NH Hotel Group cares for its employees and seeks their commitment to and involvement with the Company’s Corporate Responsibility, so that it is integrated in their daily activities. All this through fluid communication and recognizing their responsible commitment.
Equality and Diversity
Through its Code of Conduct, NH Hotel Group formalizes its commitment to promote non-discrimination on account of race, color, nationality, social origin, age, gender, marital status, sexual orientation, ideology, political opinions, religion or any other personal, physical or social condition of its professionals, as well as to equality of opportunities among them.
The policies and actions relating to selection, hiring, training and internal promotion of employees are based on criteria of capacity, competence and professional merits.
In July 2010, NH Hotel Group signed its Equality Plan with representatives of the workers. To draw up this plan, the Company carried out an exhaustive diagnosis of the situation and position of men and women, which confirmed that NH in Spain had a high presence of women and a high number of female executives present in the organization.
After this positive first assessment, the Company worked on an action plan with specific measures in different areas of access to the company, hiring, promotion, training, remuneration, work-life balance, occupational health, communication and awareness-raising that made it possible to eliminate or correct inequalities in these areas.
Furthermore, the document included a series of measures to ensure the protection of women victims of gender violence: giving them priority in hiring, monitoring any cases of registered gender violence and the measures undertaken in this regards as well as informing the workforce of the rights of women in this situation.
In order to guarantee compliance with the objectives set out and the execution of the actions programmed in the Plan, a Monitoring and Evaluation Committee was created. This organ was made up, on a parity basis, of representatives of the company and of the signatory trade union organizations.
This Plan has permitted the development of mechanisms that facilitate greater female representation throughout the organization’s hierarchical structure. It was the starting point for the development of the guidelines that define the Company in terms of its commitment to equality, focused not just on gender difference, but on different nationalities, age, sexual orientation, ethnicity, religious beliefs, disabilities, etc. This is also recognized in the NH Hotel Group Code of Conduct.
The work carried out made it possible to replicate the diversity and equality diagnostic and assessment process in other countries, creating action plans on this matter in all Business Units.
Protocol against Sexual Harassment
As a complement to the Plan, and to facilitate its implementation and raise awareness in employees, it includes a Protocol for the prevention and treatment of situations of sexual harassment and harassment on account of gender in the workplace, as well as a manual for non-sexist use of language.
Integration and Universal Accessibility of disabled people
In the hotel renovation process and in new openings, NH Hotel Group includes criteria to ensure accessibility for its customers, as reflected on page 35 of this report. This also permits accessibility for the 52 employees with disabilities who work in the hotels and which represent 0.47% of 2018’s the global workforce.
The rate of disabled employees was 0.4% in Spain in 2018. In addition, NH Hotel Group is committed to the integration in employment of disabled people through responsible procurement from Special Employment Centres as suppliers of laundry services. Purchases from Special Employment Centres in 2018 represented 12.53%*.
*Estimate in respect of the workforce in Spain, together with EEC employees comparable to NH Hotel Group purchases (466).
Time Organization and Work-Life Balance
Although the Company cannot be said to have a disconnection policy as such, it is however true that its culture continues to evolve towards a more flexible model, in which individuals can enjoy greater facilities in terms of time management and in doing their jobs in environments that are adapted to their activities and with the necessary tools.
The project, called “New Way of Working”, is structured around three lines of action:
• Redefinition and adjustment of physical office spaces according to employees’ needs
• New technological equipment and systems that facilitate flexibility
• New flexible working culture in terms of both hours and workplace
In this sense, at the corporate offices of NH Hotel Group Mayors have been defined for the purposes of facilitating change management, communication, employee engagement and answering questions. These 7 Mayors represent each of the districts or areas of the offices (Commercial, Marketing, Resources, Operations, Finances and Communications) and have the following functions:
• Represent their area at the weekly meetings of the Engagement Team, which is responsible for the NH Engagement Commitment in the corporate offices.
• Channel possible requests, suggestions or proposals for improvement that have been generated in their respective areas and convey them to the Human Resources Business Partner (HRBP).
• Propose new action plans, with both local and cross-sectional measures, based on the results of the Climate Survey.
• Reach a consensus on the proposed measures with two sponsors –Executives of special relevance in the Company – to obtain their feedback and seek their support in presenting the action plan.
• Present the action plan to the CEO and the Management Committee.
• Follow up on the implementation of the different measures in their districts and propose corrective measures, if necessary.
• Check the climate on a weekly basis.
• Probe how the different measures launched by Human Resources are perceived by their co-workers.
Health and Safety in the Working Environment
NH Hotel Group as an Occupational Risk Prevention Plan which is the master document that governs the Occupational Health and Safety actions to be carried out at the Company’s workplaces in Spain.
This Plan includes, among others, essential procedures such as:
• Risk Assessment
• Health and Safety Training and Information
• Health Monitoring
• Health Damage Management
• Emergency Management
• Maternity Protection
• Personal Protective Equipment
• Business Activity Coordination
The Plan is based on the integration of these processes throughout the Company’s hierarchical structure. Both Central Services department managers and hotel personnel (from General Managers to base staff) have been assigned functions and responsibilities in this area. Furthermore, in Spain there is a Joint Prevention Service (SPM) which provides services to the NH Hotel Group hotels and workplaces in Spain.
In other countries, this Plan is not applicable and therefore technical advising on Occupational Risk Prevention is outsourced with external service providers. In some countries, NH Hotel Group employees are designated as responsibles for coordinating the actions of these service providers and for implementing the established corrective measures and prevention procedures.
Furthermore, NH Hotel Group’s commitment to the protection of health and safety is reflected in the launch of a range of health promotion initiatives among its employees.
Social dialogue with employees
NH Hotel Group seeks to maintain a model of responsible and positive labor relations based on principles of dialogue, consultation with and participation of workers. Accordingly, in October 2015 the European Works Council (EWC) of NH Hotel Group was set up as an initiative of the European Federation of Trade Unions in the Food, Agriculture and Tourism sectors (EFFAT) and at the request of affiliates from Italy, Belgium and Spain.
This EWC affects all the Company’s workplaces in the European Economic Area and operates under directive 2009/38/EC, as well as its transposition into Spanish legislation. Its principal function is to achieve a level of communication and social dialogue that, in a climate of confidence, makes mutual understanding possible on cross-border matters that affect its employees.
In 2018 there were 2 meetings of the EWC. One was a plenary session attended by all members and the other, a committee meeting of a more restricted nature. At these meetings, among other matters, the Company’s economic results, the status of the takeover bid by Minor, the progress of the Strategic and Investment Plan, the labor situation and prognosis, and employee development policies were presented.
Trade union representation
Coverage of NH Hotel Group employees by Collective Bargaining Agreements, which generally include aspects related to employees’ health and safety, varies according to the different Business Units.
Training and professional development
NH Hotel Group has always been committed to the professional development and training of all its employees as a means of putting into practice the philosophy of excellence and continuous improvement that inspires its customer service vocation.
The Company manages all face-to-face and online training projects through its corporate university, NH University.
In 2018, training was given to 10,310 participants in 484 different face-to-face programmes, which represents a ratio (face-to-face and online) of 7.82 training hours per employee. A total of 5,329 employees attended one of the 869 face-to-face sessions. In line with Company’s training strategy and following the trend of previous years, this year is notable for a high ratio of participation in online training. A total of 10,514 employees received some online training during the year, which represents 96% of the total workforce.
Furthermore, in its commitment to internal talent, in 2018 a total of 200 trainers were members of Company personnel.
Thus, the total investment in training during 2018 was € 1,720,941 and a total of € 117,268 in public grants for this purpose were obtained.
Key Indicators on Employees of NH Hotel Group in 2018
Breakdown of average remuneration in 2018 by gender, age and professional classification
Wage Gap
The salary of women in NH Hotel Group in 2018 represented 90% of the gross hourly salary for men; the average gross wage per hour was 15 euros for men and 14 euros for women.
Remuneration of the Board of Directors and Management Committee
For the purpose of providing more information, it should be noted that there are no differences in Board remuneration by reason of gender, as the difference that can be observed is due to differences in the responsibility of each of the Board members. The 2 Chairs on Committees and the 2 Chairs on the Board are held by male Directors. These are positions that receive remuneration of 200,000 euros in the case of the Board Chairmen and 90,000 euros in the case of the Committee Chairs.
The only female Director on the Board is not the chair of any committee and receives the same remuneration as the other Directors for the same functions.
The remuneration of the CEO as the Company’s top executive, is included in the average for the Management Committee. More information on the remuneration policies of the Board of Directors is available in the Annual Corporate Governance Report 2018.
Opportunities in the Management of Diversity
This first analysis of the diversity of the workforce of NH Hotel Group and the wage differences for different groups has allowed us to confirm aspects already known such as the positive presence of women at all levels of responsibility in the Company. However, it has also served to identify that in certain cases the wage gap widens as responsibility increases and employees’ careers develop. This situation offers a great opportunity to carry out a more in-depth analysis of the different groups, not only women, and establish as a priority the need to continue with a long-term project for real management of employee diversity in all aspects and support their professional development within the Group.