Claridge's has been named the best place to work in the UK in the inaugural National Business Awards presented to 21 winners at London's Park Lane Hilton hotel last week.
The Savoy Group hotel in Mayfair, London, beat off stiff opposition from Marks & Spencer, Carphone Warehouse, Capital One Bank and drugs firm AstraZeneca to scoop the Employer of the Year award.
The judges' verdict was that "Claridge's was the clear winner, demonstrating how culture change and employee development drove business performance, customer and staff satisfaction."
"What was particularly rewarding about the awards was the fact that we were the only hotel represented," said Claridge's general manager Christopher Cowdray, who collected the award.
The change began after Cowdray joined Claridge's in 1998 and new director of human resources Sara Edwards transformed her department from a "reactive and administrative" one into an "innovative and strategic" team.
Four years ago staff felt undervalued and uninvolved. Employee satisfaction stood at 69% and pride in working at the hotel at 67%.
By last year these figures had climbed to 85% and 98% respectively, while turnover among the 350 staff has plummeted from 80% to 25% since 1998. The hotel predicts record turnover and profits this year.
Initiatives include quarterly meetings and monthly birthday parties for staff; and encouraging staff to experience Claridge's as a guest for a weekend. There are also annual awards, such as Brick of the Year and Health and Safety Champion; and Swap Shop days spent working with colleagues in other departments.
Leadership-building programmes have been extended from senior to middle managers and will this year reach down to junior management. "We are flattening the organisation and getting away from the traditional hierarchy aspects where people feel they must retain their knowledge to keep their power," explained Cowdray.
For example, four teams of middle managers have been competing to promote different key strategies among hotel staff, such as fostering communication and co-operation or encouraging new ideas.
Last month, Edwards spent a week at the USA's Centre for Creative Leadership, and another week researching best practice in the USA with supermarket chain Walmart, North-West Airlines and the Ritz-Carlton hotel group.
by Angela Frewin