Centara Hotels and Resorts has long recognized that its greatest asset is its employees and they are the heart, the power and drive for the organization’s success in its ongoing development. As an indication of Centara’s commitment to enabling its talent to achieve its full potential, the company unveiled its newly renovated and outfitted “Inspiration Room” at Centara Grand at CentralWorld.
The HR team along with Centara executives carried out extensive research to determine the desires and expectations of their employees. Based on this research, the objective of the renovated space, the Inspiration Room, was to provide employees with a place to relax, engage, where they will feel inspired to learn and develop and where employees are encouraged to become their best in an empowering environment.
The catalyst for the enhanced space was centered on understanding and meeting the motivations and interests of generation Y, which make up 50% of the Centara work force. A major factor in the decision-making process was a strong recognition that generation Y is looking to achieve a healthy work life balance.
The executive team recognized that the concept that an employee is purely motivated by money clearly no longer exists. Employees are looking for opportunities to grow and learn, work in a creative environment and be challenged by meaningful work as well as being recognized and respected.
“At present, with the emergence of Generation Y, we have started placing emphasis on enhancing our training and development programs and the training facilities,” shares Khun Pattara Jongcharoenkulchai, Vice President of Human Resources at Centara Hotels and Resorts. “Learning is nowadays no longer solely restricted to the conventional classroom environment. We also have a mini-exhibition of Centara talents who have shown distinguished performance, who are set as role models to inspire our staff members.”
Corporate and hotel employees have the opportunity to participate in a number of training exercises that are run regularly throughout the year. These training experiences can vary from learning new management skills to latte art classes, all designed to allow for professional as well as personal development.
The Inspiration Room at Centara Grand at CentralWorld is intended to be a prototype for learning & recreation centers for other properties. The corporate HR team is encouraging other properties to follow their lead.
As part of the larger human resources project, there will be continued opportunities for employees to participate in programs such as the Management Development Programme, where select employees from properties in Thailand and overseas will further nurture and develop their knowledge and skills so that they are ready to become young managers within Centara to support the company’s rapid expansion.
