The future of work and staffing in the hospitality industry
During COVID-19, the operating workforce of hundreds of businesses plunged to near zero. This upheaval has caused a material shift in how the hospitality industry approaches recruitment and retention - post-pandemic.
Securing and retaining frontline workers has always been a challenge. In the current economic environment, the competition is a frantic playing field, with operators of hotels, restaurants and the like, struggling to overcome the challenges of finding people to fill jobs, whilst at the same time fighting rising costs.
Admittedly, and as acknowledged by many managers, the industry’s treatment of workers at the beginning of the pandemic may have damaged hospitality’s ability to attract talented employees. The hospitality industry has a track record of laying people off when the times are bad as a solution to cutting costs and then attempting to rehire them when it is over.
Researchers at the University Of Houston Conrad N. Hilton College Of Global Hospitality Leadership say many skilled hospitality workers who were furloughed or laid off during the COVID-19 pandemic were left angry and are reluctant to return to the industry.
The study involving current, former and aspiring hospitality industry professionals, including hospitality students revealed a huge fear factor. Fear of been deprived of one’s job or livelihood in an instant, reigned high. The biggest driver though, and one that broke the proverbial camel’s back, was anger over how the industry responded to the pandemic.
It’s time for the industry to espouse a different approach on how it can entice new workers, especially one that captures the interest of a new generation of hospitality employees. It could well require discarding the current methods of selecting positions in hotel operations and thinking beyond offering the traditional benefits which has, for a long time, failed to appeal to workers. Job descriptions and duties that attract and fulfill hospitality’s ‘calling’, particularly with technology having gained traction, will need to be future-crafted.
The fractured nature of the hospitality industry in meaningfully addressing the labour shortage issues is going to thwart finding immediate and lasting solutions. Before the industry can unite on major issues such as these, it has to rebuild trust with its employees. It must be able to reassure them that should there be another crisis in the industry, they have plans in place that protect employees– financially and emotionally. Otherwise, the younger generation would remain uninterested in joining the industry.
Perceived by many, either as a stop-gap or dead-end job for the unskilled, an industry that should offer a career, is stuck in a quagmire of perpetually seeking people to fill vacancies. Promoting hospitality as a career in schools and educating people that it is a career with amazing opportunities is an immediate start. The change of perception is not going to happen immediately, but there’s no better time than now to do it.
As someone wisely remarked, with so many people thinking more intentionally about their workplace, it may be the best time to find not just enough employees, but the right employees.
Shafeek Wahab – Editor, Hospitality Sri Lanka, consultant, trainer, Ex-Hotelier
|
|
|
|
