The VII annual GEHOCAN meeting, held in Adeje today, September 16th, brought together hundreds of professionals in the human resources sector in the Canarias, Under the title (translated) Culture, commitment and sustainability: humanising businesses and society the working day was divided into a series of short blocks, with expert interventions, discussions on good practices, success stories, round tables and time devoted to experience exchange, using humour, culture, sport and health in the discussed processes.
The event was organised by the GEHOCAN human resources department. GEHOCAN stands for the Canarian Hotel and Private Sector association. The Adeje council and Grupo Fedola were co-organisers.
The opening of the event, held in the Hotel GF Victoria, was attended and addressed by the Adeje councillor for economic development Raquel Rodríquez Alonso who underlined that for the Adeje council’s department of employment “working hand in hand with the private sector was a priority. We are working on fundamentals such as training, and in recent years have strengthened this sector of our work. We are also working directly with hotels to design training programmes that meet their specific needs if they so request”.
Alongside the councillor, Alejandro Ramos Guerro represented the regional government during the inauguration of the event, as well as Ana Belén Lopez (corporate director of human resources at Grupo Fedola) and the president of GEHOCAN Sonia Martínez Alcalá.
For Ramos Guerra, “the hard times we have been through recently have also shown us that we can grow, and improve; maintain the empathy we found, so that public administrations can better understand the problems you are experiencing, so that we are together in this. The GEHOCAN president said that the purpose of the day was to “share, inspire, invite reflexion and strive for action to face current realities that the labour market is facing…we are witnessing cultural change at an accelerated rate, a change in human priorities, which puts our own awareness of the importance of wellbeing into focus”.
Ana Belén Lopez told the gathering that “in just one year it’s possible to reduce the carbon footprint of a hotel by 87%; this hotel has done it”, she added, referring to the GF Victoria. She said this was only one piece of data in the work the hotel was undertaking in contributing to the betterment of the environment. The hotel is the first in Spain to have been given an ISO 21401 label and status of a sustainable hotel.
Each block of the day’s conference terminated in a round table discussion on the themes before them. The Adeje councillor for ecological transition, Manuel Luis Méndez Martin was part of a team discussing the advantages companies can gain from hiring from specified bodies that are working with job seekers.
