As the Vice President of Human Resources Middle East and Africa at Hilton, she’s driving the company's award-winning people and culture strategy, overseeing close to 30,000 team members across 120 regional hotels. Meet Marie-Louise Ek, a dynamic leader with an impressive track record of over 23 years. With her groundbreaking initiatives at Sandvik and influential leadership roles at APM Terminals, Bridgestone, Coty, and PepsiCo, she has successfully driven team building, fostered positive employee experiences, and led massive organisational transformations. More than a VP, she's a certified executive coach and a passionate advocate for agility, technology, and well-being. In this episode, Marie-Louise shares Hilton's employee wellness initiatives, talent attraction strategies, employee engagement tips, and ways to navigate workplace challenges. Marie-Louise doesn’t gatekeep her secrets, so tune-in, grab your notepad and get the inside scoop on creating a thriving workplace culture.

Discussion points: 

3:34 Why Marie-Louise chose to study Human Resources4:25 How HR has evolved over the years6:20 The employee wellness evolution7:50 The key aspects of wellness that Hilton focuses on12:21 Measures Hilton has adopted for their employees’ wellness17:11 Educating employees on preventing health challenges20:13 How SMEs can have more engaged employees26:36 Marie-Louise’s views on working from home and flexible work30:55 Differences in medical insurance in the corporate world33:47 Investing time in mentoring employees36:06 Secrets for attracting the right talent 43:46 How wellness is perceived in the West47:22 4 things employers need for employee well-being48:28 Tips by Marie-Louise to deal with an emotionally charged situation50:50 How AI is making a difference in HR

Show Sponsors:

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Socials:

Spencer Lodgehttps://www.instagram.com/spencer.lodge/?hl=en https://www.tiktok.com/@spencer.lodge https://www.linkedin.com/in/spencerlodge/ https://www.youtube.com/c/SpencerLodgeTV https://www.facebook.com/spencerlodgeofficial/ 

Marie-Louise Ekhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/marie-louise-ek-9949253/