Getting the human side of human resources right
A meaningful part of a person’s life unfolds at work. Confidence is built there. Ambitions take shape. An employer’s decisions reach into households, influence family plans, and help determine how securely someone can look toward the future.
In 2026, Newport World Resorts employs more than 4,500 team members and another 1,700 people supporting operations through service partners. Each brings personal ambitions and responsibilities to work.
For a human resources (HR) leader, that scale makes remembering the individual even more important. Every policy eventually becomes someone’s experience. Three principles guide that work at Newport World Resorts: sincerity, balance and care that follows through.
Team members recognize genuine concern. They notice when someone listens carefully, takes their circumstances seriously and remains attentive afterward. Those encounters shape their confidence in HR.
President and CEO Nilo Thaddeus Rodriguez leads with sincerity, setting an example for how leaders engage with team members. That discipline takes shape in everyday interactions, through the attention given to concerns and the honesty of responses, even when a decision cannot immediately change.
A question about career progression may carry years of preparation and hope. Understanding that context helps HR offer honest guidance about available opportunities and the capabilities someone needs to develop.
These conversations help the team understand the person behind the request. Listening with sincerity means recognizing that the support someone needs will change as their careers and personal responsibilities evolve.
Balance makes care sustainable
Responding to those needs requires understanding the business that supports them. Team members value benefits and fair remuneration. They also value stability: confidence that an employer can continue providing opportunities and honoring its commitments.
HR must consider the needs of team members, customers, and the business together. Customers sustain the operation. Team members create experiences that encourage customers to return. A healthy business can invest in its people.
This relationship is particularly visible in an integrated resort. Newport World Resorts brings global hotel brands, Michelin-recognized restaurants, Broadway-caliber productions, and an expansive casino into one destination.
A casino dealer’s working day differs from that of a team member in procurement or finance. Sound people management recognizes those differences while maintaining fairness. Benefits must evolve with team members’ circumstances and remain sustainable.
The destination itself offers another opportunity. Giving team members access to its hospitality and entertainment experiences allows them to enjoy the service they help deliver, building appreciation for other teams and pride in what distinguishes the destination.
Care that follows through
Sincere listening creates an expectation of thoughtful attention and appropriate action.
This is the spirit of malasakit: taking another person’s welfare to heart and making the effort to help.
Not every request will produce the outcome hoped for. Team members should nevertheless know that their situation was understood and someone took responsibility for following through.
Newport World Resorts’ recent engagement survey gathered insights from 4,177 team members, representing 92 percent of its workforce. The results indicate a strong willingness among team members to recommend the company as a workplace, while providing valuable insight into where further support is needed.
Company town halls gather a large majority of team members for executive updates and discussions about their work. Group Chief Operating Officer Lance Gautreaux speaks candidly about business performance and shares practical insights on improving operations and the customer experience. These discussions help team members understand how their daily decisions contribute to the destination’s success.
Chief Operating Officer Lance Gautreaux during the Mabuhay Live! Town Hall event.
Listening must also translate to tangible support. Feedback has guided improvements to back-of-house spaces, with further enhancements planned for rest areas and other facilities. For a housekeeping attendant spending much of a shift on their feet, a place to rest has immediate value.
Support extends to career development. Newport World Resorts has devoted more than 241,000 training hours so far in 2026, strengthening skills and preparing teams for greater responsibilities. Learning and development give substance to the promise of career growth. Its 431 promotions and 449 internal movements in the first nine months demonstrate opportunities to grow within the business.
Team members at the most recent Mabuhay Live! Town Hall event.
Shared achievement gives work greater meaning
Progress deserves recognition, including contributions guests rarely see. A security officer’s judgment or an engineering team’s preparation can be essential to an effortless experience.
Appreciation takes many forms, from a timely, personal acknowledgment to company-wide recognition programs. The Circle of Excellence honors sustained high performance, while the Chairman’s Circle provides personal recognition from the Executive Chairman Kevin L. Tan. Each reinforces the message that people’s efforts are noticed and appreciated.
Executive Chairman Kevin L. Tan at the inaugural Chairman’s Circle recognition event.
HR and industry distinctions earned in the Philippines and internationally are also shared with the people whose work made them possible. Celebrating together helps team members recognize their contribution to company milestones.
That contribution reaches beyond the property. The Executive Chairman’s belief in tourism as both a business and an advocacy gives the work broader significance. Tourism supports livelihoods and introduces visitors to the Philippines. Team members help show the world the quality of Filipino talent and hospitality.
Volunteerism makes that contribution personal. Through community and environmental initiatives, team members extend their care beyond the people they serve at work, helping advance the organization’s ambition to lead in social impact.
Newport World Resorts’ League of Volunteer Employees (LOVE)
As a pioneer of the Philippine integrated resort industry, Newport World Resorts has grown through collective effort. The same principles carry forward as the group expands to Westside Resort.
Hundreds of team members celebrate five, ten, and fifteen years of service annually. In a seventeen-year-old destination, those milestones honor their contribution and ask leadership to keep making the future worthy of their commitment.
Service Loyalty Awardees are recognized for their dedication to the organization.
A workplace earns confidence when people see that their welfare matters, their contribution has meaning, and their ambitions have room to grow. For HR, the work is to make that belief credible, one decision at a time.
(The author is Vice President for Human Resources of Travellers International Hotel Group Inc.)
