Niyi Agoro: Human Resource Critical in Hotel Industry, Tourism Growth

Continental Hotels Nigeria—operators of the five-star Lagos Continental and Abuja Continental Hotels—has reaffirmed its commitment to being an industry leader in employee welfare, human capital development,  inclusivity, and customer satisfaction. Cluster Director of Human Resources for the hotel group, Mr. Niyi Agoro, details the extensive and innovative measures implemented to ensure its employees remain motivated and positioned for growth. Charles Ajunwa brings excerpts:

Can you tell us the role of human resources in hotel management and how you’ve been able to manage your labour relationship with workers in Continental Hotels?

The role of human resource is critical and fundamental in the hotel industry and tourism growth. Why it is critical and fundamental is because we are a service organisation. We give service and the type of service we give must be at its best. Because of this, you need human beings to give this service. That is why the human element is central to everything that we do. This is why we take the management of our people very important. We go the extra mile to ensure that they are happy. When they are happy, our guests are happy. When they are not happy, our guests are not happy. For us to continue to remain in business, our guests must be happy. We must give our guests a memorable experience. Our approach to junior employees as well as senior ones is to make them happy so they can make our guests happy. This is how we have continued to remain in business.

 Talk to us about your employees and how you ensure they enjoy their work environment?

Our employees are the most crucial element in our business; they’re the foundation for all our success stories. Their contributions span from driving innovation and productivity to fostering memorable guest experience and shaping our corporate values and culture. Prioritising their well-being is paramount for our long term business prosperity.  In the industry, especially in Nigeria, we have the best welfare programme for our employees. Lagos Continental and Abuja Continental stand out when it comes to employees in welfare. For example, in the industry, we are the only five-star hotel, that have nursery facilities for female nursing mothers. No other hotel has such facility in Nigeria. I was in a programme in Abu Dhabi in 2017, and they were discussing how to retain employees, strategies that the HR department could deploy to achieve employee retention. And I suggested it. Then the hotel was under Intercontinental Hotel Group. That idea just dropped in my spirit at that forum. And I came back home, made a recommendation to the union company. The recommendation was approved immediately. It took about two or three years before my proposal was considered. Eventually, when I got approval, it stood us out in the industry. We are the only five-star hotel, Lagos and Abuja, that have nursery facilities for nursing mother colleagues. Lagos Continental is the only five-star hotel with brand new buses. We deployed these buses late last year. No other hotel is offering what we are offering. We deployed nine of them late last year. Also, we have a staff facility that no other hotel has in Lagos. We have it within the premises there. We constructed this facility in 2023. We have layover dormitories for colleagues who may not be able to go home after completing extended hours. For colleagues that may have to stay back to do extended hours, maybe due to busy operations, these colleagues are able to go into the dormitory and then have their night rest. We have a session for female colleagues. We have one for male colleagues. In addition to our health insurance, Lagos and Abuja Continental hotels have a staff clinic with a professional nurse managing the clinic. Now, this is one of the things we have put together for our employees. We pay for their health insurance, otherwise known as HMO in Nigeria. But outside that, in the event of medical emergency, we have a place we can take them to, which is our clinic, for them to get stabilised before they are taken to the hospital for proper treatment. Another thing that stands us out in the industry, which we are the only ones doing, we do monthly town hall meetings, where we treat our employees to lunch buffet on a monthly basis. We are the only one in Nigeria that is doing this. Every month, they have access to lunch buffet, full options, not just one, two, three meal options. It is full options. Our employees are able to enjoy themselves. Another thing that we have put together in terms of staff welfare, our cafeteria, we offer them two meal options on a daily basis. Two meal options. Other hotels in Nigeria only do one for their employees, meaning that when you walk into the staff cafeteria, whatever that is prepared for that day is what we take. But at Lagos and Abuja Continental, you have access to a minimum of two meal options, so you could pick from those options.