The Importance of Company Culture: An Example to Follow
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By Peyton Burgess, Senior Account Executive at French/West/Vaughan
It is no secret that finding and keeping talent remains one of the top considerations for any business. This is particularly true across the hospitality industry, where there are close to a million vacant positions as of November 2019. With so many vacancies industry-wide, recruiting and retaining top talent is more important than ever – and creating and sustaining a company culture is one of the best ways to address this challenge.
Company culture can be defined in many ways. From the day-to-day work environment to a company’s mission and values, it is truly the “personality” of a company. If established and maintained intentionally, that personality – the culture – can be one of the chief ways to attract and retain talented employees.
One company embracing culture as a driver for success is FWV client Concord Hospitality, an award-winning hotel development and management company based in Raleigh, N.C. Our Travel & Tourism team has had the pleasure of working with Concord for nearly five years. Everyone at Concord Hospitality – from their executive team to sales reps, chefs and front-desk associates – have realized that having a strong company culture is a key component of growing the business. As Concord Hospitality’s SVP of Human Capital and Communications, Debra Punke, has said, “Simply put, people want to feel good about what they do and who they do it with – a genuine and engaging culture propels people and businesses to achieve success.”
A group of Concord associates gathers on Share Day 2019, a company-wide annual day of volunteerism during which 5,000 associates donate food and other items to children in need across the U.S.
Concord Hospitality has grown and cultivated this culture in many different ways. From daily in-person huddles with teams to weekly company-wide emails, monthly local and regional celebrations, semi-annual radio addresses from the CEO and regular social media posts, Concord celebrates its associates on a regular basis, and in very public ways. Taken as a whole, this devotion to fostering culture enables the company to live up to its mission: to be a great place to work for all.
Concord Hospitality currently holds more than 115 hotels in its portfolio, and more than 20 in its ever-growing pipeline. It employs over 5,000 associates across the United States and Canada. Consistently ranked as one of the country’s top hotel management companies, Concord has close relationships with more than 20 brand affiliations including Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt, IHG and Choice. The company is very vocal in attributing these successes at least in part to its thriving culture.
Many organizations and companies in a variety of industries can look to Concord Hospitality as an example of the positive impact a robust company culture can have on operations, employee recruitment and retention, and the bottom line. Defining company culture, establishing its role within daily operations and sustaining it intentionally should be at the top of any company’s list in order to see success and experience lasting growth.