Marriott's Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion
;)
I think everyone feels like change is in the air. We've all heard the buzz words "the new normal" or "reset," and for the most part, I think it's a good thing. It's about getting back to the things in life that really matter - being fiscally responsible rather than buying more than you can afford, spending more time with loved ones and reevaluating priorities.
This is always how I've tried to live my life, and how we try to run Marriott. Our culture is about taking care of people, because after all, that's the business we do. If you want your people to take care of your guests and deliver the best service, it's very important to give them opportunities to grow and develop. It helps our company be more innovative and ultimately, successful.
That's why 20 years ago, Marriott formalized its commitment to diversity and inclusion. As a matter of fact, we were the first company in our industry to do that. At Marriott, what gets measured gets done. We set goals to grow our programs in the U.S. and have generated great results - 400 hotels are owned by women and minorities and we've spent more than $1.9 billion with diverse suppliers - a great achievement that I'm very proud of.
Our success is also driven by our women's leadership development initiative. It's been 10 years since we launched it and the number of women in executive-level positions has more than tripled. Today, women at Marriott run some of our most profitable hotels and hold many other powerful jobs around our company. We just named Amy McPherson, a 23 year veteran of our company, our new President and Managing Director of European Lodging. These women are a big reason why the National Association of Female Executives just put Marriott on its top 10 list. Since the beginning, women have played a role in building our company. My mother Alice was a true partner with my dad and established the core values that still drive our business today.
While we've embraced a lot of change in the past 20 years, giving people opportunity and celebrating their unique skills and background drives our success. Being a welcoming and inclusive employer has helped us grow to more than 3,200 hotels around the world and will continue to be our competitive advantage.
I'm Bill Marriott and thanks for helping me keep Marriott on the move.
Images
|
Attachments
Comments | Add Comment
Posted By: kei (6/4/2009)
Comment: Thank you, Mr. Marriott.
I always read your post when you posted new one.
because.. I'm learning English ( I'm Korean )
oneday I got your blog link, so I just visited here and read some posts.
and I thought I could study English with these posts.
your posts are very simple and had good informations.
specially the MP3 voice recordings, it totally helps me.
so.. I want to thank you. ^^
( sorry about my bad English, I have to learn more )
Posted By: Trump MLM (6/3/2009)
Comment: Diversity is great to talk about. I do hope that management does practice it. I never had a problem at any Marriott I stayed at, and I will say I am a very diversified person lol.
Posted By: Damon Tucker (6/2/2009)
Comment: I'm going to keep reading your blog. I find it very informative.
I'll be heading to California soon on a trip with my wife and I'm looking at a Marriott California property to stay at.
Damon Tucker
Pahoa, Hawaii
Administrator, FBI Blogs
http://www.fbiblog.scom
Posted By: Steve Davis (6/2/2009)
Comment: I've questioned my choice (actually only choice for years now) of Business and leisure hotels since the passage of Propostion 8 in CA. Knowing that much of the money came from the Morman Church I wondered if I could continue to frequent the Marriott Chain of hotels. I read your diversity notes and it seems there is a huge whole as far as any discussions related to GLBT issues. I am glad to hear your claim that you did not support propostion 8 but it appears that you did not oppose it either. I still struggle with my choice of hotels and had hoped to see a more "inclusive message" for the GLBT community.
Posted By: Mark Wojcik (5/31/2009)
Comment: It is really too bad that this latest diversity message did not refer back to your November 11, 2008 message on "The Facts About Marriott and California's Proposition 8." In that message, you talked about being Mormon but that neither you, nor the company, contributed to the campaign to pass Proposition 8, which eliminated the fundamental right of marriage for same-sex couples in California. Other hotel owners (such as Doug Manchester of the Manchester Grand Hyatt in San Diego) DID contribute money and have been boycotted since -- Manchester has reportedly lost more than $7 million because of the boycott of his property.
I appreciated so much the message you sent out in November 2008 and hoped that it would have been included in this message about diversity and inclusion.
Posted By: Zack Jones (5/30/2009)
Comment: Too bad diversity is only limited to certain groups. Most gays definately do not see Marriott as gay friendly/inclusive.
Posted By: Feras Werr (5/29/2009)
Comment: Dear Mr. Marriott,
When I first walked through the employee corridors of Marriott on my first day of work a couple of year ago, a strange feeling crept all over me upon reading a thank you letter by you to all your employees world wide for celebrating the establishment of your group. The light piece of A4 paper suddenly weighed a carrot of gold to me as I scanned through its lines. Regardless of nationality and whether the employee was a manager, housekeeper, operator or waiter the "thank you" was given out equally to every person that was staffed by Marriott worldwide. I felt totally valued as an employee and welcomed. Despite your eventful business agenda you took the time to write that note celebrating your employees with your company's anniversary. Perhaps some people may think that I'm idealistic in my views but certainly the piece of paper that I was reading was a perfect example of how the grounds of idealism can be real in a fast growing world wide group. The Marriott equal opportunity staff standards and procedures are among the main keys for its success as an American group spreading to different countries and encompassing employees with different cultural backgrounds and nationalities. I felt the environment was totally appropriate for me, taking into consideration the American Schools that I also studied at in the Middle East from my early childhood days till my senior high school year. Studying at those schools was like studying at an international embassy and I shuffled with students that came from various nationalities and religions. The key to our harmony together, aside from our simplicity as school students, was the school standards that we were brought up on, of respecting each other and having an open mind and heart of acceptance towards the other person. The world seems to peacefully open up more when we have hotel chains like yours carrying with them the distinct American culture to be presented by a big array of multinational employees in our wide globe. This is a very peaceful and culture binding ambiance in our lives. Although the winds of change soon took me to another establishment but the Marriott experience gave me something to contemplate on in my life.
Posted By: David Baker (5/29/2009)
Comment: Bill talks about diversity yet if you have a US Marriott Visa Card you get 20,000 Marriott points (plus 5 for every $ spent) versus only 10,000 (plus only 2 foe every £ spent) if you are a UK citizen, this appears to be blatant discrimation particularly as resort prices in Europe are massively more expensive than in the states.
David Baker Rewards no ********* Owner number *******
