INTERCONTINENTAL Hotels Group (IHG), one of the world’s leading global hotel companies, made the top four in the Best Workplaces in KSA for 2016. Marking its first time participating in the list developed by Great Place to Work, IHG was selected amidst a number of top international companies in the most comprehensive study of organizational culture across the world.
Great Place to Work surveys employees to determine the levels of trust of each other and of the company they work for, whether they take pride in the work they do, and how much they enjoy working with the people around them, according to Robert Levering, the Co-Founder of Great Places to Work. A great workplace is defined by nine practice areas that are: inspiring, speaking, listening, thanking, developing, caring, hiring, celebrating and sharing. This year over 100 companies participated in the 2016 Great Workplaces List in the Kingdom and over 15,000 employees were surveyed.
As the largest international hotel company in Saudi Arabia, IHG places great focus on growing, developing and retaining talent. IHG currently employs over 5,000 people across 17 managed hotels in the Kingdom and plans on hiring up to 4,000 more to accommodate the company’s business plans and prospective developments. Nationalization is one of the company’s top priorities, and currently 32% of the total number of employees in the country are Saudi nationals*.
Fergus Stewart, Vice President Operations, United Arab Emirates, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia & Northern Gulf IHG, said: “This fantastic result would not have been possible without the efforts of every single IHG employee in the Kingdom. We live by a set of everyday behaviors called our winning ways which help provide a strong sense of shared purpose and create an enjoyable place to work in order to drive our business forward. By doing the right thing, showing we care, aiming higher, celebrating difference and working better together, we have built a culture based on trust and teamwork that enables employees to be themselves in order to perform at their best. We are thrilled to be recognized as one of the top companies to work for in Saudi Arabia and look forward to continuing on this trajectory for many years to come.”
In the coming years, IHG plans to open 26 hotels across the Middle East region, and in order to support these openings, the company is focused on finding, developing and accelerating the best talent pool in the region. The IHG Academy Program operating in the Middle East aims to create jobs and stimulate economic development in the communities in which the company has a presence. To date in 2016, IHG has trained 680 people through 70 IHG Academy Programs across the Middle East. — SG
