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Kay Harriman, Senior HR Director (UK&I) at Hilton ¨¨“ one of the World's Best ÌìÃÀӰԺ™ ¨¨“ has stayed with the company for 35 years. Below, she shares how this global leader in hospitality sees "inclusion as a choice" and why walking the talk is essential for driving psychological health in the workplace. 

Can you tell us about yourself, and why you're so passionate about your role?

Kay: I have been with Hilton for 35 years in various HR roles, and currently I head up HR for Hilton Hotels in the UK, Ireland, and Israel. We are a global hospitality company with a portfolio of 24 world-class brands operating in 139 countries and territories.

I didn't start my working life in HR, but realised very early in my career that I very much enjoy working with people ¨¨“ the interaction you get with people, seeing people grow, seeing people do well and thrive. So it's that connection with people that keeps me in HR and certainly keeps me in hospitality.

How do you actively drive your culture at Hilton, from a hospitality industry perspective, and with such a vast number of employees?

Kay: It's all about making sure your values are embedded as your North Star. Everything has to go back to 'these are our values' and we have to hold ourselves to those values at all times. 

Communication with team members is also critical, and this goes two ways: how communication flows from management all the way down to various team members, and the other way round. So is it surveys? Is it focus groups? Is it just going to the staff restaurant as a manager and having lunch with some team members to listen to their perspectives?

Thirdly, it's about inclusivity: Can you be your whole self at work? And will people just accept you for who you are? Can you be authentic at work? And in our industry, or certainly at Hilton, we're diverse by nature as we work in so many different countries with so many different cultures. So we're diverse in that respect. But being inclusive is a choice that we make. Embracing all those cultures and encouraging people to bring different viewpoints to work is really enriching.

So how would you say in Hilton that each person contributes to shaping the culture?

Kay: It absolutely has to be led from the top. We are very fortunate our CEO, Chris Nassetta, is always out and about in the business. You will always see Chris talking to people. So it is that culture where Chris is very personable, approachable and present. He leads his senior team by that example. It has to start from there.

The next piece is that everyone does have to play their part with culture. With such a large organisation, you can't not do your bit, and empowerment is really important. Each hotel will have a culture committee made up of people from all different functions at all different levels. They're shaping the agenda: what they want to see happening; what links they want to forge with the local community; what they want to see to support wellbeing; what they want to see in the staff restaurant... all those considerations are really important. It's about building allyship. Not just the leadership that says 'This is what we do, this is how we do it'. It's around empowering everyone to do their bit to spread that culture throughout the business.

What about when new leaders join the organisation?

Kay: We put a big emphasis on new leader orientation. That's not just about, 'Here's the policies, this is where you go for that...'. We focus on what's important as a leader: what's our expectation of you? How can you help shape our culture? When you lead a team, these are the sort of things that are really important to us.

And that people element is front and centre throughout. It's about great leadership, great role modelling. This sets the tone; then the focus groups and culture committees at hotel level, and then how we welcome new people, particularly leaders into our business ¨¨“ is what cements that culture and really helps everybody play their part.

Can you share a bit more about what you meant by "inclusivity is our choice"?

Kay: Absolutely! It's about the fact that we can't succeed as individuals ¨¨“ and inclusion is what drives business success. We are a 24-7 business ¨¨“ you have to empower and trust everyone to deliver the most welcoming guest experience. You have to work as a team. And we celebrate everybody in our team and what they bring. Everyone brings different experience ¨¨“ and embracing different cultures, different backgrounds and unique viewpoints ultimately makes our business stronger.

We work a lot with different pathway partners: we have a great relationship with Aurora Foxes, a specialist training college for young adults with learning disabilities. We also work with the Down Syndrome Association¨¨™s WorkFit programme, which brings together employers and jobseekers who have Down¨¨™s Syndrome. And again, we celebrate what those team members bring to us. They have so much to give and so much to bring ¨¨“ to their teams and our guests as well.

We have team member resource groups, which are global and link our corporate offices and hotels around the world. And those team member resource groups are recognising that difference is good. We include everybody. We listen, we encourage people to share different opinions. And that's it! Wherever you come from, we just want you to be your best self at work. It's that simple. 

How do you ensure a 'no blame culture'  ¨¨“ where mistakes are embraced as a part of doing business?

Kay: I think what's really important is that we've got one shared goal that we all buy into, which is to fill the earth with the light and warmth of hospitality. Once you have that goal, and everyone's bought into it, what is important is doing things with the best intentions to deliver against that common goal. If for some reason it didn't go as planned, that's okay ¨¨“ so long as the intention was there to give our guests a reliable and friendly service. If it didn't quite work out, then what¨¨™s important is that we learn from the experience and use it as a growth opportunity.

We have a lot of team members who are guest-facing, working with people day in, day out. And you've got to have a culture of empowerment, you have to allow your team to make decisions. We try to get it right for our guests 100% of the time, but of course sometimes we don't. What creates a great culture is ensuring those team members feel empowered to make a situation right, that we collectively take steps to rectify an issue and learn from the experience. It is about helping people to grow and develop when things don¨¨™t go to plan. 

What would you say is the most powerful thing that you do to support leaders to drive the culture you need to deliver your strategy? 

Kay: How we welcome and onboard leaders to understand the way we do things is so important. We have practical leader guides to make sure our leaders are confident in their role as a leader. They could be newly-promoted leaders; they could be new to Hilton. It's a mixture. So those practical leader guides help support leaders in driving our culture. 

And then we look at role modelling. It comes all the way down from the top. Our hotel managers, our heads of department, our restaurant managers, our head chefs, our head housekeepers, our reception managers ¨¨“ are really living and breathing the culture in our hotels. So it's making sure that they role model the behaviours we're looking for.

We also have an array of training and development courses tailored to a variety of business needs, which are really important for helping leaders develop necessary skills.

Finally, you can¨¨™t underestimate the power of recognition, especially when it comes to celebrating the behaviours that support our culture. From high fives to annual recognition events and global team member awards... all those elements reinforce and drive our culture. 

What advice would you give HR professionals or leaders looking to improve the psychological health of their organisation? 

Kay: Two-way communication is crucial. Feed back. Ask your team their opinion. Be visible. Allowing team members to have that channel of communication is hugely important. You don't know what's going on unless you're out there speaking to team members.

And to other HR professionals I would say: be a role model yourself. And even when it's difficult, you've got to hold other leaders to account. You've got to hold up the mirror to them. For me, that's HR walking the talk. If someone is not following the company values, then as an HR professional you need to be that role model.

How do you encourage engagement and participation with planned inclusion events in the busy working environment? Any tips?

Kay: At Hilton, we see these events not as separate to our day-to-day tasks ¨¨“ this is on the day-to-day to do list! It's woven into everything that we do. We will talk about it as normal day-to-day work. It's not when we have time, we just include it. So for us, it's just automatic. 

Of course, there are certain times of the year where we focus on bigger events and milestones ¨¨“ and it comes from the top. We talk about it globally, with everybody getting behind these initiatives. It builds energy and it's not seen as an add-on; it's woven into everything we do. We give a framework and guidance, but we allow our hotels to define what those events are themselves. So they own it. And they're enthused by them.

Do you ever have to recalibrate a leader because they're not aligned to your values? And if so, what is the response normally? 

Kay: The simple answer is: yes. We first aim to understand if the misalignment relates to behaviours or skills. If it's a skills issue, then we offer various training courses to gain those skills. And we do have performance coaches, or perhaps someone from our learning and development team that would work with you for a period of time to coach you on a one-to-one basis. That's been quite successful. If it¨¨™s related to behaviours, then it¨¨™s our job to be the role model, connect with the person and understand how we can help them be their best self at work. 

Any parting thoughts?

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