The document discusses employee empowerment in the hospitality industry. It argues that empowering frontline employees to resolve customer issues on the spot, without needing manager approval, leads to better customer experiences and loyalty. As an example, it highlights how the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Group gives each employee $2,000 discretionary spending to satisfy customers. While some worry about risks of empowerment, the document asserts that clear guidelines, communication of company values, hiring the right people, and trusting employees can overcome fears while boosting employee engagement and service quality.

1. 8 March 2017
Once a week insights, features and interviews for
HR professionals in hospitality
bites
Freedom!
Employee empowerment the $2000 way

2. Freedom!
EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT
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“ For many, the
£200,000 - £250,000
pension pot is a distant
dream; the level of
monthly savings
required to get to that
target is simply
unsustainable for
most. "
EMPLOYEE EMPOWERMENT
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Our industry may be the least likely to offer scope for
freedom in making decisions to our frontline staff, partly
because of the nature of the beast; the way we operate
is run pretty much by systems and processes and also
because we don’t always think of customer facing teams
as being the decision makers.
Employee empowerment the $2000 way
The decisions are made by the people behind the desks aren’t they? Which, when you see it in
writing just feels a bit…wrong.
Think of a situation that we have all encountered whilst staying in a hotel, eating in a restaurant
or enjoying any aspect of our touch point with the hospitality industry. Then think
of that situation where something goes a bit wrong and the reaction to that. Is it “I’m terribly
sorry, let me speak to my manager” or is it “I’m terribly sorry, let me personally fix this for you
right now. Here’s what I’ll do”?
Hmmm – more likely to be the first, and how does that make you feel? Let me suggest. It
makes you feel like your complaint will receive an entirely un-bespoke solution – a service
recovery that has been created by a formula, designed by management, probably written
down somewhere in a book and kept in a drawer (definitely floating around a PowerPoint…)
and wheeled out in its unmodified state whenever needed.

3. It makes you feel like you’re a number, a ‘situation’, not really
a cash paying human being who has chosen this as an
experience. It makes you feel, well, a bit like this type of thing
might happen a bit more often than anyone would like it to
(which is why there’s a ready made solution...). So how would
you feel if the person serving you, checking you in/out,
whatever it is, listened to you and came up with a solution to
make everything better right there and then, on the spot,
without having to scuttle off into a hidden room through a
door in a wall before coming back to you with a middle of the
road, standard solution.
$2000 is an eye-
popping amount
of financial
freedom for any
employee to have
with the company
purse.
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You’d probably feel quite good. Like you’re being treated as an individual, that the person dealing
with your ‘situation’ cares enough to think through the experience from your point of view and
come up with a remedy as a response to that. You’d probably feel that the organisation behind
that is forward thinking and confident enough that it inspires its teams to think logically, creatively
and feel empowered enough within themselves to deliver that level of guest experience. An
organisation that chooses only the best people to work for them.
Thinking people. With switched on heads and
hearts. For decades the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Group
has given its employees a $2000 discretion to make
it right or delight. That’s $2000 per situation, not
per annum. $2000 is an eye-popping amount of
financial freedom for any employee to have with
the company purse.

4. But I suppose, it’s all about how you define cost. Cost of keeping a (hopefully loyal) customer/future
ambassador vs cost of losing a customer. $2000 doesn’t seem like such an expensive mend. The
average Ritz-Carlton customer spends around $250,000 with the group in their lifetime. And in any
case, it’s not ‘all about the money’.
Apparently, the full $2000 has never been needed. It’s not about the money being used to fix a
situation, it’s about the empowerment of the employee and the removal of any restrictions in the way
they help, care for and treat a customer, eliminating the feeling of the hand tied behind their back. It’s
about putting a relationship approach before a transactional one and allowing staff to use their intuition
to exceed the expectations of a customer. It's not necessarily used as a fix either. Employees have the
freedom to use their hearts and minds to make an amazing experience truly exceptional.
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EMPOWERMENT
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EMPLOYEE EMPOWERMENT
Staff replaced a little boy's
lost Thomas the Tank
Engine when they
learned that his favourite
toy had gone missing as
the guests were
departing. They snapped
Thomas in a variety of
locations around the
resort, sent the child a
photograph album of
Thomas' 'holiday'
adventures and the
replacement toy.
A lost Joshie enjoyed an
'extended vacation' before
being reunited with his
owner, along with an
album of Joshie's holiday
memories.

5. FINANCIAL EDUCATION
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1. Social media at work
No more staring at a blank Outlook message
wondering how you can phrase ‘Can you please
just send me the info right now?’ in a slightly less
demanding way and proceeding to rattle off the
usual email niceties… We’re talking speed,
brevity and no more ‘Hope you had a lovely
weekend’… Quick and easy exchanges, saving
time, cutting down in email overload. Why
wouldn't you?
2. Social media at work
2. In an Instant
The way to reduce the risk and fear element is in how
you empower your employees. It’s not a case of
delivering a carte blanche, it’s about having a
framework to give your employees confidence in the
boundaries of their freedom to make decisions,
providing a set of clear guidelines. It’s about giving
your teams autonomy as individuals to make your
brand look good.
The people who are in the best position to know your
customer needs are the ones in front of them, but if
they’re following a set of rules and processes rather
than guidelines, part of their intuition, personality,
will to exceed expectations and truly surprise and
delight will be switched off.
It’ll be stifled, numbed and partly dormant, which
results in bland, standard, impersonal service. The
stuff that sets you apart from your competitors – and
not in a good way…
EMPLOYEE EMPOWERMENT
So why are we not all doing it then, when we know that the impersonal ‘I’ll get my manager’
approach is such a huge turn off? Fear of lots of things. Bad decisions, creating unrealistic customer
expectations, setting a precedent, throwing big money at small problems and opening the
floodgates, to name a few.

6. EMPLOYEE EMPOWERMENT
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2. In an Instant
4. Spread the love
We only have to look to how brands engage with customers via social media to see how much the
style of customer service has shifted over the past couple of years. Standard responses have become
unpopular in an age where customers expect personality driven responses, something that’s a
genuine response to their tweet/complaint/questions/letters. It's also an opportunity for brands to
express their personality and win a bigger (and more permanent) place in the customer's heart.
Standardisation is out.
Being real is in, and yes, of course
systems and processes are the
bones that piece an authentic,
quality experience together but
it’s personalisation and
personality that bring it to life and
make it fly higher than the
customer expected it to.

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2. In an Instant
4. Spread the love
So how can you empower your teams to ‘be them’, work with freedom, enjoy their jobs
more (because providing amazing service feels good) and connect on a deeper level
with the customer (without it costing you $2000)?
1. Empowerment guidelines
Virgin Airlines allows employees to work within a ‘judgment playing field’, whereby
senior management specifically defines where employees are and aren’t allowed to
deviate from established rules and processes – and then gives them the flexibility to
experiment with new ways for serving customers.
2. Communication of your mission, vision and values
If your people understand why, they’ll feel more comfortable with finding a ‘how’.
Understanding the ‘big idea’ is crucial for employee engagement and empowerment.
It gives them something to work towards, something to get excited about, something
to be inspired by – a common goal.
3. Support
Have a safety net, a sounding board – something which makes your teams feel more
comfortable in making that decision. Ensure that every employee has the right training,
resources, back up and support they need to do their jobs and feel empowered and
confident to make the best choices in every situation.
4. Trust
Trust inspires trust. The more you trust, the better the relationship you have with your
teams and the better service they'll deliver. Take a step back, give some space and
freedom and let your people shine.
5. Leadership
Inspiration, especially for new staff has to come from the already inspired. People feel
more comfortable and confident when they see a set of values being lives and
breathed by the folk running the show. Otherwise it's just words, on paper.
Empowering your teams through ‘freedom’

8. EMPLOYEE EMPOWERMENT
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4. Spread the love
7. Praising the good decisions
Empowerment is all about confidence boosting and there is no greater boost than
knowing you’ve made the right decision. Recognise and reward.
6. Hire the right people
Richard Branson explained that once you hire the right people and give them the best
training, let them use their imagination and creativity to solve problems. “Rather than
providing rules or scripts, you should ask them to treat the customer as they themselves
would like to be treated – which is surely the highest standard,”.
8. Communication
Creating an open, honest, ideas culture where employees feel comfortable in coming
forward with questions, feeding back where things didn’t go quite right and of course
expressing new ideas and solutions, giving their experience of where it’s worked an
where it hasn’t.
9. Have their backs
Knowing that senior management will cushion any decision mishaps and protect staff
is key to empowerment and confidence building. Nobody’s going to stick their neck
out unless they have the support and backing of their manager.
10. Review your policies
Do your policies feel like they might help or hinder employee empowerment? If
employee empowerment is your goal, the way you express that in your policies is key
to making this live and breathe in your organisation.
Great things can happen when employees are given more power in the decisions which they are
faced with every day of their working lives. A greater sense of ownership, pride in their work,
improved performance and a more ‘real’ sense of service. And of course, the likelihood that you're
going to be able to give your customers something that they can't get anywhere else.
The reasons ‘to do’ outweigh and outnumber the reasons and risks not to. In an age where love is
worth more than money, where relationships are everything, and knowing that you can’t legislate for
every situation in life, it seems like a pretty good time to give more power to those who truly make a
difference to your organisation, brand and customers – your people.