Labeling jobs in the hospitality sector as low or unskilled
I was watching the TV series ‘Blue Bloods’, where the character portraying a demobilized army soldier who had served in Iran, now wishing to join the Police force, was asked by the interviewing Police Commissioner “So, what did the army teach you?” The ex-serviceman replied “I was taught to keep my head high, be ever watchful, to watch out for others and how to stay alive”. When asked “Why should we recruit you?” He responded” I may have low skills… but I’ve got a whole lotta drive, discipline and initiative to go beyond staying alive”. These answers, especially the one about possessing ‘low skills’ and ‘initiative’, got me to reflect on how this particular way of thinking is characterised in the hospitality labour market? What exactly do ‘low skills’ mean? Is it the actual technical requirements of the job? Or is it an indicator of the value that our society places on the particular job in question? Or is it a combination of both?
The public perception of Hospitality work is widely characterised as low skill. This assumption lies with the general portrayal of a sector struggling to deal with an ‘uneducated, unmotivated, untrained, unskilled and unproductive’ workforce. Consequently, Hospitality-related work is often labeled as ‘low or unskilled’. This is both unhelpful and baseless as the low skills argument tends to overlook the opportunities that hospitality provides for the relatively easy access to the use of entrepreneurial and management skills. An equally strong but lesser known assertion expressed by Author Baum in his book ‘Human Resource Management in the European Tourism and Hospitality Industry’, is where he contends that, “An important feature of skills within hospitality is the range of capabilities that a diverse sector can accommodate. The sector is one that provides opportunities that range from senior global business management, through to work that is within the capability of people with a range of physical and learning disabilities”.
Perceptions of hospitality as a lower status or interim career choice, continues to affect the size and quality of the labour pool as well as contributing to high staff turnover rates. A major cause to these issues relates to impotent management capabilities, with the majority of operators failing to understand the benefits of utilising retention and motivational initiatives to enhance job satisfaction levels and decrease turnover. The development of skills to meet the needs of various stakeholders in hospitality is frequently seen as a partnership between the industry and the educational / training providers, with each playing a complementary role. Unfortunately, this is just not happening.
Knowledgeable employers place value on generic skills, such as the willingness to learn and the ability to be flexible and adaptive. At the same time, initiative is also a valued skill and one found to be lacking in the industry. Initiative in hospitality is a double-edged sword. Are employers being unrealistic in their expectations? If, when recruiting, employers focus only on people they feel are good at following instructions and go on to later complain that these employees show little or no initiative, it begs the question…are employers recruiting with the ‘right’ attitude?
Another barrier to attracting people is the low level of industry investment in training. A recurring cycle of little investment in training and development is attributed to high turnover of employees. Employers argue that spending on training is wasteful due to high turnover. Employees cry that they are poorly trained with no future prospects and look elsewhere. It is clear to observe how each of these issues drives the other and has built a vicious cycle for the industry and its workforce.
Shafeek Wahab – Editor, Hospitality Sri Lanka, Consultant, Trainer, Ex-Hotelier
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