Hilton Tops Fortune's Europe Best Employers List as AI Anxiety Grows

Hilton has taken the No. 1 spot on Fortune's 100 Best Companies to Work For – Europe 2026 list, displacing logistics giant DHL, which held the top position last year. The ranking rests on anonymous employee survey data and reviews of companies' benefits programs.

The award lands at a moment of acute anxiety about jobs and artificial intelligence. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei told Axios that AI could make up to half of all entry-level white-collar jobs redundant and push unemployment up by 10 to 20% over the next five years. In the U.K., 69% of workers surveyed jointly by King's College London's Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Policy Institute said they worry about AI's economic impact on job losses.

Hilton has been steadily expanding its own use of AI across back-office and customer-facing roles, including an AI chatbot on its website that helps customers plan trips. But the company insists the technology exists to enhance, not replace, the human interactions that define a hotel stay.

What does Hilton's HR chief say about AI replacing workers?

"Nothing is a substitute for the human touch, and our team members appreciate that," says Steve Ryan, senior vice president of HR for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa at Hilton. The company wants to remain "people-led and people-focused," he adds.

Ryan argues that transparency reduces employee fears. "We talk openly about using technology to enable even more focus on the guest experience, so I think that helps to allay fears," he says. "Most people that work in hospitality want to support guests and create great experiences for them. The more we can use technology to help with that, the better."

The internal numbers back the external recognition. In the U.K., 92% of Hilton's employees rated it a "great place to work," according to Great Place to Work, which partners with Fortune on the Best Companies lists. The average for a typical U.K. organization is 54%.

How much does purpose drive retention?

Ryan credits Hilton's focus on purpose for its climb up the rankings. The company's "travel with purpose" program pushes employees into community projects such as litter picking, cleaning river banks, and helping young people write CVs. In 2025, Hilton employees spent 1.8 million hours volunteering.

"People want to feel they're part of something bigger and that they're having a positive impact on the company and the wider community," Ryan says. "Our ability to demonstrate that is a real competitive advantage."

The stakes are high. Demand for workers in travel and tourism is projected to exceed supply by more than 43 million people by 2035, according to research by the World Economic Forum. Hospitality may lose some roles to AI, but the industry needs more people overall as it grows—which makes attracting staff a priority.

Which benefits is Hilton rolling out?

Ryan is now working to standardize perks and benefits packages, which currently differ between countries. Key moves include:

• Care hub expansion. The upgraded employee assistance program, first introduced in the U.S., offers guidance on caring for elderly relatives and children plus mental health advice. It now covers staff across Europe and the Middle East, with country-specific pages for 17 regions.
• Wellbeing access. Discounted gym memberships and wellbeing apps have been extended to 10 new countries in the region over the past year.
• Employee exchange program. The scheme lets staff try new roles, work at new properties, or experience new cultures. Since 2023, 1,400 Hilton employees have participated.
• Travel benefit. Employees, their friends, and families can stay at Hilton hotels at heavily discounted rates. "You normally find that if somebody works in hospitality, they like to travel," Ryan says. "It's one of those benefits that everybody loves, and it's available to our team members across the world."

Can culture scale with 329 new hotels?

The biggest test may be growth itself. Hilton has a pipeline of 329 hotels under construction or in development, and each opening requires building culture from the ground up. "We're opening hotels at quite a pace and, when you open a new hotel, you have to build the culture from scratch," Ryan explains.

Getting that right, he says, determines whether Hilton can recruit and retain its workforce. "Culture is the reason so many people stay with us and develop successful careers." How the company replicates its people-first model across hundreds of new properties will shape its ability to close hospitality's widening labor gap.