'Room for You': Building an Employer Brand for Everyone - Insights from IHG's VP of Talent Acquisition

Eunice Clements-Tweedie - Vice President, Global Talent Acquisition - discusses IHG's strategy for how employer branding shows up when attracting, recruiting, and retaining talent, as well as how her own journey and learnings have shaped her thinking around purposeful leadership and authenticity.

注："Room for You "现阶段仅面向企业受众试播。

 

The talent of today, are more tuned-in than ever before: they look beyond the profitability of an organisation and prioritise purpose, culture, and opportunities to learn and grow. What’s important for us here at IHG Hotels & Resorts, when it comes to employer brand positioning and activation, is showing these individuals a glimpse into what life at IHG could be like for them, in a truly authentic way.

Over the course of my career, I’ve been very lucky to work for over 20 organisations across a diverse range of industries, including telecoms, banking, consultancy, FMCG, Oil & Gas, the toy industry and, of course, hospitality here at IHG.

Those past experiences have shaped and informed my current role and thinking enormously, and I have been able to learn from each client brand and experience, blending the good, the bad, and sometimes the unexpected to drive a stronger strategy with innovative net results.

 

"As a leader, one valuable lesson I always carry with me is how important adaptability and agility are."

These skills are essential in being able to move forward fast, with a nod to the past. I've been able to blend all those learnings and bring them here with me to IHG, where they’ve been crucial when looking at how we refresh our approach to employer branding and activation externally, and then outwards across the world. 

For our corporate employer brand, we created the ‘Room for You’ concept, which acts as an all-inclusive wrapper for our three key 'employee promise' pillars: ‘Room to Grow’, ‘Room to Belong’, and ‘Room to Make a Difference'.

Framing our corporate employer brand around these 'Rooms' has clear links to our hotels, and to the core driver of IHG: hospitality. But of course, this is also about reaching outside the business and bringing new talent in, so we were clear that these 'Rooms' could not exist in isolation - we needed to make them relevant to an external talent market as well.

To achieve this, we needed the concept to translate globally and regionally across multiple countries and languages, so we did a lot of listening and gathered audience insights from a range of diverse populations here at IHG, tested it, then tested it again.

"When it comes to branding and messaging, if people have to ask you to explain your concept – then you may have to go back to the drawing board, as it’s got to feel natural first time around."

A company’s employer brand needs to feel genuine and representative, and I’m proud to say that here at IHG, where relationships form naturally – from returning guests, current or new owners and, of course, candidates and colleagues, relationships matter. What this means, is that everything we do has people at the forefront, and we shape our branding around that.  We want our corporate employer brand to be unequivocally IHG, and that was the focus of our thinking right from the beginning. 

那么，我们面临的挑战是什么？我们如何继续吸引最优秀的人才加入洲际酒店集团？我们知道这是一个拥挤的市场，多年来一直如此。为了保持这种优势，我们必须坚持自己独特的销售主张，这样才能从竞争对手中脱颖而出。现在有许多房地产和酒店管理机构，但我认为，国际酒店集团的 "优势 "在于我们的热情真实，因此我们需要让人们了解这一点。这是我们的橱窗，我们可以用它来暗示未来的 IHG 候选人可以期待的所有机会：成长的机会、归属的机会、为自己和更广阔的世界做出贡献的机会。

"I believe that if you’re happy at work, you do your happiest work… when you allow people to explore their ‘360’, they bring all of themselves to work in an authentic manner."

We’re committed to nurturing an inclusive culture where everyone is empowered to be their authentic selves, to thrive, and to make a difference to society.  This commitment manifests in various initiatives. For example, both our ‘Giving for Good’ volunteering month in September and IHG Academy and IHG University provide platforms for either perspective or current colleagues to explore avenues for personal and professional growth, whether that's laterally or horizontally. So important to offer something for everyone.

Sponsoring London Pride also underscores our dedication to fostering diversity, equity, and inclusion, allowing individuals to express their true selves comfortably at work, while our ‘Focus Fridays’ initiative encourages colleagues to prioritise personal development by reducing meetings, which when adopted, has been a real hit. 

作为一家酒店管理企业，洲际酒店集团的业务极其多样化，在我们帮助经营、管理或提供服务的 19 个品牌中，我们自然吸引了大量多样化的人才。这就需要与之相匹配，为人才提供多样化的参与机会；确保为他们提供正确的工具、培养领导者以及足够的空间，使他们能够发挥所长，成为最优秀的人才。 为您提供空间 "确保我们的企业受众--无论他们的背景如何，也无论他们加入我们的历程如何--在洲际酒店集团，每个人都有一个始终如一的归属、成长和有所作为的空间。这东西很强大。