A genuine love for the business of
hospitality and the desire to excel
as a hotelier are slowly giving way
to aspirations for better work-life
balance, faster career growth and
the need for better pay.
Through the ages we have learnt that
the only way to put the customer
first in the hospitality industry is
by putting the employee first. The
rationale may not be very obvious,
but it is certainly compelling.
Satisfied employees lead to
satisfied customers, the only kind
we can afford to have in a service
business like ours. Just the word
?hospitality?, which is derived from
the word "hospice", having a Latin
root in "hospitium's", meaning ?a
philosophy; a style of care?, says
it all. It implies a personal
experience delivered by a human
being. An architecturally perfect
hotel building doesn't form a part
of fond memories of a guest as does
a memorable direct experience he had
involving a hotel employee! Jim
Hartigan, Senior Vice President for
Customer Quality and Performance for
Hilton Hotels Corporation puts it
aptly, "Quite frankly, whatever
product we have, a competitor can
copy. A certain kind of bed, a
television, a shower head, all of
this can be copied. What can't be
replicated is the genuine, personal
service." Indeed it's a truth no one
can belie, a large part of what
draws customers - especially repeat
customers - is how well they are
served.
Worldwide researches have suggested
that employee turnover is among the
highest in the hospitality industry.
Studies have shown that the average
turnover level among non-management
hotel employees in the US is about
50%, and about 25% for management
staff. Estimates of average annual
employee turnover range from around
60 to 300 percent, according to
research conducted by the American
Hotel and Motel Association.
Retention experts say hotels spend
thousands every year for each new
employee they must train to replace
a seasoned worker who leaves. It is
no longer a startling fact that the
cost of losing an employee is
between half and one-and-a-half
times their annual salary!
My efforts to understand the reasons
and motivations behind the decision
for a job change - from one hotel to
another or from the industry to
another sector - highlight a
well-known reality: that people are
inherently driven to maximize
benefits or satisfaction, and that
they assume a lifetime perspective
when making choices concerning job
changes. The expected benefits or
utility for the employee comes in
the form of higher future earnings,
increased job satisfaction and
enrichment over one's lifetime and a
greater appreciation of his personal
interests.
Many of those associated with the
hotel industry maintain that hotel
positions, do not, by and large,
offer enough creative and
intellectual development. Helmut
Meckelburg, General Manager and Area
Director - Goa, Taj Group of Hotels,
is of the opinion that once people
have understood the needs and
demands of their particular job,
their cultural learning and
intellectual stimulation comes to an
end quite quickly, causing people to
lose interest in their job and look
elsewhere. Moreover, the knowledge
that people are being paid less than
what they might in another industry,
for a comparable position, adds to
this sense of frustration. Also,
according to Mr Meckelburg, the
management style and HR practices
that are used to stimulate,
communicate, recognize, reward and
incentives personnel have, in many
instances, not moved with the times.
There are studies that support the
fact that employees leave an
organization for many reasons, but
two common causes are the quality of
the selection system and the quality
of leadership. Our hiring processes
do not ensure that the applicant
would fit in well with the culture
of a particular property, or even be
well suited for hospitality as a
profession! Moreover,
conventionally, hotels support a
culture that fosters dependence and
relies on the traditional chain of
command, and not all supervisors are
good managers and good team leaders.
It a well-known fact that the
overwhelming majority of people who
leave any hotel leave because of the
way they are treated every day. Lack
of appreciation, lack of teamwork
and the perception that the company
doesn't care about employees are
consistently the highest-rated
reasons for low job satisfaction.
A genuine love for the business of
hospitality, and the desire to excel
as a hotelier, are slowly giving
way to aspirations for better
work-life balance, faster career
growth and the need for better pay.
Increasingly, people are less
willing to make compromises on a
personal front to establish
themselves in this profession, when
more attractive options beckon from
outside the industry. Interesting is
the fact that 60-70% of Lausanne
graduates decide to go into banking,
insurance, and the customer care
industry.
Once employed, a fifty percent
chance exists that any given hotel
employee will leave his job within
one year. For the hotel, the cost is
not only that of hiring and training
a new employee and lower
productivity during ramp-up time,
but possibly even the loss of a
valuable client. We have employee
retention challenges specific to the
hospitality industry, so how do we
address these challenges and create
and maintain sound teams that
inspire creative ideas and work
willingly towards a common goal of
delivering the best customer service
possible?
