Written by: Paul J McDonald, Area Director of People & Culture for Dorchester Collection, UK Hotels.
At the heart of Dorchester Collection – comprising The Dorchester, 45 Park Lane, and Coworth Park – are our dedicated employees. Our “We Care” culture reflects our belief in the invaluable contribution of our people. As leaders, we ensure every decision aligns with our core values: Personality, Passion, Respect, Working Together, and Creativity, guiding us to positively impact our team.
We were delighted with the results of our latest employee survey, which saw a remarkable 92% completion rate, indicating strong appreciation for our culture and eagerness to provide feedback. Notably, we received a score of 9.0 when employees were asked, “Would you recommend Dorchester Collection as a place to work?”—a testament to their pride in our workplace.
To attract and retain top talent, we recruited over 25 Graduate Leaders and five undergraduate apprentices last year, offering them structured programmes for professional advancement. Our commitment to continuous learning is evident, with over 117 colleagues promoted internally, representing more than 16% of our workforce. We facilitate career growth through extensive learning and development programmes at all levels and are excited to launch a new interactive learning management system that supports on-the-job learning via bite-sized, gamified modules.
We are privileged to be named in the Top Ten (Big Organisations) in The Sunday Times 2024 Best Places to Work. Our employees have expressed strong confidence in our management, pride in employer, reward, and recognition programmes. With an excellent flight risk rating of 6% and a wellbeing risk index of 8%, compared to the industry average of around 40%, we maintain a low turnover rate, which did not exceed 23% last year.
Our commitment to employee wellbeing is evident in our work structures, benefits, policies, and daily hotel culture. Our reward and recognition programmes offer mobile access to wellbeing resources, including recipes, workouts, financial advice, doctor appointments, and mental health support.
Our Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DIB) strategy is deeply embedded in our culture, ensuring a sense of belonging for all employees, regardless of background or economic status. This strategy is a key part of our ESG (Environment, Social, Governance) framework, which we call our Legacy of Care. We are committed to creating positive change beyond our organisation.
Through our value of respect, we have partnered with Noah’s Ark, Children’s Hospice in High Barnet, to support their vital work. We will continue to evolve our DIB committees to adapt to the changing landscape and ensure our workplace remains inclusive and supportive for all.
Since starting at Dorchester Collection I believe that we carry great responsibility, in terms of looking forward to the future, whilst protecting and nurturing the legacy we have created, in some of our hotels, a legacy created for over 90 years. We have great aspirations, to remain vibrant and modern, with the changing world whilst still protecting many of the characteristics that we are known for, and that have paved our way to create our success.
It is always important that we listen to our employee feedback. Earlier this year, we took the decision to review and amend our grooming standards, to reflect a more contemporary approach. However, this decision was driven by our employees, in line with our value of respect and working together, we listened and amended our standards based on an employee centric approach.
Each month in our hotels our more junior employees, sit for one hour, with our respective General Managers, in order to provide quality and timely feedback, on their working environment and any changes they feel need to be implemented in the hotels. These sessions are very useful, as they aid transparency and crucially trust between senior leadership and our employees who fundamentally preserve our brand and look after our guests first hand.
I love working at Dorchester Collection for many reasons, however, one of the main drivers for me, in being so engaged with the company, is that each and every day, our standards and pride in what we do are second to none. However, these standards are not just standards we deliver to our guests, but the level of teamwork, comradeship and ultimately care that we show to one another, and how we help and support everyone to reach their goals.
