Cayuga’s skilled HR, employee and labor relations experts use their decades of hospitality human resources experience to help operators develop strong, mutually beneficial employment relationships with employees at all levels of an organization.
Services in this area cover a broad spectrum, once simply referred to as “Human Resources.” Our consultants group human resources services into three specific categories: HR refers to the overall knowledge areas comprising all of the human resources specialties, for example, employee relations, compensation, employee benefits, training and organizational development. Employee Relations is the umbrella of activities concerning the relationship of employee and employer, and everything in legal and motivational contexts that flow from it. Labor Relations is a subset within employee relations dealing with labor unions, for example, negotiating labor contracts, training managers to correctly interpret labor agreements, and how to avoid unions if your employees are not already represented.
Regardless of the size of your hospitality organization our Members will accurately assess your needs and provide you with a strategic plan to meet your human resources, employee and labor relations challenges.
Cayuga’s HR, Employee and Labor Relations Advisory Services
- HR policies
- Building HR strategic plans
- Employee relations
- Labor contract negotiation and administration
- Collective bargaining and labor relations; union avoidance
- Mergers and acquisitions HR
- Cost-saving HR and insurance synergy programs
- Executive and managerial compensation and benefits
- Employee benefits purchasing
- Employee rewards programs
- Executive/Management coaching and counseling
- Training and organizational development
- Government compliance
- Litigation/claims management
- Ethics
- Avoiding discrimination and wage/hour lawsuits
- Risk management
- Insurance and related synergy programs
- Safety and security
- Confidential investigations
- Fraud/loss prevention
- Employee feedback programs
- HR services for private equity and public company owners
- Board of Directors liaison
- 10-K, 14-A preparation
- New hotel/restaurant recruiting, hiring, employee/labor relations
- HR needs in hotel/restaurant property closings and downsizing
Advisory Members
The following members are available through Cayuga to provide a full range of consulting services.
Chuck Conine (Palm Springs)
A Certified Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) and President of Hospitality HR Solutions, a hospitality industry-focused HR consulting network. Chuck is a hotel, restaurant and commercial foodservices human resources expert with 35 years of experience in hospitality employee/labor relations. He served as Executive Vice President of Human Resources & Administration as well as Chief Compliance Officer for the holding company of the nation’s fourth largest family restaurant group with 19,000 employees at Perkins Restaurants and Marie Callender Restaurants in 38 states, Canada and Mexico, with annual revenue of $1 billion. Prior to service in the parent company, he led human resources, risk management and administration for Marie Callender Pie Shops, Inc., a California-based chain of 150 family restaurants with 9,000 employees and system sales of $500 million. Chuck held a number of positions with Marriott’s Host Division, becoming the chief labor and employee relations spokesperson for its 14,000-employee airport food services division. As such, he: led both union prevention and union relations programs at 45 major commercial airport accounts in the continental U.S., Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands; met with employee bargaining committees to hear grievances and feedback; developed the company’s first computerized union proposal evaluation program; and negotiated over 40 collective bargaining agreements with labor organizations. Chuck is available to serve as an HR expert in employment litigation. He is a regular feature contributor for Smith Travel Research’s daily online publication Hotel News Now. He is Group Leader of Cayuga’s HR, Employee and Labor Relations Group.
Tony Castro (Amherst, NH)
Since 1994, Tony has been Principal of Castro & Associates, a Human Resources organization specializing in union avoidance, training, consulting and translations. His career encompasses some 35 years in general management, human resources and executive level consulting and training. He spent 18 years with Marriott Corporation, a majority of them in the Corporate Employee Relations Department, including five years as Director of Employee Relations where he was directly responsible for the non-union status of Marriott’s operations. He has participated in over 25 union campaigns, personally managing half, and never lost an election he directed. He also directed and won, by a 10–1 margin, Marriott’s first decertification election, and acted as spokesperson in contract negations with the Teamsters union. Tony has been associated with Positive Management Leadership Associates since 1997, and has participated in over 25 programs. He recently facilitated two programs for AMGEN, Inc., in Puerto Rico: “Union-Free Summit” for senior management and “Positive Employee Relations” for the remainder of the management staff. Born and raised in San Juan, PR, Tony is fluent in Spanish.
Duncan Dickson (Orlando)
Dr. Dickson has over 30 years of hospitality experience with more than 20 in human resources management, much of it at the executive level. He spent many years with the Walt Disney World Co. as Director of Casting, leading the staffing effort in opening three theme parks and 14 hotels. Duncan was also instrumental in developing the "Disney Keys" program for the Disney Institute. Prior to working with Disney, he held executive positions as Vice President of Staffing for Kelly Services and Director of International Staffing for Vistana (now Starwood Vacation Ownership). As an Assistant Professor at the Rosen College of Hospitality Management, Duncan has continued his interest in HR with both his teaching and research. His primary teaching responsibilities are in Human Resources Management, Communications, Guest Service Management and Theme Park Management. Dr. Dickson also researches and publishes in these areas.
Anne Loehr (Washington, DC)
A Certified Executive Coach and author of the award-winning book “A Manager's Guide to Coaching: Simple and Effective Ways to Get the Best Out of Your Employees”, published by the American Management Association. Anne owned and managed international, eco-friendly hotels and safari companies for over 15 years and became frustrated when she couldn't find top-quality leadership, coaching, and team effectiveness facilitators for her 500 Kenyan employees. She started studying these skills herself and, upon her return to the U.S., began coaching hospitality CEOs and senior management on ways to improve their communication and deepen their working relationships, resulting in increased employee retention, higher sales and improved bottom line profits. Named the "Generational Guru" by the Washington Post, Anne’s unique insights into effectively leveraging the four generations found in our work forces today gives her clients a leading edge in their businesses. Languages: English, Kiswahili and French.
Jim Macaulay (Nova Scotia)
Associate Professor in the Department of Business Administration and Tourism and Hospitality Management at Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, teaching HR management, strategic management and F&B management. Runs Hospitalit-eTraining Inc., a consulting firm involved with technology development for the hospitality industry. Over 20 years consulting for a broad range of hospitality clients in Canada, the U.S., the Caribbean and Asia; extensive experience with the Cuban Hospitality Industry. Offering 35 years of F&B management experience in virtually every hands-on position, from Chief Steward, Bartender, F&B Director to owning an off-site catering business and a flight kitchen for Air Canada. Offering services in: HR training and development; the development of learning management systems (LMS); F&B training (controls, HR, wines); and competency based
