Hyatt: Reducing Sourcing Time and Increasing Review Frequency

A hospitality services provider, Hyatt is known for its commitment to customers; the company extends this same commitment to its associates. According to Randy Goldberg, vice president of talent at Hyatt, “Our talent management strategies are focused on our goal of being a preferred brand for our colleagues, owners, and guests. The way we do that for our colleagues is by infusing every facet of the Hyatt associate experience with the same degree of hospitality we show our guests.”

Yet with more than 95,000 associates, cultivating a personalized performance management experience was challenging. Hyatt also lacked talent visibility. “We’d tried many manual-based talent management systems, but it was very challenging to keep information up-to-date. Not having a system in place that integrated with our HR systems and not having the ability for each associate to update their own career preferences made having up-to-date information very challenging,” said Goldberg.

Hyatt selected Cornerstone OnDemand’s unified talent management solution, implementing Cornerstone Performance and Cornerstone Succession in connection with its corporate office and managed hotel locations in its Americas region. “We created a career résumé and preferences option, which allowed our colleagues to let us know what they wanted to do in tandem with their experience,” said Goldberg. “We’ve since seen a 53 percent increase in movement between Hyatt brands and hotels in North America. There’s a better understanding of the opportunities, and people feel they have even more options from a career standpoint.”

Via Cornerstone, Hyatt also created the “People Finder Report” to source high potential, high performing associates ready for new positions. “Prior to Cornerstone, much of the movement through the company was based on relationships and who you knew. This approach never gave us true visibility into our talent,” said Goldberg. “The People Finder Report is gold for the hotel. It tells managers which individuals have been designated as promotable, where they’d like to go, and what positions they’d like to be in.”

Acquired real-time visibility into talent. Ensuring that high performance, high potential talent is succession-ready is critical to Hyatt’s longevity and success. “Today, we’re very fortunate. With Cornerstone Succession, we have accurate, realtime succession information that interfaces with our HR system,” said Goldberg. “When someone is promoted, they are removed from the People Finder Report. Everyone has complete visibility into available talent.”

Reduced candidate sourcing time. Previously, finding the right talent for the right job was very time intensive. “Before, it took well over a month to find the right candidate,” said Rocco Lafronza, recruiting manager at Hyatt Regency Chicago. “With Cornerstone, it can take as little as a couple of days.” Via the People Finder Report, Hyatt leaders can quickly source internal candidates for open jobs worldwide. “Cornerstone helps us find internal talent very quickly and easily,” said Goldberg.

Increased frequency and consistency of talent reviews. Previously, talent reviews were an arduous process, difficult to execute with regular frequency. With Cornerstone Performance, Hyatt now conducts talent reviews every six months. “With thousands of colleagues in the U.S., it’s a challenge to make sure that everyone’s career interests and development needs are being considered,” said Doug Sullivan, assistant human resource director at Hyatt Regency McCormick Place. “Cornerstone allows us to connect those who are seeking out new career opportunities and development with our talent needs.”

Improved associate engagement. Since implementing Cornerstone Performance, Hyatt associate engagement scores have increased. Transparency has been a factor in the increase: associates now have instant access to their performance reviews, including challenges, strengths and weaknesses. “Performance is important factor in understanding how engaged people are with Hyatt,” said Goldberg. “Those people who feel and know they’re contributing value to the company are the ones moving Hyatt forward and taking care of our guests.”