Belonging: The Critical Driver of Happiness, Engagement & Retention in Hospitality
The $52M case for adding the “B” to DEI.
Over the past three years, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) have become hot topics in business. In hospitality, DEI is especially important since investing in these practices benefits both teams and guests. Even though we shouldn’t need a business case for treating all people with kindness and caring for their wellbeing, data tells us that companies who invest in DEI have better business outcomes.
A quick recap of what DEI stands for:
- Diversity is the presence of differences within a given setting.
- Equity is the process of ensuring that processes and programs are impartial, fair and provide equal possible outcomes for every individual.
- Inclusion is the practice of ensuring that people feel a sense of safety and belonging in the workplace.
Safety is one of the most important aspects of a healthy workplace and a critical ingredient to inclusion and belonging. When we’re safe, we can bring our full selves to our work and do our best. When we talk about safety, we need to include all the various facets of safety, including physical, emotional, psychological, racial, cultural, financial, moral, and social safety.
A key ingredient in inclusion, Belonging is the sense of security and support one has resulting from a belief in being accepted and valued for being their ‘authentic self.’
Belonging is gaining wider visibility in DEI conversations. But why is it so important? What are the opportunities belonging presents to us as leaders?
It's critically important to recognize that right now we have a once-in-a-generation challenge and opportunity in business, and that is to figure out how our organizations will survive and ultimately thrive in a time when a massive labor movement is surging. This labor movement is pushing companies to rise to the challenge and prioritize what matters most to their employees.
The opportunity facing our industry now is to ensure that we transform our workplace cultures into ones that are not only more diverse, equitable, and inclusive, but into ones that cultivate more safety, more trust and more belonging for those of us least likely to feel it. More and more evidence is showing that there is a critical connection between belonging, happiness, and retention.
Bottom line: people want to feel like they belong, and if they don’t, they’ll find someplace where they do. Here are some ways your spa or hospitality organization can embrace belonging to build a thriving workforce and an authentically personalized guest experience.
Belonging Defined
Belonging, widely considered as the fuel for the DEI engine, has been defined as “the sense of security and support one has resulting from a belief in being accepted and valued for being their ‘authentic self.’”
In his keynote speech for the 2022 Belonging At Work Summit, Rhodes Perry outlined the four essential ingredients for belonging:
- You feel seen: you feel seen, you feel recognized, and you feel rewarded for your knowledge, your expertise, all of the lived experiences that make you, you. All of that is a culture-add in your workplace. People love that, they love everything about you and it's a value-add to the team.
- You feel connected to your work. You have positive, authentic, trusting, social interactions with your colleagues, people that you manage, and people that are managing you.
- You feel supported. Being supported means you get what you need so that you can do your best work, period.
- You feel a sense of pride. You feel aligned with your organization's purpose, its mission, and its values. This gives you a sense of pride every time you show up to work.
Belonging: the outcome that people actually want
Diversity often puts the focus on metrics such as how many people of various ethnicities or identities are part of an organization. Equity is about ensuring that processes and programs are impartial, fair and provide equal possible outcomes for every individual. Inclusion is a matter of behaviors — the actions that help ensure the equitable and fair distribution of resources.
Belonging puts a focus on how employees feel. As one leader in an executive search firm put it, “Diversity is a fact, inclusion is a behavior, but belonging is the emotional outcome that people want.”
Scientific studies in the psychology of social connection strongly suggest that social connection—a person’s sense of belonging to a group or community —is an essential human need. Yet 40% of people say that they feel isolated at work, and one of the top three reasons people give for leaving their jobs during the Great Resignation was that they “didn’t feel a sense of belonging at work.”
What it feels like NOT to belong, and the harm that exclusion causes
Brené Brown, acclaimed social scientist, speaker and best-selling author, states that belonging is an “irreducible need” of all human beings and when that need is not met, we don’t function as we were meant to: we break, we fall apart, we numb, we ache, we hurt others, and we get sick. Connection and belonging are core to our happiness as humans – it isn’t a periphery factor, it’s essential.
Exclusion has been found to be damaging to our psyches and bodies – it actually hurts. One study found that the sensation caused by exclusion is akin to physical pain. When belonging is not felt, not only is there resulting pain, there’s also stress, anxiety, and worry. In addition, exclusion can cause trauma, which also negatively impacts the body and mind. All of this harm impairs people’s ability to concentrate and participate, negatively affecting engagement at work.
For guests, feeling excluded not only harms them physically and emotionally as it does for team members, but it also harms your organization as well. Guests who don’t feel welcome or a sense of belonging will switch providers, and/or seek out companies who will provide the safety they need while traveling. Safety is a highly influential factor in deciding on where to travel among Black leisure travelers from the US, Canada, France, Germany, the UK, and Ireland: 71% of US and Canadian respondents felt safety was extremely or very influential in making travel decisions, and 58% of British and Irish respondents felt the same.
So, there is a very real business case for investing in DEI initiatives that include belonging.
To feel disconnected or excluded is a deeply human problem, which is why its consequences are so heavy and so far-reaching.
The link between employee engagement & belonging
U.S. businesses spend nearly $8B dollars each year on diversity and inclusion training that misses the mark because they neglect our need to feel included. 40% of people say they feel isolated at work, which results in lower organizational commitment and engagement.
Recent research shows that a high sense of belonging at an organization was positively correlated with a 56% improvement in job performance, a 50% drop in turnover risk and 75% fewer sick days. For a 10,000-person company, this would result in annual savings of more than $52M.
Degreed employees have also indicated that their sense of belonging is a key reason they want to work for a company. This is especially important during a time of increased job switching, when companies are constantly searching for ways to be competitive on retention.
New McKinsey research into the nature and characteristics of the “Great Attrition” found that the top three factors’ employees cited as reasons for quitting were that they didn’t feel valued by their organizations (54%) or their managers (52%) or because they didn’t feel a sense of belonging at work (51%). Employees who classified themselves as non-white or multiracial were more likely than their white counterparts to say they had left because they didn’t feel they belonged at their companies—a worrying reminder of the inequities facing Black employees and people of color.
Employees who don’t feel socially connected are more likely to leave an organization. Hiring replacement talent can be lengthy and expensive. Research from Gallup puts the replacement cost at 6 to 9 months of an employee’s annual salary.
Cultivating belonging for teams
Before leaders start trying to remedy exclusion and cultivate belonging, there are two areas they need to consider: support for the individuals that feel excluded and addressing workplace exclusion as a systemic issue.
It’s important to note exclusion is rooted in oppression and bias— to cultivate belonging means doing the hard work of addressing how racism, sexism, ableism, other forms of bias and trauma undermine all efforts of equity when they’re not properly confronted.
Here are actionable ways that you can start cultivating belonging at the team level:
Measure the level of belonging your employees feel: You can’t fix what you don’t understand, so it’s important that your organization finds out why team members feel excluded or undervalued and take this information seriously. Conducting DEI employee surveys by a third-party gives employees the space to feel safe enough to respond honestly.
If companies make a real, concerted effort to understand why their employees feel excluded and then take meaningful action to ensure they feel like they belong to retain them, not only could they save millions of dollars, but they would also be attracting top talent – gaining a significant edge over their competitors.
Support people bringing their full selves to work: A company culture that values inclusivity, connection, and belonging is one where people feel safe enough to bring their full selves to work – without fear of being stifled, stigmatized, excluded, or punished for it. In order for individuals to bring their full, authentic selves to the workplace and do their best work, they need to feel seen, connected to/at work, a sense of pride and supported.
Encourage employees to bring their full selves to work by creating a company culture that rewards inclusive and equitable behavior as the default. Make it easy for people to engage inclusive and equitable behavior and reward this behavior with meaningful recognition programs and events.
When employees are rewarded for inclusive behavior, it also means that those who don’t practice inclusivity and equity are held accountable – fully, consistently, and transparently. This is equally important as rewarding the behavior we want to see and is where significant transformation can take place.
Ensure DEIB is woven into all policies, practices, and processes: A thriving company culture comes from a strong foundation in policy, practice and process. Ensuring that diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging are embedded at all levels – and there are mechanisms for accountability at each stage – means that you are operationalizing the change you want to see.
So, DEIB needs to be present and considered in all phases of the employee lifecycle, including recruitment, onboarding, retention, performance management and succession planning.
When your organization becomes great at DEI, it’s more effective and more successful – it makes more money, your products and services are better, you have better hires, and those people stick around and don’t leave at the first chance they get.
Broadcast and amplify the message: many leaders believe that once DEI is embedded into their practices and policies that belonging will naturally follow. While it’s a great start, this is not always the case. The message needs to be broadcast – often and repeatedly – throughout the organization that belonging is a core and essential company value.
Through onboarding, all-hands meetings, corporate retreats, messages from executives and other means of communication, explain what belonging is and why it matters. Some organizations create a culture playbook around each of their core values and discuss it at town hall meetings. The more you talk about belonging, the more aware your people will be that you’re committed to helping them feel it.
Cultivating belonging for guests
A recent Accenture survey has shown that putting guest inclusivity at the heart of the travel experience can deliver serious benefits. In Accenture’s survey of more than 2,700 consumers, almost half of travelers said they would pay a premium of 5% to 20% to travel with a company that values diversity and inclusion. This represents a valuable opportunity for firms that make all guests feel welcome – regardless of gender, age, abilities, ethnicity, or sexual orientation.
Guests who don’t feel welcome or a sense of belonging will switch providers, and/or seek out companies who will provide the safety they need while traveling. Safety is a highly influential factor in deciding on where to travel among those who are at risk for experiencing violence, aggression, microaggressions and exclusion while traveling.
Here are actionable ways that you can start to cultivate belonging at the guest level:
Start by addressing representation in marketing: travelers are paying close attention to whether hospitality brands are following through on the promises they made in the wake of protests and uprising for social justice. An international study by MMGY Global found that how Black people are represented in marketing and advertising collateral plays a key role in their travel decision-making. 54% of American Black travelers agreed that they are more likely to visit a destination if they see Black representation in travel advertising.
Representation matters. Diverse guests from under-represented communities are looking at your marketing materials to see if they are reflected in them, for cues that they will be welcome and safe. They want to visualize themselves enjoying your services.
Ensure DEI is at the heart of the guest experience: It’s no longer adequate for hospitality, resort spa and wellness companies to view DEI as a branding exercise, PR move or a one-and-done training session. What matters most to guests now is a personal experience.
According to a 2019 Accenture study, 82% of travelers value feeling welcomed and being treated fairly, while 74% care about whether the company offers products and services tailored to those in diverse segments. The study also showed that about 3 out of 5 travelers say it’s important that their preferred travel provider demonstrates DEI values similar to their own. That number rises to nearly 3 out of 4 among LGBTQ+ people and (self-identifying) ethnic minorities, whose increasing spending power across the US, UK and Canada is well documented.
Get actionable insights into how your guests feel about their experience: It’s essential that you are intentionally gathering information about the groups of people you wish to support. Information gathering will allow you to identify needs, enabling you to be thoughtful in your offerings and increasing the likelihood that what you offer will bring value to the population served.
Part of this information gathering includes generous listening – which requires humility and empathy. Generously listen to what diverse travelers and guests need when it comes to their travel or wellness experience, and thoughtfully incorporate their needs into each department. How can you incorporate the needs of families with children on the autism spectrum or who are neurodivergent into F&B? How can you better serve people with trauma in the spa? What are LGTBQ+ guests looking for all-year round and not just during Pride month? Asking questions like these and then generously listening to the answers will give you actionable insights into how you can better serve the diverse needs of your guests.
How to: hospitality approaches to belonging
While DEI has become part of many hospitality brands’ cultural mandate, many have taken inclusion one step further to ensure that belonging is also a priority. Leaders who embrace belonging see it as the key to a thriving culture, and vital for retention and overall organizational success during uncertain and chaotic times.
Cruise Planners: Michelle Fee, CEO and Founder of Cruise Planners, states that inclusivity has always been an essential component of their organization. In 2020, Cruise Planners partnered with the Dan Marino Foundation to help lead a program focused on individuals with varying levels of ability (mentally and physically), and they welcomed their first interns. “We shared and distributed sensitivity training to our Home Office team members in preparation for their internship to help them feel welcome, included, and valued,” said the CEO. Fee continued to say that their initiatives were “to continue training our managers on how to handle mental health topics within the workplace, always have an open-door policy with every member, and to continue fostering a sense of belonging for all Team Members.”
VISIT FLORIDA: “Diversity and inclusion are priorities for VISIT FLORIDA. As one of the world’s leading vacation destinations, we have the responsibility and chance to model what it means to welcome anyone on earth. In our advertising and storytelling, we strive to welcome every visitor, from travelers of color to travelers with special needs, to travelers that identify as LGBTQ+ and more,” says VISIT FLORIDA's President & CEO, Dana Young.
Fairmont Orchid, Hawaii: Youliana Roussou, Spa and Recreation Director at Fairmont Orchid states that the Fairmont Orchid offers flexible scheduling and emotional wellness programs to care about their colleagues’ distinct needs and demands inside and outside of work to promote a sense of belonging. “At Fairmont Orchid, Hawai'i we are diverse, and we promote diversity in succession planning and holding celebratory events to highlight underrepresented groups (Cultural Hawai'ian classes and storytelling) not only for employees but Hotel guests.” Roussou says that the hotel strives to provide colleagues with benefits and initiatives that honor their unique contribution to the organization, demonstrating that business success is linked to whether or not employees feel like they are accepted and belong. Once a month, the Fairmont Orchid also hosts a colleague recognition event.
Hyatt Hotels: an approach to cultivating belonging for both teams and guests
“At Hyatt, being part of our organization means always having space to be your true, authentic self,” says Malaika Myers, Chief Human Resources Officer of Hyatt Hotels Corporation.
“Creating a sense of belonging is a key pillar of our workplace culture, and we strive to reflect the world we care for by employing a global team that is a mosaic of cultures, ethnicities, genders, abilities, and identities. Through efforts such as creating eight Diversity Business Resource Groups (DBRGs), launching our Global Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Council (GDEIC), partnering with key charitable organizations, and joining industry alliances dedicated to guiding inclusion efforts, we continue to build and sustain an inclusive environment where our colleagues are embraced and valued for who they are.”
Myers states that Hyatt encourages colleagues to bring their full selves to work by providing the necessary resources and spaces for their diverse perspectives and voices to be heard and their authentic selves supported. They also strive to role model this as leaders so that they build psychological safety for colleagues. “Our purpose of care and our commitment to creating inclusive environments extends beyond our guests to our Hyatt colleagues. A priority in my role is to advance care for our colleagues’ mental, emotional, and physical wellbeing and ensure we have a culture that cultivates and encourages holistic wellbeing. One of the ways we do this is through access to wellbeing focused resources such as Headspace and Hyatt Well-Check, an app that helps our colleagues understand their own mental wellbeing and provides resources to support them in improving it.”
In cultivating a sense of belonging for guests, Myers says that Hyatt’s purpose is to care for people so they can be their best – this of course extends to the welcoming and inclusive environment they strive to create for their guests. “Creating a sense of belonging for our guests starts by embracing the cultures, races, ethnicities, genders, and sexual orientations found in the 70+ countries in which we operate. In addition to listening to these communities to develop a greater understanding of who they are, we collaborate with organizations that specialize in educating us on how to better cater to the needs of under-represented groups.”
Ritz-Carlton Engaging employees
"At the end of the day, our bottom line is in the hands of our front line," Timmerman says, which is why the company is meticulous in hiring and developing its staff. The Ritz-Carlton aims to hire only the very best of the very best -- they select just 1 out of every 20 applicants, and that's after applicants are pre-screened for job requirements. But fit to role is only part of the employee equation. The other is employee engagement because engagement is the cornerstone of every Ritz-Carlton success factor. Employee engagement first came to the company's attention because of its correlation to performance measures that have profit consequences; Gallup research has shown that hotels with increased employee engagement scores have lower management turnover, fewer safety incidents, and higher profitability and productivity (https://news.gallup.com/businessjournal/112906/how-ritzcarlton-manages-mystique.aspx).
The Ritz-Carlton has conducted employee satisfaction measurements for years because it understood the crucial role that employees play in satisfying guests. But there's a big difference between engagement and satisfaction, so the company began using Gallup's Q12 employee engagement metric in 2006. The Ritz-Carlton has an extraordinary number of engaged workers, with an overall engagement ranking in the upper quartile when compared to all the workgroups Gallup has studied. And its employee turnover is low enough to be legendary: a mere 18% compared to the luxury-hotel industry average of 158% for line-level workers, 136% for supervisors, and 129% for managers. "We like turnover to be between fifteen and eighteen percent," says Timmerman, "because fresh voices are valuable too."
Engaging guests
The other side of the employee engagement coin is customer engagement. Like employee engagement, customer engagement has strong linkages to important profit outcomes: Gallup research has shown that fully engaged customers deliver a 23% premium over average customers in share of wallet, profitability, revenue, and relationship growth.
When it first measured customer engagement in 2004, The Ritz-Carlton scored above the 80th percentile against business-to-consumer companies in Gallup's customer engagement database. For most companies, this would be an outstanding result, but outstanding wasn't good enough for The Ritz-Carlton -- or, frankly, for the extremely selective luxury hotel market. So, the hotelier used what it learned from the success factor feedback loop to teach team members to provide the perfect, and perfectly subjective, engaging experiences. And it worked: The Ritz-Carlton's overall customer engagement score now ranks above the 90th percentile (https://news.gallup.com/businessjournal/112906/how-ritzcarlton-manages-mystique.aspx).
HumanSigma
But a few years ago, The Ritz-Carlton stopped managing customer and employee engagement separately. The company understood the dynamics and profit potential of employee engagement and customer engagement, which is why it made each a key success factor. But the performance potential of managing both factors holistically -- a process Gallup calls HumanSigma -- caused the company to reconsider its approach. "Our employee and customer engagement scores are as important as our financial data," says Timmerman.
Gallup research shows that companies that score above the 50th percentile on either employee or customer engagement tend to deliver 70% higher financial results than companies that score poorly on both measures. But companies that score above the 50th percentile on both employee and customer engagement measures outperform companies below the 50th percentile on both measures by 240%.
That's a significant performance differential, so The Ritz-Carlton leaves little to chance regarding HumanSigma. Senior leaders incorporate HumanSigma targets into their corporate strategy and action plan, and they review those targets like they review sales and financial results. "We wanted employee and customer engagement to have the same importance as sales, marketing, and financial goals, so we made it part of the senior leadership agenda," says Timmerman. "We integrate that data into our leadership performance profile, so we look at customer relationship management as part of the leadership metrics. That way, employee and customer engagement really get traction." (https://news.gallup.com/businessjournal/112906/how-ritzcarlton-manages-mystique.aspx).
Belonging is the key to the employee & guest experience – and business success
Belonging has become critical to business success. It drives key outcomes such as satisfaction, engagement, and long-term retention. In the spa and hospitality sectors, there’s currently a gap between what people want in a safe and welcoming environment, and what many are experiencing and how they feel about it.
Organizations that don’t quickly identify these belonging gaps will lose their top people and struggle to attract new talent. Those that prioritize belonging will become companies where people aspire to work.
If you can address your belonging challenges, you’ll be among the most aspirational places to work and visit, and you’ll be among the most innovative companies leading the way to the future of work.
Acknowledgment: This research sponsored by the GloMed.Education website.
1 Great Attrition’ or ‘Great Attraction’? The choice is yours, McKinsey & Company, Sept. 2021
2 New International Study Shows U.S. Black Travelers Are More Influenced by Concerns About Safety and Representation in Marketing Than European Black Travelers, MMGY Global
3 The Value of Belonging at Work, Harvard Business Review, December 2019
4 The Value of Belonging at Work, Harvard Business Review, December 2019
5 Great Attrition’ or ‘Great Attraction’? The choice is yours, McKinsey & Company, Sept. 2021
