Nurturing talent: innovations in hospitality education and HR practices

The second day of the eighth edition of BW Hotelier Indian Hospitality Summit & Awards (IHA 2024) hosted the BWH HE HR Roundtable including industry veterans and experts, with moderator Dilip Puri, Founder & Executive Chairman, Indian School of Hospitality with panel members including Kamal Kant Pant, Principal & Secretary, IHM Pusa, New Delhi, Sanjay Bose, Executive Vice President & Head HR, ITC Hotels. Vinay Jaiswal, Vice President, HR Operations, South Asia (APEC), Marriott International along with Yogendra Agnihotri, Area Senior Director - People & Culture, South Asia, Radisson Hotel Group as well as Deepali Bhardwaj, Regional Human Resources Director, South West Asia, IHG Hotels & Resorts offered insights on the topic of nurturing talent: innovations in hospitality education and HR practices.

Talking about the challenges of hiring the younger generation in the hospitality sector,  Agnihotri “ The real challenge from a talent point of view is skilling, the quality of people who are coming out of vocational or training programme, there’s still a mismatch between expectation vs results.”

Jaswal also commented, “Post-pandemic the workforce which is entering the industry, the millennials have had a huge shift in their mindset when they look at work and our industry has typically been a very traditional industry in terms of work process.” 

Talking about a diverse workforce, Bhardwaj expressed her thoughts, “ In the last 18 months we have taken a four per cent increase in the women workforce and has become part of the DNA of the organisation.” 

Bose also contributed to the panel discussion, commenting, “The key is how to make policies uniform for everyone but are flexible enough to suit different people and their requirements and needs.”

“Somewhere along the line, the educational institutions have failed the industry. The ownership was on the educators to structure the input in their institutions which would further take care of the needs of the industry,” commented Pant.

The two-day BW Hotelier Indian Hospitality Summit & Awards (IHA 2024) encompasses over 20 sessions where hospitality veterans and experts across the nation gather 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.