Director of Human Resources

Kempinski Hotel

Abu Dhabi, UAE

Ref: RP566-72

Job description / Role

Employment: Full Time

Emirates Palace

Emirates Palace is centrally located in the heart of Abu Dhabi, close to major visitor attractions and the main business areas of the city. Just 40 minutes from Abu Dhabi International Airport and 90 minutes from Dubai Airport, Emirates Palace is conveniently situated for both leisure and business travellers. Popular tourist sites close to the Emirates Palace include the Grand Mosque and the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre, both located 20 minutes away. The Marina Mall and major shopping attractions are also within walking distance of the hotel.

Director of Human Resources

The Director of HR supports the General Manager in all decision relating to strategic, organisational, and operational people matters for the luxury property with a workforce of 1,500. The role helps to drive organisational performance on the objectives of Quality (through effective recruitment, development, and engagement of capable and motivated team members), Performance (through robust performance management, reward and recognition), and Compliance (through compliant and efficient HR Operations, policies & procedures).

Key Responsibilities:

- The job of Director of Human Resources is executed satisfactorily when:

Operational

As a Business Partner to the hotel's General Manager and trusted advisor to the management team, support the delivery of the ambitious business objectives of the hotel by creating and delivering a strategic HR agenda focused on attracting, developing, engaging, and retaining talent, ensuring effective performance management, supporting organizational design and workforce planning, and ensuring efficient and compliant HR operations.

- Support and coach the leadership team in any organizational and people topics, to help them achieve their guest service and business objectives.
- Maintain and develop a strong employer brand in the local market and beyond, implement effective and innovative search and selection for senior as well as volume recruitment in multiple geographies and through a variety of sources, as well as an effective on boarding process. Drive strong colleague engagement through employee communication and creative activities and events, and ensure proactive follow up on engagement survey results and ongoing feedback, handle staff grievance issues proactively.
- Understand the competitive positioning of the hotel as an employer in the market and create appropriate compensation & benefits structures based on market and internal benchmarking.
- Ensure an efficient and compliant HR administration according to Kempinski standards and local requirements, including supervision of internal and external payroll services.
- Ensure compliance with local labour and immigration law and handle any legal issues including staff disciplinary actions. Effectively lead a large HR team including recruiting, HR administration, and staff accommodation functions. Project manage the roll-out of new global initiatives at the hotel and contribute to the design and implementation of new tools, e.g. HR information systems.

Reporting & Communication
- Ensure that corporate and local Human Resources policies & procedures are communicated through proper channels, depending on audience, and implemented accordingly
- Conduct regular briefings with the Human Resources Team and ensure proper communication within the department.
- Have an open door policy, so that employees feel comfortable approaching the Director of Human Resources or other HR team members.
- Keep the General Manager and the Regional Director of Human Resources informed of anyserious concerns related to the employees in the property (i.e. death, detention etc.).

Financial & Budgeting
- Plan and implement an annual budget and manning guide, following up closely on personnel costs, and preparing local management reporting as well as corporate reports.
- Constantly control payroll expenses and keep them in line with the hotel's business performance.
- Negotiate along with the Purchasing Department competitive deals for any outsourced employee related service (i.e. accommodation, cafeteria food & service).

People Management and Leadership

- Select and recruit suitable employees for the hotel using the prescribed set of policies and procedures, in conjunction with the Department Heads
- Take the time to meet and carry out on-boarding for all new joiners
- Maintain a fair work distribution amongst the Human Resources employees, based on their specialties and level within the department.
- Ensure that efficient and reasonable duty roasters are in place in order to have the operation covered with sufficient manpower at all times or as per business needs.
- Ensure that clear objectives with firm deadlines have been set for all employees in the department; have a follow-up process in place.
- Achieve satisfactory KEES score for the Human Resources Department as well as for the entire property (as per guidelines).
- Lead by example and serve as a role model for the entire team.
- Take time to praise the efforts of the Human Resources high performing team members.
- Provide honest and accurate feedback, while dealing effectively with chronic under performers who do not meet minimal standards; hold team members accountable for the tasks falling under their main responsibilities.
- Able to handle and reach win-win solutions for conflicts and feuds between team members before they affect the departmental morale and overall performance.
- Implement a clear procedure of reporting departmental issues, concerns or grievances as well as expressing suggestions or ideas in order to avoid team members bypassing their immediate reporting lines and communicating directly with higher management levels.

Training & Development

- Implement global performance management and talent management and succession planning processes, and follow up on the development and mobility of internal talent, including effective management of promotions, transfers, cross-trainings and task force assignments
- Have an Initial Training Plan for every new joiner in the department, covering all the tasks related to their respective roles
- Identify internal and external talents that match Kempinski's DNA values
- Support career development by training, cross exposure, task force assignments and transfers.
- Support and implement new Talent Development initiatives
- Grow talent in order to present candidates in quarterly Talent Transfer Calls.
- Conduct yearly performance appraisals and TTTT's for the Human Resources Department colleagues (minimum for middle and higher management level), providing feedback on their job performance; ensure that all hotel team members had the yearly TTTT completed by their direct Manager / Department Head.
- Prepare in conjunction with Department Heads a hotel succession plan to guarantee a seamless, efficient handover for all key departmental positions.
- A Hotel Talent is an employee, who has the ability to do the current job in their hotel and can be promoted to the next level. Mobility is what makes this person a Kempinski Talent.

Quality (definition, execution, measurement and optimization)

- Monitor and constantly improve quality and guest satisfaction with the given tools (Leading Quality Assurance, Customer Satisfaction Survey).
- Have in place departmental standards of performance for every task or process and ensur they are communicated to the team members, as applicable to each of them.
- Communicate to the Human Resources team other requirements, specifications or guidelines that can be used to ensure that products, processes and services are delivered with consistency.
- Conduct daily walk through to ensure quality maintenance standards in all employee related areas (i.e. locker rooms, cafeteria etc.).
- Direct quality control programs for the Human Resources Department designed to ensure continuous delivery of consistent services and products (i.e. departmental audits, spot-checks)
- Ensure that all hotel team members are certified and qualified to work in their respective positions as per the compulsory governmental guidelines in place.
- Ensure all departments are conforming to compulsory standards, as required by local laws or company policy.

Additional responsibilities and tasks can be added at any time according to the needs of the business.

Requirements

Desired Skills & Qualifications:

Education
- Relevant university degree, e.g. in law, business administration, economics,
- HR management( Must have)
- Master's degree and/or a relevant professional accreditation would be a plus
- At least 10 years' experience in HR management roles in the luxury hospitality industry
- With aleast 5 years of leadership of large HR teams and responsibility for an organisation of 800+ Employees ( Must have).
- Significant working experience in the Middle East and with multicultural teams ( Must have). English: Proficiency in oral and written English is a must. If not a native speaker, the individual would have worked mainly in English throughout their career. ( Must have) Other languages (especially Arabic) would be a plus.
- Passport holder of a country with eligibility to obtain a residence visa in the UAE.
- Personal record to obtain CID approval in Emirates Palace.
- Meets all other criteria set by the UAE authorities at the time of application.

Technical Competencies
- Ability to operate computer and office equipment.
- Proficiency in Excel and Word.
- Business Competencies: ( All Must have)
- Planning & Organization : able to plan, prioritize and implement strategic and operational
- Human Resources activities, while streamlining departmental processes and organizing well-structured teams;

Decision Quality:
- Comfortable with taking quality decisions in a fast paced environment, while considering budgets, hotel's financial results, guests' satisfaction and employees' engagement;

Commercial Acumen:
- Excellent understanding of hotel's financial results and commercial drivers, and the ability to continuously analyse the performance of the HR department against current business needs;

Customer Focus:
- Strive to provide best in class service, by implementing HR practices and procedures that can impact positively customer satisfaction and loyalty

Passion for Luxury:
- Display natural ease in a high end luxury environment, with an eye for detail and the drive to be an industry leader, while possessing up to date information of legal (UAE labour and immigration law), political, VIP protocol nature.

Personal Competencies: (All Must have)

Effective Communication:
- Demonstrate excellent verbal and written communication and presentation skills, as well as the ability to adapt communication styles depending on the audience, in a multi-cultural environment; prove to be a good listener, able to counsel both employees and management team;

Leadership:
- Able to achieve high performance, by inspiring and motivating a large HR team as well as the ExCom group; engaging with all managers and staff and having a strong impact on the organisational culture;

People Development:
- Build strong teams and ensure the continuous development and progression of team members, by managing employees' performance and talent;

Values & Integrity:
- Living the Kempinski values, having strong ethical standards, following confidentiality guidelines and act as a role model with integrity and honesty

Impact & Influence:
- Able to engage, influence, and build relationships with a variety of internal and external stakeholders; negotiate win-win solutions in challenging circumstances;

Shows Initiative and Resourcefulness:
- Possess the ability to initiate action, implement new processes, use various resources to solve problems in a timely, creative and efficient manner

Change Management:
- Be comfortable with initiating and driving change, encourage and embrace new ideas, procedures or processes;

Fosters Teamwork and Collaboration:
- Build strong relationships and work effectively within and across functions, balance individual and team goals, show respect and consideration towards different opinions

Effectiveness under Pressure and Ambiguity:
- Deal effectively with last minute or challenging situations, by remaining composed and coherent; display at all times excellent business etiquette and diplomacy while understanding operational challenges and prioritizing the workload.

About the Company

The Kempinski name is proudly borne by a growing collection of distinguished properties around the world. As Europe's oldest luxury hotel group, we are committed to providing our guests with memorable journeys inspired by exquisite European flair. We believe life should be lived with style.

Each year, an increasing number of guests come to appreciate these qualities, as Kempinski adds new, exciting destinations in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and The Americas. While this growth reflects the strength and success of the Kempinski brand, the collection will remain a limited one, where exclusivity can be nurtured and individuality can flourish.

We believe that our prestigious, European heritage puts Kempinski in a unique position to satisfy the expectations of the stylish and discerning traveller. It's not just to simply provide a hotel bed and a meal, at Kempinski it's all about bringing a story to life.

Since 1897, our employees have been a part of creating history around the world. From historic buildings to the most avant-garde of modern architecture, our properties are the setting for some of life's greatest moments. We've witnessed historic meetings between world leaders, celebrities taking sanctuary in the world of privacy we create for them, and created incredible memories for guests on a 'once-in-a-lifetime' journey.

We are wholeheartedly committed to providing perfection for our guests at every moment and in every way. Perhaps it's something as life-changing as a wedding celebration, where our attention to detail and perfect service mean that your special day goes without a hitch. Or perhaps it's as simple as the note left on your pillow at night, which thoughtfully lets you know the weather tomorrow so you know how to dress in the morning. At Kempinski, we are each personally responsible for creating rich and meaningful experiences for our guests.

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Director salaries in UAE

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