IHK awards hotels for good vocational education and training provision

What makes a hotel successful often cannot be described by a single word. Christian Wieland, Executive Partner of the Hotel Weißer Hirsch in Wernigerode, can do it: "Continuity", he says succinctly. This continuity recently has earned the hotel the IHK Education Prize, which was awarded for the first time in 2014. This is a nationwide award, with which the German chambers of industry and commerce (IHKs) and the Otto Wolff Foundation honour outstanding commitment in the field of vocational education and training across all industry sectors.

"For 20 years now, we have consistently striven to train young people and encourage our employees to keep on improving themselves with continuing education", Wieland explains the recipe for his success. At the hotel, vocational training and continuing education is not a new subject that is suddenly supported and then neglected again. "After all, we benefit from it. And we never have let a good apprentice go", the Ringhotel partner adds.

The 4-star hotel currently employs a total of 10 apprentices and six training supervisors. "Yet we want to give also long-standing employees the repeated chance for advance in their capacity as qualified professionals. For example, a chef from our house soon will transfer for ten days to a star-rated restaurant in southern Germany to gather new inspiration", says Wieland.

The most difficult challenge in the field of vocational training and continuing education is to find the right training supervisor for the hotel. "Of course, you get to know some good people over the years and we also maintain an exchange via the various Ringhotels. But you have to keep your eyes open to find new ideas", the hotel manager adds.

The 99-bed hotel invests about 5,000 to 10,000 Euro per year in these efforts. Wieland now feels reassured by the IHK Education Prize. "We are immensely happy that we could prevail against so many applicants. Especially because the award was tendered across all industry sectors", he says.

More than 150 businesses had applied; 15 made it to the final round. The prize was awarded in five categories: integration, innovation, small, medium and large businesses. The Hotel Weißer Hirsch with its 45 employees won through in the category small businesses up to 50 employees.

Right up until the award ceremony, the jury comprised of 250 members from all 80 German IHKs did not reveal which of the three nominated finalists in one category had won the award. "So we were all the happier, when we finally held the award in our hands", says the hotel manager. The prize is endowed with 6,000 Euro – to sponsor social purposes. The next tender for the IHK Education Prize is planned for spring 2015.

Source: Allgemeine Hotel und Gastronomie-Zeitung (Hotel and catering newspaper), ahgz.de, revised by iMOVE, November 2014