Page 273 - The New Gold Standard

Sustainability and Stewardship
program. Elena champions the efforts. “The classes have been a
huge success because I focus on the etiquette portion of the Ritz-
Carlton service standards. We talk about the Three Steps of Ser-
vice, and I utilize our service standards to deal with introducing
yourself to someone, interviewing skills, cell phone etiquette,
fine dining basics, conversation skills, and the importance of
thank-you notes and follow-up. It’s amazingly rewarding to see
that what we covered makes the young people feel special and that
they walk away with usable tools as they enter the workplace.”
As employers help their people develop workplace skills, the
same employees frequently transform the service standards of
the business itself. Ronald Thomas, an Employee of the Year at
Ritz-Carlton, frequent recipient of Five Star quarterly service
awards, and honoree for a JW Marriott Award of Excellence,
shares how the service culture helped transform him as an indi-
vidual. “I was homeless. I was addicted to drugs and alcohol.
After being shot and hitting bottom, I went into drug rehabilita-
tion. As part of the treatment, I participated in a job training
program and had to go on job interviews. One of the interviews
was at Ritz-Carlton, and they hired me. I was stunned, and it’s
still hard to believe.”
Ronald’s natural talents were developed across hotel func-
tions including grounds keeping, lobby attendant, and house-
keeping. By trusting in and developing Ronald, Ritz-Carlton
was reciprocally driven to greater excellence in their community
involvement. Ronald shares, “I’m in charge of the community in-
volvement at my hotel, as far as the homeless are concerned. I’m
in the community doing a lot of work with homeless people,
and I find areas where the Ladies and Gentlemen of Ritz-
Carlton can help. We started doing picnics for the homeless out
of the trunks of our cars. A couple of the staff and I would buy
soda, chips, bread, and items to barbeque. We’d load our trunks
with chicken and charcoal and take the grills downtown. We did
this for a year or two, and then I went to the hotel and asked

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