Royal Resorts places great importance on training, human development and education in the workplace and with 21 years in the company, Manuel Montalvo heads up the Human Development department.
A Tourism and Business Administration graduate, Manuel left Mexico City for Cancún in 1987. Prior to joining Royal Resorts in 1994, he worked for two major local travel agencies, a tourism publishing company and ran his own consultancy business in the field of training.
Manual says, “When I started there was no structured company-wide training program, although department heads did train their staff to do the job they had been hired to do. I created the Training & Human Development department from scratch. I had one assistant when I began, now I have a team of 20.
“I remember that the first course I gave at Royal Resorts was called Effective Communication and Self-Esteem. Its objective was to make people proud of their roots and give them confidence. I had noticed when I joined the company that when I said hello to employees in the corridors many of them would bow their heads and scuttle by instead of replying. Now they greet guests and other employees with a big smile. It has been rewarding to see how this has changed over the years.
“I also perceived the low level of schooling that many of our employees had back then, these were people who came from remote rural villages and had migrated to Cancun in search of work. You cannot build a house on sand, you need stable foundations and that goes for training too. We needed to get people to open their minds to be able to plant our seeds of knowledge and get them to understand the courses we were going to give. So we started the adult education program to improve literacy skills and went on from there.
“The name of our department is Human Development, and we offer so much more than training,” says Manuel, “We help people change their lives and become better employees, colleagues, parents and citizens.”
Nowadays, Manuel and his course instructors and teachers run a varied program of courses and workshops throughout the year for employees throughout the company. They include English and Computer classes attended by over 350 employees every month, specialized and technical training, customer service, leadership and teamwork, goal setting, adapting to change and new technology. Staff participate in workshops on environmental protection and sustainability, in addition to seminars on aspects of personal growth, self esteem, health and values, among others. The department is also responsible for giving the induction courses to new staff, coordinating the staff performance evaluation every three months, cross-training, student work experience, and employee activities and events during the year.
The staff performance evaluation has led to improvements across the board, employees now know what they are doing well and can see the areas in which they need to improve, they set their own goals in every aspect of their job and can discuss them with their manager. The top achievers are candidates for the Star Employee award that is now held every four months.
The company’s open learning program has garnered accolades in Mexico and abroad. Employees who were unable to complete their high school education when they were younger due to economic hardship or other circumstances are given the opportunity to continue their studies in the workplace. More than 1,300 employees have graduated from secondary school in 21 years and an average of 95 staff are attending in 2015.
Through the health program coordinated by Human Development, doctors, dentists and opticians and other health experts visit the resorts during the year to give seminars on cancer, diabetes, addictions and mental health and conduct screening for cancer, eye testing, osteoporosis and more. Manuel says, “Thanks to the testing, we were able to detect early stage uterine cancer in three maids and they were able to get the treatment they needed in time. Other staff found out that they needed glasses and this transformed their lives and in some cases improved their job performance. Some of the maids thanked me when we brought in a podiatrist; they are on their feet all day and she recommended shoes with implants, which made their lives more comfortable.”
Manuel gives an example of the impact a course can have on employees’ lives, “Several years ago, we gave a course called Fish Philosophy. It was based on a training film of employees working at a fish stall in Seattle Market and showed the importance of a positive attitude and teamwork. The documentary had been extremely successful in the United States and our course was very popular. I didn’t realize how much people had taken it to heart until a group of employees from the Accounting department had an accident during a fishing trip. Their boat capsized and they were lost at sea. After 24 hours in the water using coolers to keep afloat, they were rescued and one of them later wrote to me to thank me for the course. He said that they had used Fish Philosophy to keep positive and stay together and he believed that it had saved their lives.”
“Each day is like my first in the company,” Manuel says, ”Everything is different, with new challenges and goals, new achievements, changing technology and methods that we need to be on top of. As I walk around the resorts it is wonderful to see how people smile and are happy in the workplace. They are committed to the company and to our members and guests. They are the heart of the company, many of them have spent their whole lives here and their children have grown up with Royal Resorts.”
“I’m a firm believer that a five-star resort needs five-star people and I would like our members to be aware of the fact that from their very first day on the job, our employees are being trained to give them the best service possible. I don’t know of any other company in the Mexican Caribbean that places such emphasis on training or has a program that is as comprehensive as ours and which benefits the community as a whole with its message of education, health and values.” Manuel says.
