Building Inclusive Workplaces: Best Practices from Industry Leaders

The second day of the eighth edition of the BW Hotelier Indian Hospitality Summit & Awards (IHA 2024) hosted the BWH Diversity, Inclusion and Women Leadership Roundtable: Pioneering The Future of Hospitality on the topic of shaping the future of hospitality, fostering inclusive leadership and empowering women to drive progress and innovation within the industry. Exploring the strategies and insights from top professionals with moderator Rakhee Lalvani, Founder, RLA and other women speakers including Pratima Badhwar, Head – Commercial India & South Asia, Accor, Reema Singh, Director Communications, South Asia, Hilton, Sonavi Kaicker, CEO, Neemrana Hotels, Shweta Jain, Chief Marketing & Sales Officer, The Leela Palaces, Hotels & Resorts

Badhwar stated, “ Globally we have 45 per cent global workforce with women At headquarters we have 50 per cent  of workforce as women. In India, we have 18 per cent of the workforce as women and will be taking to make 20 per cent by the end of this year”. “This generation is very impatient, they want career growth. The best gratification for this new generation is remuneration and as an organisation, we are paying overtime. We have implemented this all over the properties. The Managers and teams ensures that the folks leaving on time”

Singh on the topic of diversity initiatives at Hilton added, “Diversity initiative, communication and Hilton Foundations are the three core that we core touch upon. Around 55 per cent of our APAC leadership is held by women. Also, Hilton has signed a gender parity pledge that by 2027 we hope to have an equal number of men and women at Hilton in Global leadership heads and as well as board of directors”

“Inclusion of diversity that we focus upon”. “With our own team, more than 37 per cent of our senior managers are women which is the highest in India”. “With the extended communities, we are enabling 4000 bal grams with Kailash Satyarthi, we are working with Smriti Mandhana to promote wellness and sports and fitness”. “We are the first one to take a lead in multi-generational leisure destination programming," added Jain.

Kaicker emphasised the need of local community engagement, she stated,  “Inclusion of Local community in Neemrana has always been our focus since last 31 years”. “ We work more with people from rural areas and villages, through interactions with Anganwadi centres.” “We have various tie-ups in ‘Kala Sakhi’, where women have prepared sustainable gifts and hampers for the guests.” “We are able to achieve 10 per cent  women representation at unit level and at corporate level we are nearly at 40 per cent  women representatives here” 

The two-day BW Hotelier Indian Hospitality Summit & Awards (IHA 2024) encompassed over 20 sessions where hospitality veterans and experts across the nation gathered in order to provide diverse knowledge and insights. The Summit & Awards is a testament to BW Hotelier’s commitment towards revolutionising Indian hospitality by honouring the Crème de la crème of the industry.