My Background:

Solid HR Generalist with 20+ years of leadership and professional experience in the hotel  and non-profit industry both in Hawaii and San Francisco. Have worked in Business and Resort hotels ranging in rooms from 200 to 1200 and colleagues from 200 to 1000. Strong labor background with contract negotiation and mediation/arbitration skill set and experience in both union and non-union settings. I have worked with corporate leaders of the Hospitality industry - Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, Hilton Hotels, InterContinental Hotels, Amfac and Hyatt Hotels Hawaii.  Additionally, I have worked in retail as Regional Director of HR for Wendy’s International, non-profit with Peninsula Jewish Community Center and distribution with United Products, Inc.

Board experience includes 3 years as HR Advisor to IHSS, In-Home Support Services in San Francisco, and 5 years on the Board for SFSU, as HR/Hospitality Member.

My Philosophy:  

Love HR and working directly with colleagues…a busy HR office is a happy office! Believe you should learn something new everyday and you can learn from anyone! And always keep your sense of humor…there are many days when you need it!

Areas of Expertise to Offer:

  • Employee Relations/Labor Relations

  • Training and Development (Certified Trainer for Covey 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and Achieve Global)

  • Implementation of HR systems

  • Succession Planning

  • Performance Management

  • Applicant Tracking

  • HRIS

  • Benefits Analysis

  • Colleague Handbooks

  • Restructuring and Reorganizing (Departmental and Company-wide)

  • Colleague Engagement Surveys

  • Union and Non-Union experience

  • HR Project Management

  • Executive Coaching/Mentoring

  • Strong knowledge of San Francisco and California Labor Law and Wage & Hour Law

  • Experience working with international staff and dealing with Visa requirements

  • Strong experience with hiring and mentoring interns

  • Working on Global Task teams for HR initiatives (With US, Asia, Europe)

  • Mentoring and development of HR staff

  • Luxury experience in hotels with 5 Star Hotel and 5 Star Spa

  • Pre-opening and re-launching experience

  • Workers Comp and Payroll experience

  • Strategic Planning

  • Results Driven

  • Excellent communication skills and strong presentation skills

Examples of past Project Management:
Implementation of Success Factors Performance Management System and Succession Planning
Implemented system within Mandarin Oriental San Francisco. Traveled to sister properties to conduct training and help hotels “catch up” with process and data input. Responsible for Succession Planning process within hotel.

SnapHire Applicant Tracking System
Instrumental in bringing SnapHire (ATS) to Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group. Served on global task team to vet various ATS companies; piloted program; implemented and served as key contact for other DHR and Recruitment Managers. SnapHire is now global in MOHG.

Career Website and Recruitment Efforts for High Potential Candidates
Worked in conjunction with MOHG Global HR headquarters in Hong Kong on rebranding and updating our career website. Served on global task team identifying/developing an action plan to tackle our website design. Conducted research on best practices in our industry and other related industries. Spearheaded focus groups of college students that had very diverse student populations in alignment with our global brand. Compiled results for our Global HR Headquarters in HK. Results were in alignment with other focus groups being held in London. Presented results at global DHR meeting held in Sanya, China. These results were used to guide our IT/Web design team in restructuring our career website

People Answers Online Assessment Tool
Served as part of the task team for the US MOHG hotels to select a third party vendor (which could integrate with SnapHire, our ATS) to provide an online assessment tool. Worked with People Answers in developing profiles for a variety of positions within the hotel.

Redesign of Pension Plan
Served on task team for a year to determine best way to convert from a defined contribution plan to a 403(b). Analyzed the impact on colleagues (union and non-union and many long-term). Made change successfully and implemented new pension plan.

Colleague Engagement Survey (TowersWatson)
Responsible for the CES within the hotel. Including set-up, colleague participation, managerial involvement. Ensuring that colleagues understand the value of their feedback; creating atmosphere which encourages colleagues to provide honest feedback. Responsible for analysis of all results and providing General Manager and Executive Team a clear and understandable overview of the results. Provide entire management team with clear leadership in process of rolling out results to colleagues and following up with strategic action plans that are in alignment with departmental, division and hotel goals.

To contact Gail Fivis please email gfivishr@gmail.com or call 650-291-1525.

NEW ADDRESS as of 9/01/2019: 533 Airport Blvd, Suite 400, Burlingame, CA 94010