20 May 2024
Anthony Capuano, President and CEO, Marriott International
Ty Breland, Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer, Marriott International
Moderated by Michael C. Bush, CEO, Great Place To Work
Join us for an enlightening keynote session on the core principles and initiatives Marriott International uses to empower its large frontline workforce. Anthony Capuano, CEO and president, and Ty Breland, Executive Vice President and CHRO, will guide us through a comprehensive overview of hotel chain’s current state, strategic vision, and the groundbreaking introduction of Elevate by Marriott International. With a deep dive into the program's purpose, implementation, and outcomes, participants will gain valuable insights into how visionary leadership can drive transformative change at all levels of the organization.
Drawing from real-world examples and case studies, Ty will showcase how Marriott asks every associate in the organization to be a leader. As a result, associates take more ownership of their work, and are contributing to strong growth across the business and remarkable increases on its employee surveys.
Back to For All Summit 2024 Keynotes
Show Transcript
Speaker 6 (00:00):
Please welcome to the stage Anthony Capuano, President and CEO of Marriott International, Ty Breland, EVP and CHRO of Marriott International, and Michael C. Bush, CEO of Great Place To Work.
Anthony Capuano (00:38):
I am glad you tripped a little.
Michael C. Bush (00:40):
Yeah.
Anthony Capuano (00:40):
You took the pressure off.
Michael C. Bush (00:42):
I'm glad I still got it. I think so. We had to put a little space between you and Hilton.
Anthony Capuano (00:53):
I should say, "Who?" But instead, I should say, "Congratulations." Chris is a dear friend, and they are a terrific company. And I think for all of us in the travel and tourism sector, it's a great source of pride that two of us are in your top 10. And I think it speaks to the passion folks have around travel.
Michael C. Bush (01:15):
Yeah, and it speaks to resiliency, adaptability after what you've gone through. So thanks very much for coming. And special thanks to Tony who, Tony was here on Friday doing some business, thought he would just hang out in New Orleans over the weekend, get a little leisure time, and then he got called, like I get called to the White House. That hasn't happened to me, all right.
Anthony Capuano (01:42):
Not yet.
Michael C. Bush (01:43):
Well, it definitely has happened. Yeah, so we'll see. But it happened to you, and you go and take care of your business and take care of our country, which we want to appreciate, and then get back down here. So I know what kind of a weekend it was for you, I know you have family too, and to do that, so we appreciate it.
Anthony Capuano (02:02):
My absolute pleasure.
Michael C. Bush (02:03):
Please give a round of applause to Tony for doing that quick turnaround. So being on the 100 best is nothing new for Marriott. It's nothing new at all. Been on the list since it was established 27 years ago. I think there's eight companies where that's true. A lot has happened in 27 years. Something has to be working for that to occur, no small feat.
(02:28):
And you've got many companies within one company, frankly. As you look at the 800,000 strong, every job category is in there, from the highest level knowledge worker to the front line worker just starting their career. A lot of complexity. So as you think about that as the CEO, how do you ensure that it's a great place to work for all?
Anthony Capuano (02:54):
Well, let me start with a thank you. It is for our hundreds of thousands of associates around the world. Our inclusion on this list, our longevity on this list is a source of tremendous pride. And we will talk a little bit about this later, but the work that you do is extraordinarily important, and we're really proud to be on the list. It's a fascinating company. We're celebrating our 97th anniversary this year. We operate in 141 countries, about 9,000 hotels, another 3,000 in the pipeline behind that. And like all of the participants in the travel and tourism sector, arguably the most impacted by the pandemic. And I was privileged to be appointed CEO right in the midst of what Bill Marriott termed the most significant challenge the company's ever faced.
(03:50):
And he reminds me often, he certainly counseled me in the early days of my time in this role. It is the company's culture and core values that act as our true north. And having his experience, he was chairman and CEO for about 40 years. And his parents founded the company, and they founded it on really simple but powerful core values. And he reminds me often, he navigated the company through regional and global conflicts, through recessions, through the impact of 9/11 on travel, through the great recession, and then obviously the worst of all the pandemic. And it's those core values that guide everything we do. And I don't think it's a coincidence that the first of those core values established by his parents 97 years ago is put people first.
(04:45):
And as long as every decision we make, even in the face of this extraordinary, arguably existential threat to not only the company but to the sector, but if we make every one of the tough decisions we had to make through the lens of those core values that served us well through every other crisis, and thankfully it's served us well as we fought to get out of the pandemic.
(05:11):
Remember, our revenue dropped more than 90% overnight. I've been with the company 30 years and I can promise you, not once did I see a pro forma run that said, I wonder what the P&L looks like if revenue evaporates overnight. And so we had to rely on those core values. How do we make sure that we're focused on each of our stakeholders? And I think some may think it's trite, but if you think about our founders, J.W. Senior and Alice Marriott, who drove to Washington DC in a Model T and opened a nine-seat root beer stand, they had a simple view of business. Take care of the associates, which is what we call our employees. Take care of the associate, the associate will take care of the customer, and the customer will come back again and again. And it's powerful in its simplicity. And so I think focusing on those core values, putting people first, pursuing excellence, embracing change, acting with integrity, and serving our world, those are the lens we apply to every challenge we've faced for nearly a century.
Michael C. Bush (06:24):
And how did you know that he was the guy to run your people ops, your people organization, this master?
Anthony Capuano (06:30):
I'm not sure he's out of his probationary period.
Michael C. Bush (06:32):
Oh.
Anthony Capuano (06:34):
No. So Ty's appointment to the CHRO role was the first human capital decision, a consequence I made when I was appointed within a few weeks of the job. And it was in no way a sort of indictment of his predecessor. I looked at the challenges we were facing, I knew that our success would ultimately be measured by our ability to continue to really strengthen and take care of that culture in a really meaningful way. And Ty had the advantage of a really broad career working in the operating side of our business in multiple corporate positions. In my prior role, he was my HR partner, and I felt like he brought a creativity and an energy and a passion to our most valuable resource.
(07:30):
Remember, some of you may not know a lot about our business model. We are an asset-light model. We have 9,000 hotels, we only own 20 of those hotels, and I'd be happy to sell you any of those 20, I don't want to own those either. And so you could argue that our most valuable resource is this passionate pool of human capital. And I felt like it really needed to be managed in a deliberate, proactive way. And I made a big bet on Ty, which has paid off for us in a really meaningful way.
Michael C. Bush (08:04):
Good. So Ty, I had to get an extra piece of chocolate on my pillow for taking care of your performance eval.
Ty Breland (08:04):
You got it.
Michael C. Bush (08:13):
So, 90% of Marriott's workforce is frontline people. 9 out of 10 associates say Marriott is a great place to work. I'm sorry. How do you make that happen? I'm sure you were happy to get the job, and then probably didn't sleep good that night.
Ty Breland (08:29):
Yeah, yeah. It's been a journey. So as Tony mentioned, came in right in the middle of the pandemic and pretty much everything was flipped upside down. And so one of the things that we did, as soon as borders opened, we got on the road country by country, city by city. We met with our associates, our general managers, our owners, our franchisees, government officials, customers, just really doing intake on how we needed to pivot to provide our associates and our customers what they needed post pandemic.
(09:03):
And it was through that journey that we really established our strategy for the company of growing forward. And at the foundation of that strategy as our people. And we really made bets on our signature elements. And there are three of those. And the first one is growing great leaders. We believe that if we got leadership right, everything else would fall into place.
(09:25):
And that's leaders at all levels. This is not leaders with a title or leaders with a pay grade. This is you're a housekeeper, you're a steward, every single person in the company, we want them to wake up every day and think about themselves as a leader. And we programmed that, we talked about it, we built a vernacular around it of being curious, being courageous, being connected, and making people wake up every day thinking about that.
(09:52):
We also, like many companies in this room, were hit hard from a compensation standpoint. So our second signature element was investing in our associates. And we were really purposeful about the words. In the past that would've been called cost of wages, but we called it investing in our associates, because the difference between a cost and an investment is an investment has a return. And we really believe that if we invest in our associates, they would be able to perform for our customers and for the business. And so yes, we got our base pay right, we expanded bonuses, we accelerated elements of our retirement savings plan. We introduced an employee stock purchase plan. We also rebooted a program we have called Take Care where we're really focused on our associates' physical, their mental and their financial well-being. We want the whole associate to come to work at Marriott. And so that investment piece was the second element.
(10:48):
And then third is access to opportunity. We realized during the pandemic, while most of the media was talking about remote work, our organization runs hotels that are operating 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365. And while there are some opportunities for remote work, we had to take our own spin on that and really start to lean into flexibility and choice. So we allowed our associates to pick your schedule, something we didn't do before. We also, we were a 98% full-time business. We started to really push on having part-time opportunities to give people that flexibility they need to put their children on the bus, to pick them up from school. And the collection of those things really paid off. We also launched our ARGs. None of this is done by just Tony and myself. There's a team, and we have many of our ARGs here today, and members of our local teams.
(11:45):
But we rebooted our associate resource groups and really wanted to tell our story, and that's where we also launched our new people brand, Be. So the collection of those things I think have led us to where we are today.
Michael C. Bush (11:59):
And you're three years in the role, Tony?
Anthony Capuano (12:02):
Three and a half.
Michael C. Bush (12:02):
Three and a half. Okay, not that you're keeping track of count.
Anthony Capuano (12:05):
It'll be five and a half tomorrow. Five and a half.
Michael C. Bush (12:07):
Okay. And so are you 30 years with Marriott?
Anthony Capuano (12:13):
29, I'll be 30 in February.
Michael C. Bush (12:15):
Okay. All right. So it sounds like it's a great place to work for you.
Anthony Capuano (12:17):
It is a great place to work. Yeah.
Michael C. Bush (12:18):
All right. It's outstanding. So the people-first culture, which that's all you talk about. And in partnership with Ty, how do you partner? A lot of numbers to take care of, but how do you think about the fiscal side of the business and partner to make sure that, especially leadership... Ty made the point, we think of leadership the exact same way. There's formal and informal leaders, but we also know formal leaders can shape 70% of the employee experience. So they're really, really important, really, really vital. I'd like to hear you comment on those things.
Anthony Capuano (12:56):
Yeah, there's a lot in that question. I think maybe I'll start, of course our frontline workforce is a huge number. I never think about it in terms of a number. I think about the individuals, these are hard jobs. And so Ty talked about as soon as borders started to open, he and I got on the road, I don't know how many countries we visited, dozens and dozens, and we showed up in the hotels without much of an agenda other than to say thank you. To recognize the extraordinary challenges our teams had faced, to applaud the resiliency they had shown, to recognize the passion they had, to remind them that they've chosen careers in the service of others, and those others would be coming back sooner than later, and to shake their hands and thank them for what they do.
(13:46):
I'm glad Ty talked a little bit about opportunity. In many ways, that's what our company's all about at its core. You came to visit us at our new headquarters, which we moved into about a year and a half ago. And Mr. Marriott, who's our chairman emeritus now, he helped us christen the building. And he gave a speech and he said, "I've had a career that is a gift. I've traveled the world, I've done all these amazing things. But without question, my greatest accomplishment and my deepest source of pride is the opportunities we've created for people and their families around the world."
(14:23):
And I think it's this constant reminder among leaders at every level in the organization, we work at the pleasure of our frontline associates. I think people thought I was joking, but as we were wrapping up the building, I kept saying, "Why don't we name the building the field support center?" And everybody said, "No, it's the global headquarters," and as is often the case, I lost that argument. But we really are in service of our frontline associates. It does not matter at the end of the day how strategic I am in my thinking about these great programs and initiatives that we develop. None of that matters if after a long, difficult day of travel, you show up at the front desk of one of our hotels and you don't get that warm, genuine welcome, where you can finally breathe a sigh of relief and say, "I'm home for the night." And that is because of the passion that our frontline associates have, and they are our responsibility.
Michael C. Bush (15:24):
Tony, when you're talking to a potential leader to come into Marriott, being a hospitality company and knowing how to define that, what do you look for? And are there things that'll let you know, maybe this person?
Anthony Capuano (15:44):
Recently I've been telling them a story that's a true story, because I want to see the look on their face, their reaction. DC is really a magnet for students from all over the world. And there was a group of MIT graduate students who were doing a three-day immersion in Washington. And one of the stops they made was at our headquarters. And they met with many of our leaders across the enterprise and finished the day, and I did about an hour Q&A with them.
(16:12):
And this one young man raised his hand, I could tell he was so energetic. And he said, "With all of these incredible advances in technology and artificial intelligence, can you imagine a day where you can run a hotel with no employees?" And I looked at him and I said, "My goodness, I hope not." Right? At the end of the day, we are a people business, hospitality, genuine hospitality is interaction between two human beings. And that's at the core of what we do. And so to your specific question, I want to make sure we're identifying leaders that understand what the hospitality business is. There are lots of amazing industries that offer all sorts of opportunities. This one is different. I mean, Ty made the point. Our businesses don't close.
(16:59):
I mean, now it's sort of a little bit of silly humor. But in the early days of the pandemic, about 2,500 of our hotels had to be closed for a period of time. Among the most significant challenges of those closures, we had to install locks. Our doors don't lock. These are businesses that stay open 24 hours a day. And so when I talk to prospective leaders, I want to make sure they understand, this is what we do.
(17:29):
Secondly, I want to make sure they embrace and deeply believe in the dignity of jobs in the service industry. These are difficult jobs, but they are incredibly important jobs, and I want our leaders to recognize that each and every day. And the last thing I look for is somebody that is driven and energized by the creation of opportunities for others.
Michael C. Bush (18:00):
Okay, so Ty, we recently collaborated on a white paper, which all of you got when you registered, and what a gift, what a gift. Just to, it was certainly something we were happy to participate in, but we think that the specific instruction and detail and quantitative analytics, you do this, this is what's likely to happen, is a great gift that we were glad we were able to work on with you to share with the world.
Ty Breland (18:30):
Absolutely.
Michael C. Bush (18:31):
To pass it on, which is just a testament to our mission and yours. It's to make every place a great place to work, not just Marriott, to make every place a great place to work. Could you tell us about Elevate at Marriott and what's going with that program, that initiative?
Ty Breland (18:48):
Yeah. I'll share a little bit of the journey there. So filling jobs during the pandemic was really hard, and especially our entry level manager jobs. And so we challenged the team, looking at our entire population, we have one of the most diverse workforces in the world. Many of those individuals are in frontline jobs or non-management positions. And the challenge to the team was, while we have organically had individuals cross from non-management to management, how do we put that on steroids? How do we really focus on it? And so with a lot of effort over the last three years, one in every four entry-level management jobs are filled by a non-manager now. So on that path, we realized that we wanted to formalize this and create a program that we could really repeat and also share with others. So I have a quick video and then I can get into a little bit of Elevate. So if we can play the video.
Speaker 7 (19:45):
My career is just beginning.
Speaker 8 (19:49):
I've worked hard to get here.
Speaker 9 (19:54):
It's time for me to take the next step.
Speaker 5 (19:57):
We see you. You are committed, you are ready to accelerate your career. You are ready to Elevate. To those looking to take the next step into a management role, elevate by Marriott International will help you begin your journey, belong to a community, and become the person you want to be while developing deeper business acumen, enhanced communications and digital skills, and leadership fundamentals.
Speaker 10 (20:27):
I'm going to explore possible career journeys.
Speaker 11 (20:30):
To learn from other associates.
Speaker 12 (20:33):
To build the skills that I need.
Speaker 5 (20:35):
We thrive because of you. So it's important you have access to the right opportunities.
Speaker 13 (20:41):
When you have the resources that Marriott offers, you feel empowered.
Speaker 14 (20:45):
I feel encouraged to be curious.
Speaker 10 (20:48):
To be courageous.
Speaker 15 (20:49):
To be connected.
Speaker 11 (20:51):
I feel like I can do this.
Speaker 7 (20:54):
I can do this.
Speaker 5 (20:55):
You can do this. You always rise to the occasion. Now you Elevate at Marriott, be you.
Ty Breland (21:08):
That's a nice piece of work. So that's just a little glimpse of what Elevate is. But Elevate by Marriott International we launched a few weeks ago, this is the first time we've talked about it publicly. But we're really excited about this program. Across the system, we hire about 200,000 roles a year.
(21:31):
In the management space is of a portion of that, but we're really looking to fuel those early management positions with talent from Elevate, and also help those managers once they land those roles, that they can continue to climb through the organization. And so the programming around this is really building their business acumen, their language proficiency, their digital literacy. We want these leaders to be able to catch the technology that's coming at them, whether it's gen AI or whatever's next, for them to embrace it and catch it and pull it forward in their careers.
(22:06):
We've also committed to having an external coach for every one of these Elevate participants. That doesn't mean we can't coach and sponsor ourselves internally, of course we can, but we also believe that a lot of stuff happens in between. And we want some external partners helping our associates as they build their board of trustees and they're navigating their career. So we're really excited about this program, and what it's going to unlock for us at Marriott.
Michael C. Bush (22:34):
Yeah, we call that equity of opportunity. Tony, any last words you'd like to pass on?
Anthony Capuano (22:41):
Yeah, maybe two. And at the risk of embarrassing you a little bit, I want to say thank you. The work that you and your organization does matters, and it matters a lot. I was raised by my father, and one of his core principles is set really ambitious goals, and then run like hell in pursuit of those goals. And the work that you do allows the leaders in this room to dream about achieving these really remarkable goals. So thank you for all the work that you do.
Michael C. Bush (23:14):
Thank you.
Anthony Capuano (23:19):
And maybe I would just close and reiterate what I said at the outset. It is a source of tremendous pride for our workforce around the world to have been on this list since its inception. And I know for Ty and I and the rest of the Marriott leaders in the room, it is a privilege to be affiliated with an inclusive, passionate, resilient set of associates whose opportunities are only limited by their own ambition. It is a workplace where people can dream big and achieve those dreams, and it's a real privilege to be part of it.
Michael C. Bush (23:58):
So Tony, we've got some people here and some people live-streaming. If they're working for a place, it's not a great workplace, do you have any recommendations for them?
Anthony Capuano (24:06):
Well, Chris stole my thunder, so. We would welcome you in a heartbeat. But I think that the broader advice I would give, I have a daughter that just graduated from college. And I spent a lot of time with her and her classmates as they were preparing to enter the workforce. And among the things that was clear to me about this generational workforce, but I think it applies to many folks in this room as well. You are going to find professional fulfillment if you align yourself with an organization whose values match yours. Money, title, where your parking space is, all that stuff matters, I get it, but it won't last. Because you won't feel fulfilled if you don't have and find and treasure that cultural compatibility.
Michael C. Bush (24:55):
That's the perfect place to end.
Anthony Capuano (24:57):
Great.
Michael C. Bush (24:57):
Please give a warm thank you, Tony and Ty.
Please welcome to the stage Anthony Capuano, President and CEO of Marriott International, Ty Breland, EVP and CHRO of Marriott International, and Michael C. Bush, CEO of Great Place To Work.
Anthony Capuano (00:38):
I am glad you tripped a little.
Michael C. Bush (00:40):
Yeah.
Anthony Capuano (00:40):
You took the pressure off.
Michael C. Bush (00:42):
I'm glad I still got it. I think so. We had to put a little space between you and Hilton.
Anthony Capuano (00:53):
I should say, "Who?" But instead, I should say, "Congratulations." Chris is a dear friend, and they are a terrific company. And I think for all of us in the travel and tourism sector, it's a great source of pride that two of us are in your top 10. And I think it speaks to the passion folks have around travel.
Michael C. Bush (01:15):
Yeah, and it speaks to resiliency, adaptability after what you've gone through. So thanks very much for coming. And special thanks to Tony who, Tony was here on Friday doing some business, thought he would just hang out in New Orleans over the weekend, get a little leisure time, and then he got called, like I get called to the White House. That hasn't happened to me, all right.
Anthony Capuano (01:42):
Not yet.
Michael C. Bush (01:43):
Well, it definitely has happened. Yeah, so we'll see. But it happened to you, and you go and take care of your business and take care of our country, which we want to appreciate, and then get back down here. So I know what kind of a weekend it was for you, I know you have family too, and to do that, so we appreciate it.
Anthony Capuano (02:02):
My absolute pleasure.
Michael C. Bush (02:03):
Please give a round of applause to Tony for doing that quick turnaround. So being on the 100 best is nothing new for Marriott. It's nothing new at all. Been on the list since it was established 27 years ago. I think there's eight companies where that's true. A lot has happened in 27 years. Something has to be working for that to occur, no small feat.
(02:28):
And you've got many companies within one company, frankly. As you look at the 800,000 strong, every job category is in there, from the highest level knowledge worker to the front line worker just starting their career. A lot of complexity. So as you think about that as the CEO, how do you ensure that it's a great place to work for all?
Anthony Capuano (02:54):
Well, let me start with a thank you. It is for our hundreds of thousands of associates around the world. Our inclusion on this list, our longevity on this list is a source of tremendous pride. And we will talk a little bit about this later, but the work that you do is extraordinarily important, and we're really proud to be on the list. It's a fascinating company. We're celebrating our 97th anniversary this year. We operate in 141 countries, about 9,000 hotels, another 3,000 in the pipeline behind that. And like all of the participants in the travel and tourism sector, arguably the most impacted by the pandemic. And I was privileged to be appointed CEO right in the midst of what Bill Marriott termed the most significant challenge the company's ever faced.
(03:50):
And he reminds me often, he certainly counseled me in the early days of my time in this role. It is the company's culture and core values that act as our true north. And having his experience, he was chairman and CEO for about 40 years. And his parents founded the company, and they founded it on really simple but powerful core values. And he reminds me often, he navigated the company through regional and global conflicts, through recessions, through the impact of 9/11 on travel, through the great recession, and then obviously the worst of all the pandemic. And it's those core values that guide everything we do. And I don't think it's a coincidence that the first of those core values established by his parents 97 years ago is put people first.
(04:45):
And as long as every decision we make, even in the face of this extraordinary, arguably existential threat to not only the company but to the sector, but if we make every one of the tough decisions we had to make through the lens of those core values that served us well through every other crisis, and thankfully it's served us well as we fought to get out of the pandemic.
(05:11):
Remember, our revenue dropped more than 90% overnight. I've been with the company 30 years and I can promise you, not once did I see a pro forma run that said, I wonder what the P&L looks like if revenue evaporates overnight. And so we had to rely on those core values. How do we make sure that we're focused on each of our stakeholders? And I think some may think it's trite, but if you think about our founders, J.W. Senior and Alice Marriott, who drove to Washington DC in a Model T and opened a nine-seat root beer stand, they had a simple view of business. Take care of the associates, which is what we call our employees. Take care of the associate, the associate will take care of the customer, and the customer will come back again and again. And it's powerful in its simplicity. And so I think focusing on those core values, putting people first, pursuing excellence, embracing change, acting with integrity, and serving our world, those are the lens we apply to every challenge we've faced for nearly a century.
Michael C. Bush (06:24):
And how did you know that he was the guy to run your people ops, your people organization, this master?
Anthony Capuano (06:30):
I'm not sure he's out of his probationary period.
Michael C. Bush (06:32):
Oh.
Anthony Capuano (06:34):
No. So Ty's appointment to the CHRO role was the first human capital decision, a consequence I made when I was appointed within a few weeks of the job. And it was in no way a sort of indictment of his predecessor. I looked at the challenges we were facing, I knew that our success would ultimately be measured by our ability to continue to really strengthen and take care of that culture in a really meaningful way. And Ty had the advantage of a really broad career working in the operating side of our business in multiple corporate positions. In my prior role, he was my HR partner, and I felt like he brought a creativity and an energy and a passion to our most valuable resource.
(07:30):
Remember, some of you may not know a lot about our business model. We are an asset-light model. We have 9,000 hotels, we only own 20 of those hotels, and I'd be happy to sell you any of those 20, I don't want to own those either. And so you could argue that our most valuable resource is this passionate pool of human capital. And I felt like it really needed to be managed in a deliberate, proactive way. And I made a big bet on Ty, which has paid off for us in a really meaningful way.
Michael C. Bush (08:04):
Good. So Ty, I had to get an extra piece of chocolate on my pillow for taking care of your performance eval.
Ty Breland (08:04):
You got it.
Michael C. Bush (08:13):
So, 90% of Marriott's workforce is frontline people. 9 out of 10 associates say Marriott is a great place to work. I'm sorry. How do you make that happen? I'm sure you were happy to get the job, and then probably didn't sleep good that night.
Ty Breland (08:29):
Yeah, yeah. It's been a journey. So as Tony mentioned, came in right in the middle of the pandemic and pretty much everything was flipped upside down. And so one of the things that we did, as soon as borders opened, we got on the road country by country, city by city. We met with our associates, our general managers, our owners, our franchisees, government officials, customers, just really doing intake on how we needed to pivot to provide our associates and our customers what they needed post pandemic.
(09:03):
And it was through that journey that we really established our strategy for the company of growing forward. And at the foundation of that strategy as our people. And we really made bets on our signature elements. And there are three of those. And the first one is growing great leaders. We believe that if we got leadership right, everything else would fall into place.
(09:25):
And that's leaders at all levels. This is not leaders with a title or leaders with a pay grade. This is you're a housekeeper, you're a steward, every single person in the company, we want them to wake up every day and think about themselves as a leader. And we programmed that, we talked about it, we built a vernacular around it of being curious, being courageous, being connected, and making people wake up every day thinking about that.
(09:52):
We also, like many companies in this room, were hit hard from a compensation standpoint. So our second signature element was investing in our associates. And we were really purposeful about the words. In the past that would've been called cost of wages, but we called it investing in our associates, because the difference between a cost and an investment is an investment has a return. And we really believe that if we invest in our associates, they would be able to perform for our customers and for the business. And so yes, we got our base pay right, we expanded bonuses, we accelerated elements of our retirement savings plan. We introduced an employee stock purchase plan. We also rebooted a program we have called Take Care where we're really focused on our associates' physical, their mental and their financial well-being. We want the whole associate to come to work at Marriott. And so that investment piece was the second element.
(10:48):
And then third is access to opportunity. We realized during the pandemic, while most of the media was talking about remote work, our organization runs hotels that are operating 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365. And while there are some opportunities for remote work, we had to take our own spin on that and really start to lean into flexibility and choice. So we allowed our associates to pick your schedule, something we didn't do before. We also, we were a 98% full-time business. We started to really push on having part-time opportunities to give people that flexibility they need to put their children on the bus, to pick them up from school. And the collection of those things really paid off. We also launched our ARGs. None of this is done by just Tony and myself. There's a team, and we have many of our ARGs here today, and members of our local teams.
(11:45):
But we rebooted our associate resource groups and really wanted to tell our story, and that's where we also launched our new people brand, Be. So the collection of those things I think have led us to where we are today.
Michael C. Bush (11:59):
And you're three years in the role, Tony?
Anthony Capuano (12:02):
Three and a half.
Michael C. Bush (12:02):
Three and a half. Okay, not that you're keeping track of count.
Anthony Capuano (12:05):
It'll be five and a half tomorrow. Five and a half.
Michael C. Bush (12:07):
Okay. And so are you 30 years with Marriott?
Anthony Capuano (12:13):
29, I'll be 30 in February.
Michael C. Bush (12:15):
Okay. All right. So it sounds like it's a great place to work for you.
Anthony Capuano (12:17):
It is a great place to work. Yeah.
Michael C. Bush (12:18):
All right. It's outstanding. So the people-first culture, which that's all you talk about. And in partnership with Ty, how do you partner? A lot of numbers to take care of, but how do you think about the fiscal side of the business and partner to make sure that, especially leadership... Ty made the point, we think of leadership the exact same way. There's formal and informal leaders, but we also know formal leaders can shape 70% of the employee experience. So they're really, really important, really, really vital. I'd like to hear you comment on those things.
Anthony Capuano (12:56):
Yeah, there's a lot in that question. I think maybe I'll start, of course our frontline workforce is a huge number. I never think about it in terms of a number. I think about the individuals, these are hard jobs. And so Ty talked about as soon as borders started to open, he and I got on the road, I don't know how many countries we visited, dozens and dozens, and we showed up in the hotels without much of an agenda other than to say thank you. To recognize the extraordinary challenges our teams had faced, to applaud the resiliency they had shown, to recognize the passion they had, to remind them that they've chosen careers in the service of others, and those others would be coming back sooner than later, and to shake their hands and thank them for what they do.
(13:46):
I'm glad Ty talked a little bit about opportunity. In many ways, that's what our company's all about at its core. You came to visit us at our new headquarters, which we moved into about a year and a half ago. And Mr. Marriott, who's our chairman emeritus now, he helped us christen the building. And he gave a speech and he said, "I've had a career that is a gift. I've traveled the world, I've done all these amazing things. But without question, my greatest accomplishment and my deepest source of pride is the opportunities we've created for people and their families around the world."
(14:23):
And I think it's this constant reminder among leaders at every level in the organization, we work at the pleasure of our frontline associates. I think people thought I was joking, but as we were wrapping up the building, I kept saying, "Why don't we name the building the field support center?" And everybody said, "No, it's the global headquarters," and as is often the case, I lost that argument. But we really are in service of our frontline associates. It does not matter at the end of the day how strategic I am in my thinking about these great programs and initiatives that we develop. None of that matters if after a long, difficult day of travel, you show up at the front desk of one of our hotels and you don't get that warm, genuine welcome, where you can finally breathe a sigh of relief and say, "I'm home for the night." And that is because of the passion that our frontline associates have, and they are our responsibility.
Michael C. Bush (15:24):
Tony, when you're talking to a potential leader to come into Marriott, being a hospitality company and knowing how to define that, what do you look for? And are there things that'll let you know, maybe this person?
Anthony Capuano (15:44):
Recently I've been telling them a story that's a true story, because I want to see the look on their face, their reaction. DC is really a magnet for students from all over the world. And there was a group of MIT graduate students who were doing a three-day immersion in Washington. And one of the stops they made was at our headquarters. And they met with many of our leaders across the enterprise and finished the day, and I did about an hour Q&A with them.
(16:12):
And this one young man raised his hand, I could tell he was so energetic. And he said, "With all of these incredible advances in technology and artificial intelligence, can you imagine a day where you can run a hotel with no employees?" And I looked at him and I said, "My goodness, I hope not." Right? At the end of the day, we are a people business, hospitality, genuine hospitality is interaction between two human beings. And that's at the core of what we do. And so to your specific question, I want to make sure we're identifying leaders that understand what the hospitality business is. There are lots of amazing industries that offer all sorts of opportunities. This one is different. I mean, Ty made the point. Our businesses don't close.
(16:59):
I mean, now it's sort of a little bit of silly humor. But in the early days of the pandemic, about 2,500 of our hotels had to be closed for a period of time. Among the most significant challenges of those closures, we had to install locks. Our doors don't lock. These are businesses that stay open 24 hours a day. And so when I talk to prospective leaders, I want to make sure they understand, this is what we do.
(17:29):
Secondly, I want to make sure they embrace and deeply believe in the dignity of jobs in the service industry. These are difficult jobs, but they are incredibly important jobs, and I want our leaders to recognize that each and every day. And the last thing I look for is somebody that is driven and energized by the creation of opportunities for others.
Michael C. Bush (18:00):
Okay, so Ty, we recently collaborated on a white paper, which all of you got when you registered, and what a gift, what a gift. Just to, it was certainly something we were happy to participate in, but we think that the specific instruction and detail and quantitative analytics, you do this, this is what's likely to happen, is a great gift that we were glad we were able to work on with you to share with the world.
Ty Breland (18:30):
Absolutely.
Michael C. Bush (18:31):
To pass it on, which is just a testament to our mission and yours. It's to make every place a great place to work, not just Marriott, to make every place a great place to work. Could you tell us about Elevate at Marriott and what's going with that program, that initiative?
Ty Breland (18:48):
Yeah. I'll share a little bit of the journey there. So filling jobs during the pandemic was really hard, and especially our entry level manager jobs. And so we challenged the team, looking at our entire population, we have one of the most diverse workforces in the world. Many of those individuals are in frontline jobs or non-management positions. And the challenge to the team was, while we have organically had individuals cross from non-management to management, how do we put that on steroids? How do we really focus on it? And so with a lot of effort over the last three years, one in every four entry-level management jobs are filled by a non-manager now. So on that path, we realized that we wanted to formalize this and create a program that we could really repeat and also share with others. So I have a quick video and then I can get into a little bit of Elevate. So if we can play the video.
Speaker 7 (19:45):
My career is just beginning.
Speaker 8 (19:49):
I've worked hard to get here.
Speaker 9 (19:54):
It's time for me to take the next step.
Speaker 5 (19:57):
We see you. You are committed, you are ready to accelerate your career. You are ready to Elevate. To those looking to take the next step into a management role, elevate by Marriott International will help you begin your journey, belong to a community, and become the person you want to be while developing deeper business acumen, enhanced communications and digital skills, and leadership fundamentals.
Speaker 10 (20:27):
I'm going to explore possible career journeys.
Speaker 11 (20:30):
To learn from other associates.
Speaker 12 (20:33):
To build the skills that I need.
Speaker 5 (20:35):
We thrive because of you. So it's important you have access to the right opportunities.
Speaker 13 (20:41):
When you have the resources that Marriott offers, you feel empowered.
Speaker 14 (20:45):
I feel encouraged to be curious.
Speaker 10 (20:48):
To be courageous.
Speaker 15 (20:49):
To be connected.
Speaker 11 (20:51):
I feel like I can do this.
Speaker 7 (20:54):
I can do this.
Speaker 5 (20:55):
You can do this. You always rise to the occasion. Now you Elevate at Marriott, be you.
Ty Breland (21:08):
That's a nice piece of work. So that's just a little glimpse of what Elevate is. But Elevate by Marriott International we launched a few weeks ago, this is the first time we've talked about it publicly. But we're really excited about this program. Across the system, we hire about 200,000 roles a year.
(21:31):
In the management space is of a portion of that, but we're really looking to fuel those early management positions with talent from Elevate, and also help those managers once they land those roles, that they can continue to climb through the organization. And so the programming around this is really building their business acumen, their language proficiency, their digital literacy. We want these leaders to be able to catch the technology that's coming at them, whether it's gen AI or whatever's next, for them to embrace it and catch it and pull it forward in their careers.
(22:06):
We've also committed to having an external coach for every one of these Elevate participants. That doesn't mean we can't coach and sponsor ourselves internally, of course we can, but we also believe that a lot of stuff happens in between. And we want some external partners helping our associates as they build their board of trustees and they're navigating their career. So we're really excited about this program, and what it's going to unlock for us at Marriott.
Michael C. Bush (22:34):
Yeah, we call that equity of opportunity. Tony, any last words you'd like to pass on?
Anthony Capuano (22:41):
Yeah, maybe two. And at the risk of embarrassing you a little bit, I want to say thank you. The work that you and your organization does matters, and it matters a lot. I was raised by my father, and one of his core principles is set really ambitious goals, and then run like hell in pursuit of those goals. And the work that you do allows the leaders in this room to dream about achieving these really remarkable goals. So thank you for all the work that you do.
Michael C. Bush (23:14):
Thank you.
Anthony Capuano (23:19):
And maybe I would just close and reiterate what I said at the outset. It is a source of tremendous pride for our workforce around the world to have been on this list since its inception. And I know for Ty and I and the rest of the Marriott leaders in the room, it is a privilege to be affiliated with an inclusive, passionate, resilient set of associates whose opportunities are only limited by their own ambition. It is a workplace where people can dream big and achieve those dreams, and it's a real privilege to be part of it.
Michael C. Bush (23:58):
So Tony, we've got some people here and some people live-streaming. If they're working for a place, it's not a great workplace, do you have any recommendations for them?
Anthony Capuano (24:06):
Well, Chris stole my thunder, so. We would welcome you in a heartbeat. But I think that the broader advice I would give, I have a daughter that just graduated from college. And I spent a lot of time with her and her classmates as they were preparing to enter the workforce. And among the things that was clear to me about this generational workforce, but I think it applies to many folks in this room as well. You are going to find professional fulfillment if you align yourself with an organization whose values match yours. Money, title, where your parking space is, all that stuff matters, I get it, but it won't last. Because you won't feel fulfilled if you don't have and find and treasure that cultural compatibility.
Michael C. Bush (24:55):
That's the perfect place to end.
Anthony Capuano (24:57):
Great.
Michael C. Bush (24:57):
Please give a warm thank you, Tony and Ty.
