engagement Services (INES) is a human resource information system aimed at streamlining and incorporating Talent Acquisition, Talent Management and Learning & Development collectively in one digital space. As it shares a common interface with the corporate system, the INES system has effectively brought about the following outcomes: easier retrieval of information; job postings shared within the Accor Hotels group to attract, engage and retain talent; reduced recruitment costs and time by eliminating the need for separate postings on different platforms; personalised and increased interactive content to hire the right talent; and improved the overall candidate and employee experience with simpler and faster application processes.
The intent behind the implementation of the INES System is to enable RC Hotel’s Talent and Culture team to become more efficient and effective by automating tasks, generating higher productivity levels through eliminating mundane administration and record keeping tasks. As such, the Talent and Culture team has benefitted on a few notes:
- With the eradication of manual processes such as circulation for approvals, the organisation has not only been able to become more efficient, but the Talent and Culture team is also able to play a more strategic role in getting the right talents for various business needs.
- The team established better tracking and reporting practices, where retention and learning needs, trends and patterns can be tracked and recorded easily.
- Employer branding is strengthened through the creation of a mobile, simple and fast application process with personalised and interactive content for candidates and the hotel.
- Cost savings are enjoyed as postings can now be done through one channel, cutting down on recruitment costs.
With the implementation of the INES System, the role of a Talent and Culture specialist is now enhanced as focus is shifted to partnering hiring managers through supporting the creation of Job Descriptions and identifying hiring and training needs. In the words of Ngak Wang who is currently undergoing on-the-job training: “With the introduction of INES, we are able to post job opportunities directly on Job Street. This has helped to save time and the Recruitment team can focus on sourcing for the right talent.” Hiring managers are also enabled to become more self-sufficient and proactive in assisting with tracking goal settings and submissions of performance appraisals. The Talent and Culture team can additionally capitalise on HR analytics to identify manpower trends in order to coordinate their hiring and staffing plans effectively.
Moving forward, the Talent and Culture colleagues, with the help of the INES System, will be primed to better support departmental needs and explore potential cross-functional opportunities for the employees.
