Managers must have their employees back
Business leaders in almost every industry speak in one voice, that looking ahead; differentiation will separate the successful organisations from those that are not. For example, if all hotels were identical offering very similar products and prices – they provide numerous options to customers. What then would set a hotel apart from the rest? These same business leaders would without any hesitation say “Hotels that deliver superior experiences to guests”. It would appear so…but not entirely. Hotels don’t deliver customer experiences – people do.
Hotels are in the people business. For certain, hotels are in the business of providing accommodation, food, beverages, relaxation, but those are only operational elements. Caring for the whole person is a hotel’s biggest responsibility, and that means treating each guest, not servicing each guest. Equally important is that it treats its staff with dignity and respect as it would a guest. Employees too are real people and if they aren’t having a good experience at work, what encouragement do they have to make guests feel any better? As Bill Marriot said, “take care of your employees and they will take care of your guests".
Hoteliers know how important it is to track a customer’s journey and to remove or minimise any associated pain point. However, managers hardly give any thought to an employee’s work journey. Most often, it is a daily passage dotted with its moments of frustration.
As an hotelier who served the hospitality industry for over three decades, I’ve encountered managers who did not have their employees back when dealing with a difficult guest. Blindsided by guests, who after hurling abuse at staff complain that the employee was rude or impolite, such managers, perversely believing that the customer is always right, would immediately throw their employees ‘under the bus’.
The hospitality industry flourishes on the axiom that “it is the customer who counts and comes first, where every need should be met. The customer deserves it, since it is the customer who pays our salary”. That the customer pays the bill has shifted the power balance away from the establishment to the customer. And that creates problems. Because money does something to people, especially to those who are ignorant of what the version of entitlement means in hospitality. They think they can buy anything, like respect and dignity and get away with not treating service staff as human beings!
When a member of staff brings a problem to the attention of a manager, he/she should first ask for some details, such as, “Why is the guest upset? Did you offer an explanation? Did they mention as to how they wanted the matter resolved? Did you offer a solution? Was the guest polite or rude to you?” Then the manager after introducing him/herself, should actively hear out the guest as to what upset the guest and proceed with handling the complaint in a proper and tactful manner – even if closure of the matter ends up telling the guest “no”.
George Hershey in his article “We are all human”, narrates this interesting incident;
“Having my staff treated well is something I care dearly about. From my experience, it is always so reassuring to know that management has your back, that they will take care of you, and this is how I treat my teams too. I remember working in a restaurant in Falmouth whilst studying when I was 18. I was nervous, still new to working in such a tiny team (I was one of 3 people in that restaurant), so you had a lot of responsibility and still had a lot to learn with unhappy guests. I remember like it was yesterday a guest raising his arm in the air and snapping his fingers together to get my attention. I was completely shocked and felt so offended to be treated this way that I walked into the kitchen in rage, to be away from the floor. The chef and owner at the time was a South African guy, ripped and intimidating yet came straight over to me, off the pans and put his arm around me and asked what was wrong. I told him what this customer was like, and he took off his apron and stormed into the restaurant and asked the guest to leave and to not pay. He said, no-one treats my staff like that and to not come back. He walked back to the kitchen, patted me on the back and said, “don’t worry mate, I’ve got your back”. Looking back now and having worked in this game a long time, this is not how I would deal with this situation, but I have not forgotten about it since, and I respected the gesture so much at the time that it made me work so hard for him for months to come.”
It would do customers well to remember that hospitality is a two-way street with certain rules to be obeyed by everyone.. Yes, restaurants want customers to patronise them, they want them to enjoy a good time – but not at the expense of others. Becoming aggressive with words, intimidating or touching staff is behavior with zero tolerance. No amount of money can replace one’s dignity as a human being, and managers shouldn't have to put up with that type of behavior.
Shafeek Wahab – Editor, Hospitality Sri Lanka, Consultant, Trainer, Ex-Hotelier
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