CHAPTER 13 CASE STUDY: Translating Strategy into HR Policies and Practices-Improving Performance at the Hotel Paris The Hotel Pariss competitive strategy is To use superior guest service to differentiate the Hotel Paris properties, and to thereby increase the length of stay and return rate of guests, and thus boost revenues and profitability. HR manager Lisa Cruz must now formulate functional policies and activities that support this competitive strategy by eliciting the required employee behaviors and competencies. While the Hotel Pariss benefits (in terms of things like holidays and health care) were comparable to other hotels, Lisa knew they werent good enough to support the high-quality service behaviors her company sought. Even though they were roughly comparable to their competitors, employees were not impressed with the Hotel Pariss benefits. Sixty percent said they were dissatisfied with their benefits. Lisa and the CEOs concern were that dissatisfaction of benefits contributed to low morale and engagement. Thus, inhibiting the Hotel Paris from achieving its strategic aims. Lisa therefore turned to the task of assessing and redesigning the companys benefits plans. As they reviewed the benefits numbers, Lisa and the CFO became concerned. They computed several benefits-related metrics for their firm, including benefits costs as a percentage of payroll, sick days per full-time-equivalent employee per year, benefits cost/competitors benefits cost ratio, and workers compensation experience ratings. The results, said the CFO, offered a good newsbad news situation. On the good side, as noted, the ratios were similar to most competing hotels. The bad news was the measures were well below those for high-performing service businesses. The CFO authorized Lisa to design and propose a new benefits plan. Lisa knew there were several things she wanted to accomplish: 1) A plan to improved employee morale and engagement 2) A plan to include elements that made it easier for her employees to do their jobsso that, as she put it, they could come to work and give their full attention to giving our guests great service, without worrying about childcare and other family distractions. The new plans centerpiece was a proposal for much better familyfriendly benefits. Since so many of each hotels employees were single parents, and because each hotel had to run 24 hours a day, Lisas team proposed, and the board approved, setting aside a room in each hotel for an on-site child-care facility and for hiring a trained professional attendant. They considered instituting a flexible work schedule program, but for most of the jobs, this was impractical, because each front-line employee simply had to be there at his or her appointed hour. However, they did institute a new job-sharing program. Now two people could share one housekeeping or front-desk clerk job, so long as the job was covered. One of the metrics Lisa and her team specifically wanted to address was the relatively high absence rate at the Hotel Paris. Since many of these jobs are front-line jobsvalets, limousine drivers, and front-desk clerks, for instance, has high absence which had a particularly serious effect on metrics like overtime pay and temporary help costs. Here, at the urging of her compensation consultant, Lisa decided to opt for a system similar to Marriotts BENETRADE. With this benefit program, employees can trade the value of some sick days for other benefits. As Lisa put it, Id rather see our employees using their sick day pay for things like additional health-care benefits, if it means theyll think twice before taking a sick day to run a personal errand. After just less than a year, Lisa and the CFO confirmed the new program to be successful. Their studies suggest that the improved benefits are directly contributing to improved employee morale and commitment, sick days have diminished by 40%, and employee turnover is down 60%. When they advertise for open positions, over 60% of the applicants cite family-friendly benefits as a top reason for applying to work at the Hotel Paris.

Questions: 1) What is your opinion of the new Hotel Paris benefits plan?

2) Because employers typically make benefits available to all employees, they may not have the motivational effects of incentive plans. Given this, list five employee behaviors you believe Hotel Paris could try to improve through an enhanced benefits plan and explain why you chose them.

3) Given your answer to question 13-16 and what you read in this chapter of Dessler Human Resource Management, explain specifically what other benefits you would recommend the Hotel Paris implement to achieve these behavioral improvements.