The hotel sector has realised the importance and relevance of building a business model around sustainable practices. Many Indian and global companies have aligned their operations to the three aspects of sustainability – environment, social and governance (ESG).
Lemon Tree Hotels has been doing this for over 19 years. This includes building a diverse and inclusive organisation as well as creating an environment friendly one. Our business model revolves around the Triple Bottom Line concept, which embraces people, planet and profit
ONE TEAM TO BIND THEM ALL
To become a market leader, companies should look beyond profit and consider sustainability earnestly. It makes great business sense for them to focus on creating a socially inclusive work environment that brings in people from different backgrounds, abilities and ethnicities.
Lemon Tree Hotels believes that persons with disabilities (physical, social or economic) must receive the same opportunities as others to realise their full potential and live with dignity. By creating a supportive work environment that allows them to deliver their best, we can play a miniscule part in social inclusiveness, live-lihood creation and therefore, nation building.
STRONG FOOTING
According to a McKinsey report, diverse companies are 20% more innovative and 35% more likely to outperform homogenous teams. The reason? The coming together of people with different reference frames.
At Lemon Tree, associates often present innovative ideas with outof- the-box thinking and a problem solving approach. We attribute this to our carefully structured, inclusive work culture. For example, a deaf or autistic person might observe things that a hearing person or a neuro-typical person could miss. Further, an orphan or transgender person is often very resilient, due to the hardships they have seen in life.
This ability to bounce back plays out well at the workplace, especially in tough times. We have observed
many instances of both these phenomena during the pandemic and earlier as well.
Moreover, an evident relationship exists between a diverse and inclusive workplace and the social/ economic impact that a company creates. We experienced this with higher retention numbers. The attrition percentage of our special employees is about 50-60% that of the company’s attrition rate.
In qualitative surveys done by Great Place to Work, employees stated inclusion as a reason to be proud of working at our hotels, which prompted them to continue for a longer period. We have also received positive guest feedback on platforms like TripAdvisor and Make-MyTrip, booking where customers stated that they choose our brand because of our inclusive culture.
