016: J.W. Marriott – Take care of your people

“If you take care of your people, your people will take care of your customers and your business will take care of itself.” – J.W. Marriott

This comic was drawn by Smar. You can find her other work and comics on her Tumblr blog.

John Willard Marriott was the founder of Marriott hotels. Although he started small as a family business, Marriott hotels is now an international business, with its hotels all over the world. He was a university graduate (back then it wasn’t cool to be a “drop-out” entrepreneur). People think of him being a self-made man, having built an international business from scratch. However, Marriott hotels was originally a family business, starting with just Marriott and his wife. In fact, it was originally a root beer stand. Not to mention, as the business grew, there were a lot more employees working for Marriott. He couldn’t have done it without the help of his employees.

I would like clarify the quote attribution. The full text of this quote appeared to me as a picture of the words printed on a wall. As seen on smallbusinessguy.com. However, J.W. Marriott only said: “Take care of your people and they will take care of your customers.” It seems like the iteration of the quote as seen in the comic is just a retelling of the meaning behind the words. The retelling simplifies and tells the reader what the original quote really means. I cannot find who it was that created the retelling. However, I chose to use the retelling instead of the original, because it was longer and easier to understand on a first reading.

The quotes here try to prove a point. The employees are the ones in direct contact with the customers. The employees play a large part in ensuring customer satisfaction, purchase and loyalty. The employees are part of the branding and the everyday face of the company.

As a Human Resources (HR) graduate myself, this is what I studied half my university life. I have seen HR to be one of the more overlooked aspects of business and entrepreneurship. Bosses are so customer focused that they can forget the employees. A lot of people overlook HR practices, when in fact, good and scientific HR can help a business in many ways.

Admittedly, the comic shows a rather simplistic interpretation of the quote and the point about HR. However, it is my hope that this matter is brought to your attention. The big question here is: How can you take care of your employees right, such that it will lead to them treating your customers the way you want? Think about it and let me know in the comments below.