O N T H E R E C O R D
On the Record Sarah Marr FIHI This month, I had the pleasure of interviewing IHI Fellow Sarah Marr. Sarah is the Group Human Resources Manager for Ireland & UK at PREM Group and a great friend and advocate of the IHI. You are a Fellow of the Institute, how long have you been a member? Coming up on my 20 year anniversary now – September 2002. How did you find your way to a career in hospitality? I worked in the Court Hotel in Killiney from my midteens. I was a part-time commis server in the restaurant. It was a very busy spot with large tours during the summer as well as steady local business throughout the year. The hotel is not there anymore, but the great friendships forged with a number of colleagues still remain – not least with my husband, Joe Kenny, whom I met when I was 17! 28 years and four children later I am very happy I took up that part-time job all those years ago. I really enjoyed the buzz of working in the hotel. When the hotel was in full swing it was like being a part of an orchestra – every section playing their part. It was hard work, but it was fun. I was bitten by the hotel business. I didn’t go into it immediately though, opting to head to UCD to study politics and sociology as part of an Arts degree, followed by a Business Studies post-grad and then onto NCI to get my qualification in HR Management. I spent some time working in the EBS Building Society before heading back to hospitality when Jim Murphy, CEO of PREM Group, gave me the opportunity to take on the HR Manager’s role for the group
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You won IHI HR Manager of the Year in 2012. Can you tell us what it meant to you to win and what impact it had on your career? The Founders Banquet and Awards has been a night I have enjoyed for so many years. You can sense the camaraderie in the room as people who don’t see each other often but hold so much in common as hospitality professionals get to catch up and let the hair down. I remember the night of the 2012 Awards in the (then) Four Seasons so well. Along with a group of colleagues my Dad was with me, and Joe. I didn’t think I would win, but I was so, so delighted when I did. It meant a lot to me as there were so many HR professionals that I greatly admired that had won the award before. From a career point of view, it gave me self-confidence. At that point, I had been working in PREM Group for 12 years. The company had grown significantly since I had started, affording me great opportunity to learn and develop as an HR and hospitality professional but it was reassuring to have an external body affirm that I was on the right track with what I was doing and how I was doing it. As someone who has been working with the same company for 20 years, what would you say are the key initiatives that should be implemented to retain staff?