When it comes to its well-being strategy, Loews Hotels has a simple creed: "You care for guests. We care for you.” The luxury hospitality chain lives that mission every day, offering its 10,000 hardworking team members at 25 properties across the United States and Canada impactful benefits to address every need and life challenge. Carmen Canton, Loews Hotels Chief People Officer, recently joined us to explain how the hotel chain is ensuring the well-being of every team member and meeting the unique needs of its working caregivers. 

What is Loews Hotels overall approach to team member well-being?

First and foremost, we are business based in genuine care. Our team members are critical to our success, and we are committed to caring for them just as we care for our guests. Our purpose as a company is to enrich life through exceptional experiences. That same philosophy applies to our team members. We want to ensure they find enrichment and fulfillment both in their careers with Loews Hotels, but also in their personal lives. We approach well-being in a holistic way, considering physical, mental, financial, and social well-being. Our team members need to know that we care about them as people, and that no matter what happens in their lives, we are there for them. That’s the GPS behind every initiative we put in place. 

How do you think the rise of Gen Z in the workforce will impact this approach?

There is a common denominator that motivates Gen Z employees: work-life balance. Gen Z will be a major part of our workforce in the not-so-distant future, and we need to plan for that eventuality. So, we're trying to incorporate more work-life balance into our strategies. For example, offering part-time hours and more schedule flexibility for our on-site staff. This gives them a bit more balance than is traditionally possible in hospitality and helps level the playing field with team members who have roles that support remote and hybrid work. 

Why is caregiver well-being so important to Loews Hotels? 

In our minds, caregiver benefits are well-being benefits. We have a very diverse workforce. Many of our team members are from different states or countries, or they move often for job opportunities. As a result, they may not have family nearby who can care for their children when they go to work. That impacts well-being. Mentally, they have the stress of needing to coordinate care and make sure their kids are safe and well looked after while they’re at work. Financially, there’s both the stress of paying for child care and the loss of income when they can’t work because they’re home caring for their child.  

From a business perspective, caregiver challenges create a service challenge. We’re largely a frontline organization – we need our team members to physically be at work every day. If a room attendant can’t go to work because of child care difficulties, then we have rooms that aren’t being cleaned. If a cook has to stay home, then the food for the banquet we have booked won’t be ready. Providing child care support is our way of alleviating some of the personal burdens that our people face and ensuring that neither their well-being nor our guests’ experiences are impacted. 

What are some of the programs you have in place to support working caregivers? 

Back-up care is an incredibly popular program we offer. If one of our team members needs child care at the last minute, they can use our Bright Horizons back-up care offering to find a nearby center or hire a vetted caregiver to come to their home. That’s a very important service for our people and it’s extremely comprehensive and inclusive. Employees have access to both child and elder care, as well as virtual tutoring and summer camp options for their children. It makes traditionally expensive care affordable and ensures that our employees can come to work every day and earn money for their families.  

How has back-up care been received by your workforce? 

The feedback has been amazing. A recent example was from a team member that was impacted by hurricane Helene. She has two young children and didn’t have enough support from family. She needed a benefit like back-up care to ensure that her kids were safe, allowing her to keep working and earning during a difficult time. That’s really the biggest way we’re measuring the impact of these programs. When people come up to me and say, “I'm staying at the company because I know that you've got my back, and if I have an issue, you're going to be there for me,” that shows me we’re providing meaningful care to our people. 

Thank you so much to Carmen for taking the time to speak with us!