India's best companies to work for 2015: Accor India offers over 150 leadership related training modules

WHAT THEY DO: HOSPITALITY

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NEW DELHI: Jean Michel Cassé senior VP, operations at Accor India believes in the adage, 'Well begun is half done.' Which is why Cassé and his team introduced a suite of in-house training academies at Accor to train and polish their talent further. Academie Accor India is a self-sustaining virtual training headed by a dedicated India campus manager and supported by 27 multibrand certified trainers to ensure access to training, learning and development opportunities for all Accor employees.

Academie Accor offers more than 150 leadership and behavioural related training modules and offers different training solutions for various needs. Academie Accor Online University offers training solutions to help managers learn at their own pace. The company also launched psychometric assessments for its leadership team and senior managers for hiring and performance assessment.

Cassé says with almost all major hospitality chains now present in India, the challenge is for them to differentiate themselves in the India employment market from them, and also from the growing allied service industries such as airlines and retail. Which explains the other unusual benefits the company offers. New employees are encouraged to spend the first night with their family at an Accor property to experience the brand and what a customer goes through. There are open door escalation policies, and the company is currently considering setting up a dedicated website and call lines where such requests can be addressed. The company also introduced the 9 box model for more rigorous performance management last year.

The emphasis on training and enhancing performance development has paid off. Ashwin Shirali regional director of HR at Accor Hotels India says attrition for top performers has come down to 18-20% from 30% last year. "We live our Employee Value Proposition very well. There's trust at the workplace. What we promise is what we deliver to the employees," he says.

Siddhartha Umashanker handles marketing and guest experiences for Accor. Having worked with other hotel chains in the past, Umashanker says the culture at Accor is like no other. "A company's culture is demonstrated by people. They need to walk the talk and it's difficult when you have a large employee base. There's a lot of positivity, and respect for employees," he says. He feels most of the companies he has worked with have always looked at experience for the next role, but it is more talent driven here. "They are able to forecast that you have the potential to grow faster and will give you the next opportunity," he adds.


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Accor has partnered with HOPE foundation and set up the Accor Centre for HOPE to provide vocational training to improve the social dignity and self-esteem of the youth. Students are trained in courses like housekeeping/kitchen, computer operation, basic written and spoken English.

Shirali says the focus is to have an increased number of young managers who are women, and to further this, Accor runs a networking and mentoring platform called Women at Accor Generation, which includes both men and women.