The TAJ Approach to HR: A Model for New-Age Companies
26/11/2006 9.30 PM: Everything’s business as usual at Taj Mumbai. Then, comes a warning call, alerting the staff that terrorists were approaching. Thomas Varghese, a senior waiter, instructed his 50 guests to hide under tables while employees formed a protective barrier around them. Varghese evacuated the guests through a spiral staircase, ensuring guests left first, followed by the staff. Sadly, as the 30-year Taj veteran reached the bottom of the staircase, he was shot by the terrorists. He gave his life, along with 10 other Taj employees, who helped evacuate over 1,200 guests.
Varghese’s story, to our pleasant surprise, wasn’t the only heroic tale that night. Every staff employee kept calm, catered to the panic-stricken guests, and used their wits to evacuate people safely, as many as they could.
While always being applauded for its exceptional customer service, Taj Mumbai’s employees redefined its meaning during this horrific attack, prioritizing the safety of their guests over their own lives — a rare instinct.
Want to know something even more interesting? No manual or official policy guided their actions in such a crisis. Whatever they did, it came from a deep-rooted customer-centric culture.
A young manager ordered for the wives and husbands to separate and form two groups to minimise the risk to families in case of a tragedy. In a situation where guns are blazing around oneself, such ideas only come to the creme de la creme, not by pedigree or rank, but by character, mindset, and identity.
So, how could Taj find such extraordinary staff — exhibiting top dedication and intense focus on customer service, in both crises and everyday operations.
We delve into the how of it. It is more crucial now than ever as everyday an unfortunate news concerning India Inc. work culture and its negative impact on employees makes headlines.
Moreover, the industry fabric has never been as dynamic as today. The companies are under threat from forces of war, legal, inflation, changing demographics, and evolving technology, to name a few. In such uncertainty, we break down how you can hire people who will take charge and steer the ship in the right direction.
There will be no better way to honour the legacy of the Late Hon’ble Ratan Tata than to learn and imbibe his employee policies.
First let’s understand what Taj does differently strictly in the context of the hospitality sector. While reading these, you may think that this model is inimitable; it works for only the hospitality sector. It’s true. It cannot be imitated as it is. But, it teaches invaluable HR lessons that can be applied to your business regardless of the industry. To be shared in the subsequent section.
1. Fresh Graduates from Tier-2 and 3 cities, straight out of high-school, sometimes even dropouts
Unlike many companies that focus on recruiting from India’s major metropolitan areas, the Taj Group primarily hires frontline staff from smaller cities and towns such as:
- Pune (instead of Mumbai),
- Chandigarh and Dehradun (instead of Delhi), and
- Tiruchirappalli and Coimbatore (instead of Chennai).
Obvious Benefits: Availability of a larger labor pool and savings on salary
Additional Benefits: Traditional Indian values — respect for elders, humility, discipline, and honesty — are still prominent in these regions. These are the qualities a hospitality sector frontline staff are required to have. In contrast, young people in metros are often more money-minded, willing to take shortcuts, and less likely to be loyal or empathetic toward customers.
The Taj Group also prioritises hiring young people, often directly out of high school. Their recruitment efforts begin in small towns and semiurban areas by identifying schools that are well-regarded locally for their teaching standards. They reach out to school headmasters, who assist in selecting potential candidates.
They even recruit students who are on the verge of dropping out, as long as they show potential.
2. Character over skills
Contrary to popular belief of the hospitality industry, the Taj Group does not prioritise candidates who excel in English.
The recruiters at Taj Group prioritise 3 key character traits when selecting candidates:
- Respect for elders (how they interact with their teachers),
- Cheerfulness (whether they maintain a positive outlook even in tough times), and
- Neediness (how much their family relies on the income from the job).
At the core of Taj Group’s recruitment philosophy is the belief that a hotelier’s primary goal should be to make others happy, and this value remains central to their hiring process.
3. Managers who stick with the company for long-term
For its senior leadership roles, the Taj Group recruits around 50 management trainees each year from second- and third-tier B-schools in India, such as Infinity Business School Delhi or SIBM Pune, typically for positions in marketing or sales.
- More inclined to build long-term careers with a single company,
- Align better with a customer-focused culture, and
- Not solely motivated by money.
In its managers, the Taj Group prioritises qualities like integrity, a consistent and conscientious work ethic, a commitment to putting guests first, a willingness to go above and beyond, and the ability to perform well under pressure.
4. Long Training Period — 18 months, not 12 which is the industry-standard
Employees interact with guests in unsupervised settings 70-80% of the time. As a result, their training protocols are designed with the assumption that staff will need to handle guest situations independently, knowing what to do and how to do it without seeking guidance from a supervisor.
Having a 18-month long training, against the 12-month standard, has found to be effective in instilling the required values in employees.
One of the tools used to support this is a weekly two-hour debriefing session, where every trainee must answer two key questions: “What did you learn this week?” and “What did you observe this week?” This approach encourages trainee managers to grasp important concepts in the classroom, apply new skills in real-world settings, and navigate the differences between the two, ultimately helping them develop the ability to think and act on their own.
5. Employees are empowered to improvise on-the-spot in the best interest of the customer — Management will support them
Unconvential Move that Works: Taj Group encourages employees to act as ambassadors for the customer, rather than the company.
Trainees are assured that company leadership, including the CEO, will support any decision that prioritises guest satisfaction and ensures the customer is delighted. This mindset shift significantly influences how employees handle situations, empowering them to act decisively in favor of the guests.
Story: A frustrated guest complained about a disfunctional AC and vowed never to stay at the Taj Mumbai again. The trainee manager responded by offering the guest a complimentary breakfast, free transportation to the airport, and arranged for someone from the next Taj property to pick him up. While this may have cost the company money, she didn’t need permission or justification for her actions. The only rule that mattered was that she made every effort to win back an unhappy guest and ensure his loyalty to the Taj.
6. Timely recognition — coming from immediate supervisors, not top management
Core belief: Happy employees create happy customers.
To achieve this, the company appreciates both frontline and support employees by personally thanking them. Expressions of gratitude are most impactful when they come from immediate supervisors, who play a key role in shaping employees’ perceptions of the company. Moreover, the timing of the recognition is important — done immediately.
We will not go into the technicalities of it. Let’s move to what matters to you — how you can imbibe these values in your business.
How Taj approach to recruitment and HR applies to you, especially in your leadership hiring, regardless of your industry:
By not creating employee-centricity that aligns with your industry requirements and company culture, you may soar, but you will not survive.
1. Prioritise Soft skills
For a leader in a service company, the most crucial soft skills (non-exhaustive) today are:
- Adaptability
- Empathy
- Integrity
- Growth Mindset
- Ownership
- Passion
- Delegation
- Quick learner
As long as a person exhibits these core skills, everything else, including communication can be taught (assuming that they’re a quick learner).
For instance, articulation can be taught to an empathetic person, but teaching empathy to is far more time-consuming and difficult. Similarly, steering a passionate person in the right direction is far easier than igniting the passion in the first place.
This doesn’t mean you ignore hard skills altogether. A financial controller needs to understand how a balance sheet works.
Read the statement again.
They need to understand how a balance sheet works. The underlying concept. Not necessarily a software that does it. Software can be taught. Concept is important.
Ideal Combination: Soft skills + Concept clarity
2. Long-term vision
A leader needs to be in it for the long-term. Hire someone who does not view the opportunity as a stepping stone to something better. Hire someone who is ready to commit at least 5 years — with whom you can build and grow.
3. Initial Support and Regular Training
Do not expect the new recruit to absorb everything within a week and then get to action and produce 100%. Remember to extend support when asked for.
Create an environment where people are not hesitant to reach out for help, which saves them both time and anxiety.
Sometimes they may not know how a niche software works even 6 months after their joining because they were using another software they knew of. Remember to be compassionate in such cases and provide training.
4. Autonomy — Do not micromanage
Two-thirds of the GenZ and millennials value autonomy, opposed to just 53% of Gen X and 45% of baby boomers (Forrester report 2021). By 2030, millennials and Gen Z will make up the majority of the workforce.
Allow employees autonomy wherever possible. This makes them feel empowered. Empowered employees are good for your business.
5. Give Recognition where it is due
This is simple. Create a culture where employees feel seen, respected, and recognised. This pushes them to work harder in the company’s interests.
But remember — just recognition will reduce in value. Give timely promotions and appraisals to deserving employees so that they do not feel cheated.
Job insecurity is a growing concern for workers worldwide, and in India 47% of employees do not feel secure in their positions (ADP Research Institute’s People at Work 2023 survey). Recognition ensures that the workers know they are seen by the management, which reduces anxiety about job security.
Reiterating, it is more crucial than ever to have employee policies that work the best for your business as well for them.
Wonderfully for us, we do not need to look much farther than our Tata Group companies like Taj to learn and imbibe them.
