“Our employees: ambassadors of our values, make the Company’s achievements possible”

NH ROOM4 PEOPLE: EMPLOYEES

NH Hotel Group cares for its employees and seeks their commitment to and involvement with the Company’s sustainable business, so that it is integrated in their daily activities. All this through fluid communication and recognizing their responsible commitment.

In NH Hotel Group’s business strategy, the corporate culture is key. The Company considers its human capital to be its principal asset and understands that in order to build a corporate culture of leadership, it is essential to manage the attraction and development of talent, and also to sustain their motivation and their pride in belonging to NH Hotel Group.

In 2021, in a particularly sensitive context in terms of health and economic circumstances, the Company focused on three fundamental aspects of team member management:
• Connecting with them, keeping them always informed about the reality of the company and ensuring two-way communication through the Managers.
• Caring for and guaranteeing their safety, health and well-being.
• Respond as a business partner to the demands of the business.

Along these lines, the leaders of the different areas worked with their teams on adapting to the different circumstances that arose during 2021, including the transition to on-site reincorporation, managing their morale, commitment and performance, on top of trying to respond to the different personal and professional realities.

During 2021, the Company had to carry out a global workforce adjustment, adapted to the reality of each country and business operation, always with the maxim of protecting long-term employment as much as possible, and adjusting personnel costs to the Company’s reality. Departure processes were communicated individually, trying to actively listen to each employee, respecting and valuing the work done during the period of time of belonging to NH Hotel Group. Likewise, the Human Resources department carried out a “reboarding” of the employees who remained in the Company, encouraging active listening and empathy in these difficult moments, working to favour a good adaptation to this new reality.

Even in this unfavourable context, NH Hotel Group has maintained its corporate culture and commitment to its values, in line with its People strategy, and from the conviction that consistency is key to sustaining the credibility and trust of its team members- the Company’s greatest asset.

Against this backdrop, throughout 2021, NH Hotel Group continued with its “With You” initiative with the aim of taking care of its employees in such complex times. This initiative is an internal engagement project designed to provide teams with tools, advice and training resources to reinforce key competencies during this stage, not only at a professional level but also to improve their personal well-being. Under “With You”, and among other actions, NH employees have received content aimed at managing stress, have had access to digital kiosks at no cost, have had access to language classes and have been able to pick up office supplies to improve their remote working experience.

In 2021 the Company has resumed very relevant pre-pandemic processes within the ‘People strategy’, such as the MBO and the Time For You – Mid Year Review, as well as talent calibrations and training programmes, adapted to the new reality of the Company.

NH Hotel Group has continued to take care of its teams and give them tools to best manage the stress and uncertainty from the pandemic during 2021, focusing on identifying, developing and retaining talent. The Company will continue to reinforce engagement, creating optimal work environments to maximise the contribution of its employees.

PEOPLE STRATEGY

This year has still been seriously affected by the COVID-19 crisis and, consequently, the Company’s Human Resources Strategic Plan has had to be completely adapted to the reality of the business and employees.

Even in these circumstances, NH Hotel Group did, however, maintain throughout the year the focus on its strategic pillars, ensuring that it continues to uphold its long-term vision, but adapting the initiative launched so that they made sense and were useful in the complex individual, social and company context of the pandemic.

GLOBAL LEADERSHIP AND TALENT MANAGEMENT

Continuing to drive and convey leadership within NH Hotel Group, focusing efforts and investment on internal talent that has the potential to make a difference in the Company’s strategy and become role models in our culture.

TOP PERFORMANCE

Being recognized as a model highperformance team in which all employees are encouraged to progress and do their best and in which high performance is differentiated, recognized and rewarded.

BEST PLACE TO WORK

Making our employees the best brand ambassadors, based on their high level of commitment, and increasing the recognition of NH Hotel Group as one of the best companies to work for.

TRANSFORMATION AND NEW TECHNOLOGIES

Seeking, assessing and taking advantage of opportunities to evolve and develop our working environment to make it more agile, connected and productive, and to acquire advanced predictive analytical skills, through clear policies and processes, keeping promises proactively, supporting, developing and implementing the NH Hotel Group operational model, and controlling staff costs and related budgetary items.

The main projects carried out in each strategic pillar are set out below:

STRATEGIC LINES OF WORK OF HUMAN RESOURCES IN 2021
GLOBAL LEADERSHIP AND TALENT MANAGEMENT

Providing support to managers in the management of their teams in extraordinary circumstances:

    • Communication of labour measures,
    • Handling difficult conversations,
    • Team leadership in challenging times)

Resumption of the talent management process, improving the model and updating the talent matrix in critical groups.
Building risk maps in terms of talent.

Monitoring key position development and succession plans.
Resumption of internal development programmes (Becoming a GM, Becoming a HoD)

TOP PERFORMANCE

Contingency plan in terms of personnel costs, adapting them to the reality of the business.

Monitoring and control of personnel costs; optimisation of the labour tools put in place by each Government.

Promoting feedback conversations, resuming the internal performance assessment process (TFY).

Rollout of training in new tools for key teams (Business Intelligence, Revenue Management, Brand Center).
Design and adaptation of training itineraries for employees of new brands in the NH portfolio (Anantara)

BEST PLACE TO WORK

Initiatives to sustain engagement and a sense of belonging to NH Hotel Group in all employees.

Launch of training contents and access to learning platforms, to boost self-development in all employees.

Relaunch of the Internal Communication newsletters (Tell the World) and generation of virtual spaces providing information on the reality and results of the Company.

Launch of reboarding programmes to support the reopening of both hotels and central offices.

Definition of the guiding principles for hybrid working in NH Hotel Group.
Relaunch of internal recognition programmes (Memorable Dates).

OUR HUMAN CAPITAL

All information relating to employees corresponds to average workforce figures, obtained on the basis of full-time equivalent (FTE) figures for all types of employees (except Outside Labour, Extra Labour and Trainees) considering hotels under ownership, lease, and management included in NH Hotel Group’s ERP SAP HCM management system.

At the end of 2021, NH Hotel Group has 10,071 employees located in 29 countries, of whom 51% are women and 49% are men.

During 2021, the number of employees decreased by almost 10% as a result of non-renewals of temporary contracts, fewer new hires, and voluntary and non-voluntary departures due to the downturn in operations.

The categories into which all the information is detailed are as follows:

  • Top Management:
    • Central Services/Corporate Offices: Chief Officer, Senior Vice President, Vice President, Senior Director and Regional Director.
    • Hotel: Manager and Deputy.
  • Middle Management:
    • Central Services/Corporate Offices: Director and Manager.
    • Hotel: Department heads.
  • Staff:
    • Central Services/Corporate Offices: Executive, Staff and Assistant.
    • Hotel: All other hotel positions.
QUALITY JOB CREATION AND TALENT RETENTION

NH Hotel Group’s commitment to job stability can be clearly seen in the high percentage of employees with indefinite contracts. The Company fosters job stability, especially for women and those under 40 years old. 2,936 new hires were made in 2021, of which 66% are employees under 35 years of age and 53% are women.

Accordingly, in 2021, 91% of average contracts of women are indefinite (+4% compared to 2020) and 90% of average contracts of employees between 25 and 40 years old have indefinite contracts (+5% compared to 2020).

The average for contracts has been calculated by dividing the total contract days per category of each employee by the total number of days in the year.

Part-time contracts are a type of contract for both temporary and indefinite contracts.
Part-time retired employees are considered to be a type of temporary contract.

Annual average types of contracts by age
Annual average types of contracts by professional category
Number of contracts
CULTURE OF DIVERSITY, EQUALITY, AND INCLUSION

NH Hotel Group sees diversity as a key factor in building up a network of diverse talent, capable of understanding customers’ needs, innovating and reflecting society in the business world. For all these reasons, a fundamental pillar of NH Hotel Group’s corporate culture is also based on diversity, equality and inclusion.

Thus, the Company’s 10,071 employees in 2021 are of 133 different nationalities and 22% of them work in countries that are different to their country of origin. Furthermore, 51% of the total workforce are women, who hold 44 % of the total management posts.

As far as age is concerned, in 2021 the percentage of employees over 40 years old is almost 52%, while those aged between 25 and 40 represent 41%, while those under 25 represented 7%.

In 2021 the workforce also included 85 disabled employees, who represent 0.8% of the global workforce. Additionally, NH Hotel Group is committed to the integration into work of disabled persons through responsible outsourcing from Special Employment Centers as providers of laundry services. Outsourcing from Special Employment Centers in 2021 represented 8.4% (estimated with respect to the workforce in Spain, together with Special Employment Center employees associated to NH Hotel Group procurement).

Through its Code of Conduct, NH Hotel Group formalizes its commitment to promote non-discrimination on account of race, colour, 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.

NH Hotel Group, recognized for promoting equality and diversity

Bloomberg Gender & Equality
In January 2022, NH Hotel Group was included for the third time in the Bloomberg Gender Equality Index 2022. The Company is the only hotel company out of the Spanish companies that appear in the index. This international index, which includes almost 6,000 companies in 45 countries, measures the commitment and contribution in terms of transparency of gender information and promotion of equality. NH Hotel Group sees this inclusion as an opportunity to continue working towards diversity and inclusion globally.

Equality Plan

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 Hotel Group in Spain had a high presence of women, and a high number of female executives present in the organization.

After this positive first assessment, work was done 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 would make it possible to eliminate or correct inequalities in these areas.

The document also included a series of measures to ensure the protection of women who have been victims of gender violence: giving them priority in hiring, monitoring any cases of gender violence that arise and the measures taken, and 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 established in the Plan, a Monitoring and Evaluation Committee was also created, made up, on a parity basis, of representatives of the company and of the signatory trade union organizations.

This Plan has enabled the Company to develop mechanisms that will facilitate greater female representation throughout the organization’s hierarchical structure. It was also 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, beliefs, religion, disabilities…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.

In January 2020, the committee to conduct negotiations with the leading trade unions in Spain was created to work on the Company’s II Equality Plan. The COVID-19 crisis meant that the negotiations and development of the Plan had to be postponed. In 2021, we have made progress in negotiating the new Plan with the aim of completing an agreement in the first four months of 2022.

PROTOCOL AGAINST SEXUAL HARASSMENT

As a complement to the Plan, and to facilitate its implementation and raise awareness amongst 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.

A team with the same opportunities

The salary of women in NH Hotel Group in 2021 represents 90% of the gross hourly salary for men; with the average gross hourly salary being €16.08 for men and €14.55 for women.

The pay gap has been calculated by comparing remuneration between equivalent professional categories, giving as a result the average salary of women compared to men. In other words, categories that carry out the same function or have the same position.

The overall figure for the pay gap is obtained by weighing the gaps obtained in the comparison between average remuneration (considering fixed and variable remuneration paid) received by the professionals in each category for the number of professionals in that category.

This analysis of the pay gap has served to identify that the gap increases in Top Management, especially due to the lower presence of women in this category.

This situation offers a great opportunity to carry out an analysis in more depth of the different groups, not just women, and establish as a priority the continuation of a long-term project of real management of all aspects of employee diversity and support professional development within the Company. NH Hotel Group will continue working to adopt the most suitable measures to eliminate this gap.

THE NH HOTEL GROUP REMUNERATION MODEL

The remuneration policy applied by NH Hotel Group has no gender bias. The annual fixed cash remuneration and variable remuneration, the two fundamental components of the Company’s remuneration structure, are established objectively. Fixed remuneration mainly reflects the professional’s experience and responsibility in the Company, while variable remuneration rewards attainment of annual targets, which are fundamentally quantitative, and are shared by professionals who perform their activities in the same functional areas.

NH Hotel Group’s success depends, to a great extent, on the attainment of individual and collective targets by the professionals who are part of the Company. The purpose of variable remuneration in the Company is:

    • To align individual and collective targets with the group’s global strategy
    • To measure what is done (employees’ individual and collective contribution to the Company’s results) and how it is done (performance assessment)
    • To reinforce the importance and NH Hotel Group’s commitment to the principles of non-discrimination and equality of opportunity

In Spain, the Company offers a flexible remuneration plan that allows its beneficiaries to apply part of their remuneration to transport tickets, childcare vouchers, the purchase of vacation days, restaurant card, medical insurance or external training, benefiting in this way from special prices and tax advantages.

EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT

In terms of engagement, and with the aim of supporting employees in the challenging months that lay ahead on both a personal and a professional level, a new global initiative was created: “With You”.

Through this initiative, since the very beginning of the pandemic, communications were sent out to all employees offering advice and resources to help them care for their wellbeing, foster self-development, and keep them engaged. The communications were sent out using the different corporate channels (email, MyNH app, intranet, WhatsApp), in order to reach as many employees as possible.

As part of this initiative, a special set of communications was sent out to managers, to help them strengthen their leadership in times of uncertainty.

Two months after “With You” had started, a survey was conducted to obtain feedback from employees on the initiative in general, on specific resources that had been made available to them and on what things had interested them more or what new content they would like to see in future communications.

Under this “With You” framework, each of the business units also launched their own actions, which were more specific and adapted to each region:

    • BU Northern Europe launched “Learning Bites”, small training modules on change management, time management and work-life balance.
    • BU Southern Europe gave access for one month to a platform to learn English and, in the case of Portugal, to all the courses on the LinkedIn training platform.
    • In BU America, the programme created in the Colombia & Ecuador region stood out with six lines of work related to emotional and physical health care, personal and professional growth, life purpose, leisure and recreation, and how to build positive relationships. All lines of work ultimately aimed at the well-being of employees in the region and also included the donation of food to the families of the most vulnerable employees.
    • Finally, at the corporate offices, English language training was implemented through Vaughan and employees were offered the possibility of collecting office material to facilitate working from home.

Furthermore, in light of the exceptional circumstances during the year and in order to facilitate participation of as many active employees as possible, a decision was made to postpone the biennial Employee Engagement Survey until 2021.

PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT – TIME FOR YOU (TFY)

At NH Hotel Group the performance management process is a key and consolidated element of our leadership culture, carried out through Time for You.

The evaluation of the performance and skills of the NH Hotel Group professionals allows us to know our internal talent in order to guide their training and professional development more effectively. The evaluation serves to identify the strengths and the areas for development of professionals in the performance of their work, which form the basis on which the different development plans are defined. The results of these evaluations are linked to their professional development and the increase in their variable remuneration.

It is aimed at all permanent employees who have at least 3 months’ service in the Company.

Performance in qualitative terms, how goals are achieved, is assessed through skills that effectively guide employees’ training and professional development. Through TFY, employees’ strengths and areas for development in the performance of their work are identified, and based on the areas for improvement identified, the various development plans are defined. In addition, the overall evaluation obtained has an impact on other human resources processes such as internal selection or talent processes or in variable remuneration.

In 2021, the formal mid-year review was carried out again, as a clear sign of a return to normal. At this important time of year, employees were invited to make this conversation a genuine moment of connection with the manager/team, encouraging them to share openly their feelings, perceptions, lessons learned and areas of concern.

The internal communication campaign is based around making this moment a “verification of reality and an opportunity to reconnect”, reflecting on how reality has changed. But ever more important, how OUR reality has changed: personally, and professionally.

The Human Resources team designed specific training at corporate level through Webinars, which were deployed locally by the Human Resources teams, taking advantage of the opportunity to open a space for dialogue with all managers. In these webinars, specific guidelines were given and at the end, managers were given a “conversation card” with the keys so that the “Midyear” conversation could become a moment of reconnection with the team.

Once again, the importance of this process in our leadership culture was seen, with a similar percentage participation to before the pandemic (86%).

In December, the Annual Review process was launched, recovering the normal spirit of TFY based on feedback and development, as key tools to grow within the Company.

Although for another year, the pandemic had continued to condition our day-to-day professional and personal life, this year was also a year of extraordinary efforts, major challenges and adaptation to constant changes.

For all these reasons, the approach of this key process also had to be exceptional and was even more focused than ever on looking to the future and developing based on the experiences we have lived through during the year.

Consequently, TFY2021 was adapted to this approach and had the following characteristics:

• There were no gradings in terms of skills or a general rating and attention was focused exclusively on feedback, development and career.

• Training aimed at managers, explaining to them what had change in the process compared to the standard process and how to focus the conversation so that it would service as a tool for commitment, motivation and team development was drawn up at corporate level and rolled out locally by the Human Resources team.

• At the end of this training, a “conversation card” with the main messages explained in the webinar was also handed out.

The level of participation by target employees in 2021 was of 92%

 

TALENT MANAGEMENT

NH Hotel Group has implemented a process to help identify and develop talent by looking not just at sustained performance over time but also at the potential and ambition of the people who have key positions in the Company.

During the second half of 2021, the talent identification and development process resumed, looking not only at sustained performance over time, but also at the potential and ambition of the individuals who hold key positions in the Company.

In this way, NH Hotel Group assures adequate preparation of key roles for the future, even in such challenging times as the present. The overall objective is to create a mindset of talent in leaders at all levels, starting with the top 100 executives in the Company and continuing with Managers and Heads of Department in hotels and Directors and Managers in central services.

TRAINING: NH UNIVERSITY

NH Hotel Group is committed to the professional development and training of all its employees as a way to put into practice the philosophy that inspires its customer service vocation. All face-to-face and online training projects are managed through the corporate university, NH University.

Every year the training curriculum is adapted so that the people who work at NH Hotel Group can continue to refresh both their technical knowledge and their skills.

In 2021, projects that had to be put on hold because of the pandemic have been taken up again, such as the Internal Development programme. One of the department’s main goals is to continue offering employees the necessary training for their professional development using safe methods and increasing, therefore, the number of hours of training through platforms like Teams or online formats such as videos, infographics, etc. Due to the reactivation of the business, both the investment and the number of participants has increased compared to 2020.

Online training through the GoodHabitz platform has also become consolidated, promoting the courses it offers through the monthly launch of a calendar that marks important dates with related training. This international training platform is focused on making training fun, different and tailored personally to each participant, and makes it possible to learn in the way best adapted to each person. More than 800 employees have received training over more than 3.600 hours.

The total number of hours of training, both face-to-face and online, in 2021 was 74,759 through 990 training programmes. NH University has trained 8,733 employees, representing 75% of the total workforce.

Face-to-face training, which also includes training through webinars, represented 58% of the training hours, with 151 internal training providers leading the sessions.

* The total number of hours of training includes 424 hours through the “GHA – Discovery in a box” training platform in which the hotels of the Anantara, Avani and Tívoli brands received training on new features of the loyalty programme. The hours are included in the corporate perimeter, as many of these hotels have management contracts.

TRAINING IN HEALTH AND SAFETY

Training courses on occupational risks depend on the legislation in each country, and we therefore have a wide-ranging catalogue of training on this matter, from Food Handling to basic notions of First Aid. Additionally, this year the programmes have had to focus basically on the coronavirus, what it is, how to identify the symptoms and what to do in the event of infection of an employee or a guest.

In 2021, training has continued to be given, although to a lesser extent than last year, on the Feel Safe at NH measures to ensure they are implemented effectively and guarantee that all the members of our team are familiar with them and know how to apply them in their everyday work.

As well as this, a specific itinerary has been defined for the new Health and Safety Managers in communication skills, influence, effective meetings or change management, among others.

CORPORATE TRAINING

Training for new Anantara brand hotels

NH University has worked on a training itinerary for all the team members of hotels that changed to the Anantara brand.

The itinerary includes training on the brand and a review of the new standards and procedures for all employees and specific training for hotel managers which has involved visiting several Anantara brand properties with the aim of understanding how the brand vision is reached in the different properties, sharing good practice and experience, finding out how the standards can be adapted to the reality of each hotel and promoting networking among the hotels.

In the first quarter of 2022, the Anantara managers will participate in a workshop to learn in depth about the brand strategy in Europe, share what they have learned on the prior visit and continue to make this brand a reality in Europe.

Training in Environmental Awareness

At NH Hotel Group we are committed to efficient management of the resources where our hotels are located and we strive to prevent and anticipate possible environmental contingencies. For this reason, NH University has launched the Environmental Awareness course in the 7 corporate languages which is compulsory for all employees, setting out the guidelines that we must all follow to comply with the principles established in our Environmental and Energy Policy.

The training will continue to be given to all employees who join the Company and must be completed within 30 days.

Training in Human Rights

In December 2021 the Human Rights course was launched, through the NH Talent platform, to General Managers and Front Office Managers. The training is also available for all employees who wish to be familiar with this corporate policy through NH University’s corporate catalogue. In forthcoming months it will be extended to the rest of the workforce, and the aim is that all the Company’s employees take the course.

With this training, NH Hotel Group promotes awareness not only of its Human Rights policy but also of the due diligence process to identify, prevent, mitigate and report potential risks and consequences deriving from the daily actions of employees, suppliers or customers.

Training in Commercial Systematics

The commercial area has offered virtual training sessions on commercial systematics, looking at the following subjects:

    • Review of the functionalities of the C4C tool through two webinar training sessions in Spain and English.
    • Overview of Commercial Systematic, also in 2 webinar sessions in English, with a duration of 1.5 hours each.
    • The evaluation and negotiation processes, also with 2 webinar sessions in English, with a duration of 1 hour.
    • Standard Operating Processes of Commercial Systematics, online training that created a compulsory itinerary with the 10 most important processes, designed in 10-15-minute-long capsules.

SOUTHERN EUROPE BUSINESS UNIT TRAININGS

Leadership development programmes:

· Becoming a General Manager – Italian edition:
On October 6th, the new Becoming a GM programme officially started. After the nomination, selection and assessment stage, three Heads of Department have started their development programme to become Hotel Managers. The journey of our three potential GMs will be very full: in addition to the training part (face-to-face and hybrid), an itinerary has been created involving coaching, regular assessment of skills, thematic webinars and other development actions.

· New HoD Training (Spain):
This new development and leadership programme is focused on training employees who want to be heads of department with the aim of covering the needs for these positions in Spain. Following a selection phase, 10 participants start a 6-month-long adventure through an itinerary led by the Training and Development area in conjunction with Operations. During the first month, parties undergo immersion in cross-cutting areas and departments of the hotels and are involved in a full week of skills training focusing on both technical and management matters. In the second phase, lasting 2 months, participants move to a hotel and fulfil the same role, but participate in a special work project. The last step will enable participants to obtain the final certificate: they will move again to another teaching hotel and will spend 3 months with a Head of Department who acts as tutor and will gradually give them more responsibilities in the role. If the final assessment is positive, they will be ready to become Heads of Department (HODs) as soon as a post is available.

· Leadership training programme:
A development programme consisting of 6 webinars on leadership skills. The aim of the project is to help Heads of Department to position themselves as leaders.

Service Training programme:

The goal of this training, consisting of 9 webinars, is to help team members understand how to offer an excellent service through actions that add value to guests’ experience.

Language training:

English and Spanish classes given on Zoom to team members to improve their basic conversational skills in each of the two languages.

Luxury Workshop:

A two-day training course designed to prepare team members to offer the WOW factor that characterises a luxury service. Very interactive training on who to stand out in our business and how to personalise our interactions with each guest.

AMERICAS BUSINESS UNIT TRAINING

In your Shoes programme:

Training focused on ensuring that teams are connected not just in the context of their job, but also emotionally and based on empathy with the operational reality of each of the hotels, helping to understand the operational and administrative challenges of the parties involved, detect shortcomings and needs between the parties, strengthen dialogue channels and recognize the impact of administrative requests in the operation.

INTERNAL COMMUNICATION

For NH Hotel Group, internal communication has in 2021 again become a key factor in generating and maintaining employees’ engagement with the Company, as well as a powerful lever of change management. The year 2021 has once again shown the importance of Internal Communication at times of great changes and continuous challenges. It has also become a fundamental tool for communicating difficult decisions for the Company, relevant and critical information for the business, and for maintaining employee engagement and motivation and helping to manage uncertainty.

Internal Communication always strives to be aligned with the reality of the Company and its employees. In order to develop its present channels and platforms and set out a clear roadmap for the future, the Internal Communication area organized a number of focus groups in 2021 to find out employees’ vision and have as complete feedback as possible.

A total of seven focus groups were set up in all the Group’s Business Units with the main employee profiles of both Central Services and hotels were represented.

EMPLOYER BRANDING – FURTHER TOGETHER

NH Hotel Group is proud that its employees are the key to the success of the business. Therefore, it has sought to consolidate the NH Hotel Group employer brand throughout the world, to attract and motivate the best talent among employees and external candidates.

The long-term goal of the Employer Branding (EB) plan is to establish a unique culture around our values as an employer brand, through uniform and consistent communication of the Company’s identity and essence: People, Passion and Challenge.

To do so, work has continued on the “Further Together” campaign on the Company’s various external communication channels, focusing mainly on Instagram and LinkedIn.

The campaign features employees from all Business Units who talk first-hand about what it is like to work at NH Hotel Group, joining the ranks of the Instagram Ambassadors and becoming role models for all workers.

The Further Together campaign includes other projects such as Feel Sate at NH, the Re-Start of the different Business Units, and the Together With Love Christmas Edition, all featuring the perspective of the Group’s employees.

Further Together continues to give employees a voice to share their experiences, creating a community united around the brand values.

MEMORABLE DATES

Memorable Dates continues to operate as the programme that celebrates the most important anniversaries (5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 years), as well as the retirement of hotel and central office employees in all Business Units. Unfortunately, health and safety distance recommendations forced us to postpone the celebrations of the events where the sole stars are our employees whose milestones are being recognized. However, in 2021 we resumed the acknowledgement of their career in NH by giving them credits which they can redeem at our hotels. The event as such has been postponed for another year, to safeguard the health and safety of all our employees.

FLEXIBILITY AND WORK-LIFE BALANCE: FROM THE ‘NEW WAY OF WORKING’ TO THE ‘HYBRID MODEL’

For NH Hotel Group, one of the fundamental pillars for attracting and retaining talent is the work-life balance, which is about striking a balance between the needs and interests of team members and the Company’s needs and interests.

The NH Hotel Group culture has been evolving in recent years towards a more flexible and balanced model, thanks to the “New Way of Working” project which started several years ago, although 2021 especially has been when a hybrid work model was designed. The Company has started to transit very quickly and efficiently towards this model.

Specifically, from September 2021 this hybrid work pilot project started in the different central offices of each Business Unit, ending in December 2021.

At Headquarters this pilot hybrid model has the following characteristics:

At least 3 days physically present at the office and 2 days working from home, distributed from Monday to Friday and according to the nature of the duties

To facilitate lunch breaks on in-office days, the Company decided to give HQ employees a Lunch Allowance of € 112 per month (excluding July and August).

To make working in the office safer, additional health and safety measures were approved, such as CO2 measuring devices on all floors and in all meeting rooms, air purifiers with particle filtering, social distancing between workstations, etc.

The office also stayed open to continue providing services to those of our employees who so required.

Accordingly, this entire programme of measures has allowed NH Hotel Group to continue with its activity, providing employees with an improvement in work-life balance thanks to the hybrid work model, boosting the bond of trust and engagement.

HEALTH, SAFETY AND WELLBEING AT WORK

These years will be marked by the pandemic, which has made health and safety an absolute priority in global terms at all levels. Its impact on the industry has been devastating, although the sector has managed to respond swiftly in terms of management of the health and safety of guests and employees.

NH Hotel Group understands that offering people a safe and healthy working environment is an absolutely necessary requisite. In Spain, NH Hotel Group has 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 heads of department and hotel personnel (from General Managers to staff) have been assigned functions and responsibilities in this area. Furthermore, in Spain there is a Joint Prevention Service 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 responsible for coordinating the actions of these service providers and for implementing the established corrective measures and prevention procedures.

NH Hotel Group strives to promote a culture of occupational health as part of its commitment to health and safety. The integration of occupational health into the Company’s activities is reflected in the programmes and action plans in hotels and offices in different countries.

Due to the crisis caused by COVID-19 and as part of the Company’s recovery strategy, a range of health and safety measures, certified by experts, were designed and implemented in all hotels in order to assure health, safety and social distancing both for guests and employees.

All the measures included in the Feel Safe at NH project seek to ensure that our hotels guarantee safe and comfortable stays, and therefore the Company continues to review and redesign the entire operation of the hotels, contingency plan, SGS health inspection certificate, personal protective equipment and protocols, advanced digital services, water purification and air quality protocols, enhanced cleaning and disinfection protocols, food and beverages services adapted to the current situation, social distancing rules, health and safety protocol for employees and health and safety managers in the hotels.

All the Company’s hotels have a designated health and safety manager. This person is responsible for centralizing, distributing and administering all the health and safety information for each hotel, and in most hotels is the manager.

If, for functional or organizational reasons, the manager cannot take on these duties directly, they are delegated to another member of the team designated by the manager, with the approval of the Management Committee.

ACCIDENT RATES AND OCCUPATIONAL DISEASES

In 2021, 100% of the countries that have reported FTEs have reported the information corresponding to occupational accidents and diseases.

Accidents

Active occupational diseases

Throughout 2021, NH Hotel Group registered four employees with occupational illnesses, 75% less than in 2020, two of them occurring in women and two in men.

Most active occupational diseases are related to damage to the musculoskeletal system, epicondinitis, tendinitis, or COVID-19. Depending on the different geographies, illnesses related to COVID-19 have been recorded as occupational diseases or as accidents.

TURNOVER AND ABSENTEEISM

Due to the characteristics of the hotel business, NH Hotel Group considers it relevant to know and manage the specific turnover of employees with indefinite employment contracts.

EMPLOYMENT TERMINATIONS IN 2021

In all countries where NH Hotel Group is present, measures have been taken to preserve jobs and talent. The Company continues working to support all team members, conveying peace of mind, and working with them on the recovery of the business.

To calculate employment terminations, all of them have been considered, both for objectives causes or disciplinary terminations.

SOCIAL DIALOGUE WITH EMPLOYEES

NH Hotel Group seeks to maintain a model of responsible and positive labour 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.

On the other hand, a direct channel of dialogue was created between the Chief People & Sustainable Business Officer and the EWC, to answer any questions or concerns about the evolution of the pandemic in the business, being answered in any of the official languages of the Company.

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.