In the first instance, focus groups were held with employees at all levels across the hotel network in order to establish the issues that mattered to them. The feedback from these focus groups became the foundations for real change within each hotel, and was also used to design a regular, quantitative employee survey to test the progress made on key issues.
The feedback from MSB’s employee research helped local managers to formulate action plans to improve employee engagement and the workplace culture in which they operated. Changes introduced as a result of MSB’s report and recommendations included:
development of new training opportunities
improvement in internal communication
increased awareness of the expectations of customers
enhancements to the way managers led their teams
Impact Over a three year period, MSB helped De Vere Hotels to improve their level of employee engagement from just 40% to over 90%. The annual employee survey, designed and implemented using the feedback from MSB employee focus groups, was – from that point onwards - always followed by a range of employee focus groups which helped managers to solve key issues raised in the main survey.
The Chief Executive and Directors received regular reports on progress both from the employee focus groups and local managers’ action plans from across the organisation.