Interview With Heather Stewart, Human Resources Director at Vine Hotels Ltd
“I would definitely say that if you want to work in hospitality HR, you need to understand and love hospitality; it’s a way of life.” – Heather Stewart, Human Resources Director at Vine Hotels Ltd, speaks to us about developing a career in HR Leadership.
As part of our commitment to supporting candidates to develop fulfilling careers, we’ve invited some hospitality HR Leaders to share the secrets of their success.
This week, we had a great conversation with Heather Stewart at Vine Hotels Ltd, who began her career in HR as a Training Manager at Mount Royal Hotel in London. In March 2008, Heather took on a role at the Doubletree by Hilton Sheffield Park Hotel to continue her work as a HR Manager, transitioning to her current role in April 2016.
Can you tell us how you got into hospitality HR and why?
I would describe myself as a hotel manager who specialises in HR. My initial introduction to HR happened because at the time when I went into hospitality as a hotel manager, females were always given the HR stuff to deal with. I had an aptitude for it, so I just continued with it. I have taken other non HR roles in the hotel industry, but I’ve always found myself coming back to HR.
I got bitten by the bug of hospitality straight away when I was at uni. People who want to work in hotels are often those who enjoy a nice environment with a fast-paced atmosphere and are happy to deal with a new challenge every day, and that definitely ticked all the right boxes for me.
In terms of hospitality HR, I’ve always enjoyed helping people get to somewhere or something they want. I love assisting development and recognising the potential in people. I want the people I work with to be the best they can possibly be, and I understand that they can’t always do that on their own. I love seeing people grow and develop and get the jobs they want, and from the hotel side of things, I love taking a property and transforming it into a warm and welcoming place where everyone’s happy and guests want to stay there. It’s HR that allows me to create that great vibe, so the two go hand-in-hand.
Can you tell me about the key themes and challenges that you’re seeing across the hospitality HR sector?
I think the great unknown of what will happen with our European staff is a big thing for us in hospitality at the moment. There’s a part of me that thinks they’ll be able to continue to work as they are due to special status, but we’re not sure, so that’s something we need to be thinking about.
For years and years now, hiring chefs has also been a challenge. We can never get enough chefs, even though as an industry we try all sorts of methods of training and apprenticeships to pull them in. We need to give this area some serious blue sky thought, because we need to produce the same quality food product with fewer skilled people, maybe using technology or complex purchasing. This could be a big cultural change, and that’s a slow process, because this industry is very proud of its traditions. It should be, but as a result it can be a bit slow to move with the times. Whatever industry you’re in, you have to keep changing, but I’d say that’s particularly challenging for hospitality.
Another challenge that I’ve found is in the quality of managers that hotels employ. They can be very different from the managers of 20 years ago in terms of their expectations around the immediacy of things, but also their attitude to the job. They can be more driven by wages and needing to work a certain number of hours a week, whereas managers back then wouldn’t know how many hours they did and were in the job primarily because they enjoyed it. Our business is very much up and down, so managers having a more fixed mindset in terms of things like the hours they work can be a challenge, as can the expectation of salary increases or promotions without the understanding that you actually have to put the work in to get there.
I’m sure that affects every industry, but hospitality has always been one where, traditionally, experience is always valued over qualifications. It was quite common for people to start off as a porter and work their way up to general manager 20 years ago, for example, so maybe it’s more of a challenge for us than others.
I think our industry is also changing in terms of work becoming by spreadsheets rather than by people on the floor managing themselves and doing jobs until they’re done. Because of that, we have to work on staff engagement; both to get buy-in from members of staff who want to do their jobs well, and ensure we recruit people who want to buy into that. That comes from the top, so you have to develop your managers to be good leaders who create a positive, motivated atmosphere.
As an industry, we really need that sort of engagement, because it’s important that our staff look and feel happy in order to give our guests the sense that our hotels are nice places with good vibes that they want to be in.
Something else we also come up against a lot is the British attitude to hospitality. Where it’s considered a high-status role in Europe, British people seem to have a problem with service, and that holds us back. I would definitely like the hospitality profession to be held in higher regard, because running a hotel is a difficult job that requires a much wider breadth of skills than management in another industry might require, and I think that’s hugely under-represented.
What career advice would you offer to someone either working towards a career like yours, or someone just getting started in their HR career in hospitality?
I think it’s really beneficial to have a wide range of experience in whatever sector you want to go into, but it’s especially beneficial in the hotel industry to know what people are doing through having done those jobs yourself. That really helps you to know your business.
Thinking about my own HR Officers, I much prefer to hire people who have worked in the operational side of the business and then want to specialize in HR rather than take on those from outside it, because those who come from other industries don’t understand the people and may not be happy working in hotels. In the hospitality industry, operational experience and the credibility that comes with it is invaluable.
I would definitely say that if you want to work in hospitality HR, you need to understand and love hospitality; it’s a way of life. You can’t do it as a periphery, or you’re not going to be happy and your business isn’t really going to be happy. You can’t be distant and be successful in HR in this industry; you need to be in touch with the business. People aren’t just going to do things because you tell them to, they need to see you as someone with credibility and fully understand why they’re being asked to do things a certain way.
Guests have some of the most significant times of their lives in hotels, and our role is to support them and create a whole experience to make sure they have a great time every time.
Heather has been working as a Human Resources Director since 2016, and presides over all aspects of the HR function within Vine Hotels Ltd, including the reform and streamlining of various strategic and operational processes.
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