Dual Director of People & Culture

Sage Hotel Management is currently seeking an experienced Director of People & Culture for the historic Alexandrian and Morrison House Hotels, located in Old Town Alexandria, VA.

At Sage Hotel Management, we passionately strive to be the best and create excellence in everything we do. We are known amongst our staff, our owners, our guests, and our communities as leaders in our field who are authentic, humble, innovative, and flexible operators driven to anticipate needs and exceed expectations.

Sage’s vision is to be recognized by our customers as the best in our business through ensuring a culture that “makes the ordinary extraordinary!” The ideal candidate should champion this culture in every touchpoint of our business from our associates, guests, owners, and communities. The service and courtesy you extend and promote daily will ensure a healthy and productive culture of serving others with excellence. Join us today!

The purpose of this role is to identify, ensure alignment and implement a talent management plan that addresses both the strategic and operational needs of the business. The Area Director of People Resource (ADPR) leads and manages all aspects of People Resource (PR) supporting activities for multiple properties while balancing, supporting and addressing challenges and opportunities.  The ADPR acts as the strategic advisor to the Executive Committee (s) on all people related matters and reports directly to the General Manager.

Talent Management

• Plan, develop, coordinate and direct the People Resource function at the properties to retain, develop and motivate associates in an effective manner in accordance with policies and procedures and federal, state, and local laws and regulations while limiting liabilities and promoting a safe, fair, positive work environment.
• Plan and manage the recruitment, interviewing, hiring and orientation processes to maintain staffing levels with qualified individuals while complying with SOPs, federal, state, and local laws and regulations.
• Oversee adherence to performance management including monitoring performance evaluations to make certain they are completed and submitted on a timely basis.  Facilitate development and monitoring of associate performance improvement plans.
• Supervise and mentor PR staff across assigned properties, not only to ensure consistency but to encourage growth & knowledge in the PR department.

Training

• Assess needs, plan, implement and coordinate management, hourly and supervisory training programs including company core training and brand required training programs to develop quality managers and associates to limit hotel liability.

Associate Relations

• Counsel and train managers on associate relations issues, resolve associate grievances, conduct management exit interviews and examine all exit interviews for trends. 
• Implement various associate relations programs to maintain a pro-associate environment that ultimately limits turnover and facilitates high associate engagement.
• Formulate budgets for associate relations, associate training and recruitment advertising as well as wages and benefits for people resource staff for the budgeted time frame.
• Manage expenses for people resource related areas and execute financial management when required.
• Supervise People Resource operations in the properties to develop, empower, coach and counsel, conduct performance and salary reviews, resolve problems, provide open communication, discipline and terminate as appropriate.
• Ensure all associate relations activities are administered consistently and in a timely manner.
• Ability to travel to all assigned properties as needed, for training, associate relations issues, building relationships with people leaders.

Strategic Management

• Responsible for the short- and long-term planning and the daily operations of the People Resources department.
• Develops and recommends the properties People Resource objectives.
• Participates in total management as a member of the Hotel Executive Committee(s).
• Positions the property as the “preferred employer” in the area.
• Notifies the General Manager and/or Corporate Director of Employee Relations of any potential liability and proposes proper course of action to prevent the hotel from incurring any such liability.
• Responsible for engaging in the local community and building contacts with fellow People & Culture leaders in an effort to understand the competition and encourage open communication regarding local challenges.

Total Rewards

• Survey, recommend, implement and manage an hourly wage program and administer the management salary program within the corporate policies and procedures and maintain compliance with federal, state and local laws and regulations.
• Survey, implement, communicate and administer the benefit program in compliance with corporate procedures to aid and retain associates.  Propose enhancements to the proper authority for approval before implementation.

Risk/Safety/Security

• Ensure accident/loss prevention and security policies are followed.
• Align safety standards with corporate SOPs and set appropriate property specific standards.

Compliance

• Ensure compliance with corporate SOPs and procedures along with state, federal and local laws and regulations as they pertain to every facet of people Resources/Associate related functions.
• Ensure compliance with brand standards.
• Ensure proper maintenance of associate records, files and people resources office systems.  Manage the compilation and analyze various corporate reports and property reports to provide management with accurate information and comply with corporate policies and procedures as well as government laws and regulations.
• If applicable ensure complete compliance with all negotiated union contract terms and reporting requirements.

Education/Formal Training

Four-year college degree or equivalent experience/education preferred.

Experience

• 6-10  years of Human Resources experience with a minimum of five years in a leadership role 
• Proven successful implementation of people resource process.
• Multi Property Experience a plus.
• Union experiences a plus.

Knowledge/Skills

• Superior communication skills.
• Manage ideas and decision-making with creativity and innovation.
• Proven ability to negotiate, convince, sell and influence professionals and/or guests.
• Bi-lingual fluency preferred.
• Must be hospitality oriented.
• Must possess ability to work under pressure.
• Strong skill at completing multiple tasks simultaneously.
• Ability to work both strategically and tactically in a fast-paced high energy environment.
• Excellent listening skills required to discern/resolve employee complaints, issues and participation in meetings for feedback.
• Ability to review & prepare documents -applications, write-ups, reviews etc.
• Excellent speech communication skills required for communicating with Executive Committee, Managers, explaining policies, provide testimony & training etc.
• Excellent comprehension and literacy required for review and preparation of all documentation.

Physical Demands

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an associate to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• Lifting/pushing/pulling/carrying -approximately 5%. Bending/kneeling -to get files -5% annually.
• Mobility -40% of 10 hour day is spent around the hotel. Continuous standing -during training and lobby duty.
• No climbing required. Driving -occasionally to attend hearings and recruitment activities.