Employee Insurance is most challenging in hotel industry, says Ms. Nilisha Ghuliani Director HR, Clarks Exotica Convention Resort & Spa, Bengaluru

Ms. Nilisha Ghuliani

 Director Human Resources, Clarks Exotica Convention Resort and Spa, Bangalore

Ms. Nilisha Ghuliani is the Director Human Resources at Clarks Exotica Convention Resort and Spa, Bangalore since May 2011. With an experience of over 9 years in Human Resource functions and operations of the hospitality industry, she joined Clarks with a vision to improvise the service standard for guests and make Clarks Exotica a great place to work for the employees.

Ms. Nilisha has completed her MBA in Human Resource Management and her Bachelors in B. Tech Biotechnology. She started her career with the Taj Group of Hotels and has also worked with Hotel Fidalgo Goa, Royal Orchid Group, Zuri Hotels, Pride Group of Hotels.

HospiBuz: Hotel industry is a service-based industry where guest satisfaction plays major role therefore proper coordination and delegation of duties play an important role hence work of each employee is very important how do you make sure each employee perform their duties diligently so that best services are provided to the guests?

Ms. Nilisha Ghuliani : Motivating Employees and making them feel at home (part of family) enables them to feel that this workplace is more than only an Organization. Sharing the Goals of the Company, training them how to achieve, discussing KRA’s personally and holding them whenever they fall inculcates a sense of responsibility among them. Therefore they are focused to perform their duties diligently

HospiBuz: Please tell us the key characteristics that Clarks Exotica Convention Resort and Spa observes while hiring an employee and how do you determine who is the best person to be the part of Clarks Exotica Convention Resort and Spa family?

Ms. Nilisha Ghuliani : Technical skills can be trained, knowledge could be gained but the most essential part that I look at, during the recruitment process is “ATTITUDE”. Quoting day to day situations to recruits and understanding their point of view is how I access and shortlist candidates. Positive attitude is all I look for. Everything else could be trained except the attitude which cannot be changed

HospiBuz: Delegation is very important in the hotel industry how do you make sure that there is proper co-ordination between senior and juniors so that everyone could give his maximum outputs?

Ms. Nilisha Ghuliani : Everyones’ Role in the Organization is directly linked to the Goal of the Organization. Goals are broken into KRA’s and defined at the start of the financial year, thereby making it easy for the Senior team members to delegate work to assistant Managers, then to Executives, Supervisors and associates

HospiBuz: An idea becomes genius idea when it is implemented properly and efficiently and for the proper implementation, teamwork plays an essential part. Please tell us what measures to do you take for building an outstanding team and for the enhancement of employees that they could work in a team?

Ms. Nilisha Ghuliani: To enhance teamwork in the system we conduct Cross departmental trainings – both technical and behavioral. This enables employees to voice over regular practical issues they face during service. It is very important for 1 associate to understand the issues faced by another associate. Once they are empathetic to each other’s needs, they will surely be able to focus better providing extraordinary service. Besides this a lot of emphasis is laid on having Food Festivals for staff, staff meetings every month – TOWNHALL, staff sports day once in a year, CSR activities where cross departmental staff is involved, Annual Day linked to Storytelling & Culture of the Organization. This helps me connect to the team better and enhance team work since families are also involved

HospiBuz: In your opinion, what is the most challenging statutory compliance for the hospitality industry and how do you deal with it?

Ms. Nilisha Ghuliani: ESI – Employee Insurance is challenging as incase the employee is sick has to go only to hospitals which are linked to ESI. For this sometimes staff members get irritated as they have to stand in long queues. However the benefits of ESI is explained well to the staff and I make sure 1 of my HR team members accompanies them, takes them to the hospital and makes sure we cater to the employee and help the family in every possible way we can . Also in case of major injuries/accidents, I make it a point to meet the staff member in the hospital along with his/her particular Head of department to provide emotional support

HospiBuz: There are various departments in a hotel that work simultaneously, however, performs different duties how do you make sure that they are well coordinated so that guests’ staying at Clarks Exotica Convention Resort and Spa get the best experience?

Ms. Nilisha Ghuliani: Internally there are several factors that must be present for cohesion to exist within a team. First good and appropriate communication is essential to creating and maintaining cohesion. Communication leads to the second factor, unity of purpose. For a team to work as a cohesive team they must share a common goal and to collectively work towards that goal. And finally, the team must have a high level of commitment understanding that what they do together as a team is better than what they do on their own.

HospiBuz: It is said that a sad and unsatisfied employee cannot provide good and satisfactory services to its guest, how do you make sure that your employees are satisfied and happy to be the part of Clarks Exotica Convention Resort and Spa?

Ms. Nilisha Ghuliani: It’s not how big the house is, it’s how happy the home is…. Happy homes are made up of content families and happy organizations are made up of happy, satisfied employees. A large part of building a strong business involves creating personal connections. I believe if I am personally connected to my employees, all the strategies/ goals set by the Organization could be accomplished

HospiBuz: Please tell us the most challenging factor in handling the HR department of the hotel industry?

Ms. Nilisha Ghuliani: When I started my career, always use to ask myself the same question… however as and when started learning things starting from statutory to payroll to performance appraisal, trainings, recruitment etc. the only answer that I got was as an HR Head loving your people is all what is required. You can resolve any kind of issue or challenges in case you are connected to your employees. Understanding that your employees depend on you, multifold your responsibility thereby self-motivating you to resolve any issue/problem they might have during their work tenure with Clarks Exotica. Therefore I truly believe in Nothing is Challenging if you love your people and are empathetic to their requirements

HospiBuz: Couples of times hotel faces staff crunch in that situation how do you make sure to provide guests with Clarks Exotica Convention Resort and Spa best services?

Ms. Nilisha Ghuliani: Clarks Attrition has always been very low in the city of Bangalore, the reason behind this is we make sure Employees feel they are family. I believe every Employee in a particular Organization has a capability of recommending 4 other employees at his/her level. Being connected to my people never allows Clarks to have a staff crunch. Instead of concentrating on staff shortage we can therefore concentrate on staff development!

HospiBuz: HospiBuz is functioning on its vision to be the foremost informative journalism portal wherever industry professionals can showcase their abilities, skills and success stories. Along with your immense experience and information within the industry please recommend HospiBuz, on what hospitality industry journalism desires the foremost and will be lined.

Ms. Nilisha Ghuliani: How important people Management skills are at Leadership positions. For Organizations to become Great places it is very important for the Leader to be good at managing People. Studies on what drives a high performance Culture have to be unanimously zeroed down on day to day actions of people managers as the Key.

Its high time Organizations should understand not all high performers are eligible to becomes Leaders of the Company. The Competencies needed to manage an Organizations’ culture are unique and important and these could only be achieved by good People Managers’

Thank you so much for your precious time!!!

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