Tigh-Na-Mara Seaside Spa Resort & Conference Centre located in Parksville, BC is this year’s recipient of the ‘Employees First’ award presented by go2 - the BC tourism industry’s human resources association.
The ‘Employees First’ Award is presented each year to a BC tourism employer to recognize exceptional standards of excellence in human resources and people management. The award was presented last night at the eighth annual BC Tourism Awards gala, held in Victoria as part of the provincial tourism industry conference.
“It’s a competitive market out there in the hospitality industry; in both revenue and retention”, says General Manager, Dant Hirsch. “We are continually looking at ways to increase the success of our business. A primary strategy is to continually look for ways to improve job satisfaction and retention, which greatly affect guest satisfaction, and ultimately, the future success of our resort.”
Employee involvement and recognition is a key to Tigh-Na-Mara’s success and their corporate culture clearly reflects this. By hiring a full-time HR professional to lead the development of leading-edge HR initiatives, they have developed many programs that showcase their commitment to their employees from their very first day to 20 years of service. Here are a few examples:
- A resort orientation program that includes an employee handbook, customer service training, and a scavenger hunt where new employees not only learn more about the resort, they also learn about teamwork.
- A Long Service program for 5, 10, 15, and 20 years of service including an annual dinner for team members at the owner's home with personalized gifts and photos.
- They have developed a "Hire a Friend" referral program, regularly conduct a staff survey, and are committed to a "promote from within" policy whereby team members are given a first opportunity before the resort advertises outside.
- Their "SEA Star" Service Excellence Award recognizes employees who go above and beyond in categories such as Wow’d a Guest, Wow'd a Team Member, and Outstanding Performance and Initiative.
“Successful companies today know they need to value their employees as much as they value their customer. This is especially the case as we continue to face a growing labour shortage in BC. Tigh-Na-Mara understands that good people management is essential in creating a world-class product,” said Arlene Keis, CEO of go2. “As a result, they haven’t had a problem finding and keeping good people to work at the resort in a time when many employers are struggling.”
All nominees for the ‘Employees First’ Award had to submit an information package that demonstrated how their company has implemented effective HR/people management practices within their organization. Additionally, nominees had to show how these HR practices have positively impacted employee development, loyalty, morale, and their organization’s bottom line. For selection, a panel designated by Tourism British Columbia judged the nominees against the criteria.
About go2
Established by the BC tourism industry in April 2003, go2 is the resource for people in tourism. go2’s mission is to assist the tourism industry as they address challenges in attracting employees and retaining its workforce in order to support industry growth. For more information on go2 and human resource development initiatives for BC’s tourism industry, visit www.go2hr.ca.
About Tigh-Na-Mara
Tigh-Na-Mara Seaside Spa Resort & Conference Centre located in Parksville, BC started in 1981 when the Hirsch’s and their partners purchased the property consisting of 11 acres and 12 cottages. Over the years, the couple developed the Resort into an internationally known destination. Today, the 22-acre resort consists of 192 accommodation units, two acclaimed West Coast Restaurants, a Lounge, multi-faceted recreation complex, the largest Conference Centre north of Victoria on Vancouver Island, and the Grotto Spa, the largest resort spa in BC. For more information, please visit www.tigh-na-mara.com.
Employees First is one of nine awards open to competition amongst BC’s top tourism industry contributors and innovators recognized each year during the BC Tourism Industry Conference. For the complete list of awards and winners for this year, click here.
