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e-learning is key to keeping staff, says international hotel group

By Debbie Carter (20-10-2006)
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Learning and Development News - e-learning is key to keeping staff, says international hotel group

Employees of global hotel group Hilton have proved once again that being given opportunities for professional development makes people want to stay in their jobs.

According to the findings of a recent team member survey, the chance to study at the Hilton University - the group’s online learning platform - is a definite reason to stay with the company for 40 per cent of its staff.

Another 49 per cent of the 1,500 team members who took part in the worldwide survey said that, while it wasn’t the main factor in their decision to stay loyal to Hilton, being able to develop professionally was very important to them.

Hilton’s international learning and development manager Maarten Staps, who was responsible for the study, says: ‘After conducting this study for the second year, it’s encouraging to see that an even greater proportion of team members are remaining loyal to Hilton due to the development opportunities offered through Hilton University.

‘This will have an inevitable impact on the business, both in terms of increased productivity and reduced recruitment costs.’

The university is open to all Hilton employees and offers a range of hotel-specific courses, such as sales and marketing, e-commerce and food and beverages, split into seven faculties. Students must show some learning activity within 90 days of joining a course, or they are taken off the programme, but otherwise there are no restrictions.

Students can choose from 550 e-learning courses and use online mentoring and virtual classrooms.

‘Since the beginning of the year we have received one completed course every seven and a half minutes - truly an indicator that people are spending time at the university,’ says Staps. ’I’d like to increase the number of completed courses we receive, and extend the languages available to include the Asian ones.

‘People have to be committed. They learn in their own place and at their own pace, so they have to have some self-discipline. But we tend to find that, once people start, they enjoy it and want to do more.’

The survey revealed that more than 70 per cent of Hilton employees believe that e-learning can be applied immediately to their jobs. Ninety per cent say the resources they access through Hilton University help them with their professional development.

‘I think Hilton University is truly a success,’ concluded Staps.

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