Team member longevity is both a gift and a responsibility
By Mark Eletr
At a resort like Holiday Inn Resort Kandooma Maldives, long-serving team members are the living memory of the place. They carry the stories of how the island, now in its 41st year as a resort, has evolved; the hard-won standards; the guests who return year after year and are greeted by name; and the small details that transform service from competent to deeply personal. Continuity builds trust – within the team and with our guests. It preserves culture, safeguards institutional knowledge, and anchors new recruits in “how we do things here.”
Team member loyalty also creates emotional equity. When someone has given 10, 15, or 20 years of their working life to an organisation, they are not just employees; they are custodians. They embody the brand promise in a way no induction manual ever could.
But longevity has another side, and honest leadership means acknowledging it.
Time can breed comfort. Familiarity can quietly turn into routine, and routine into resistance. When someone has “seen it all before,” new initiatives can feel like passing trends rather than necessary evolution. Fatigue and professional stagnation can set in, particularly in highly specialised roles. The curiosity that once drove excellence can be dulled by repetition. And in an industry changing as rapidly as ours–driven by sustainability expectations, digital transformation, artificial intelligence, and shifting guest behaviours–standing still is, in reality, falling behind.
The challenge, then, is not choosing between stability and change, but learning to hold both at once.
Great organisations create space for two equally valid aspirations. For those who want to grow, they must offer progression, learning, and the opportunity to reinvent themselves through new roles, new responsibilities, exposure to different disciplines, and the encouragement to keep stretching. Long service should never become a ceiling; it should be a platform.
At the same time, there must be deep respect for those who find fulfilment in mastering a role and contributing consistently, day after day. Security, recognition, and dignity in work are not lesser ambitions. These team members are often the backbone of service culture, the calm in operational storms, and the mentors who quietly shape the next generation.
The art of leadership lies in discerning which is which and responding accordingly. It is about honouring experience without allowing it to harden into complacency; about protecting loyalty while still inviting challenge; about celebrating history while making room for the future and new ways of working.
Equally important are those who bring experience from different countries, different styles of properties, and different leadership models. Even if they stay only two or three years, they inject fresh thinking, question assumptions, and introduce new perspectives that keep us moving forward.
Ultimately, it is this balance that matters most: valuing continuity while embracing change, offering both progression and security, and building a team culture that is grounded in its past yet confident in its ability to evolve.
Editor’s note: Mark Eletr is the General Manager of Holiday Inn Resort Kandooma Maldives.
