UK: Elizabeth Robertson has been appointed as head of people and development, and Siobhan Hodge as learning, development and integration manager at The Inn Collection Group.
The appointments come as The Inn Collection Group launches a talent spotting drive to attract, engage and retain staff. A few months ago, the business announced it is recruiting for 200 roles.
Robertson joins the group after 14 years with independent retailer Fenwick Ltd as head of HR and training. She said: “The Inn Collection Group piqued my interest. I kept reading about their growth journey in the media and their people credentials time after time. They’re a company that wants to grow its people. It’s my job to create a framework where we can attract the best people as well as develop colleagues from within, which, in turn, results in an enhanced customer experience. Get the colleague experience right and the customer experience will follow.”
“Hospitality often gets bad press and can be seen as a transient place to work,” she continued. “Yet it has amazing career paths with rapid routes to management opportunities, covering diverse transferable skills such as finance, marketing and people management. I think it’s normal to underestimate the incredible stretch of skills that people within the hospitality industry have. I want to make sure we recognise and improve this for our colleagues.”
Hodge joins The Inn Collection Group after 12 years with JD Wetherspoon. She commented: “It’s about making people aware of the transferable skills you can acquire with a career in hospitality. The industry is accessible to everybody and as such, we have so much scope to create perfect pub people teams. With the right frameworks and people centric attitudes we can cultivate the talent we have within.”
Managing director for group, Sean Donkin, said: “Hospitality is going through a fundamental transition because of the perfect storm between Covid and Brexit, but also from preconceptions surrounding hospitality as a viable career prospect. That’s a stigma we want to blow out of the water.”
“We’re a company that puts our people at the heart of what we do,” he added. “It’s a win-win situation for everyone. We invest in them for the long term which is why we enjoy the success and growth we achieve with people who are motivated, highly skilled professionals who reap the benefits of excellent opportunities, salaries and rewards. We are excited to have brought in Elizabeth and Siobhan to spearhead our new people team, whose HR calibre and innovative learning and development vision will set a new benchmark for hospitality opportunities in our group.”
Other new appointments at The Inn Collection Group includes an operations director.
