Employee Retention
Guest Column By Michael Hoffman
Hotel & Motel Management
Attracting and retaining the best employees is one of the greatest issues
facing hotel owners today. A limited pool of top potential job candidates,
traditionally low starting salaries, less-than-desirable evening and
weekend shifts, and intense competition among hotel brands contribute
to this challenge.
Overcome this situation by becoming an effective manager. This
will help you hire – and even more importantly – retain
the best and brightest talent to work in your hotels. This goal begins
with a certain mindset. Look at your employees as being part of your
professional family, who, like your own family members, should be treated
with dignity, respect, and fairness. Hotels perform at maximum profitability
when all employees are satisfied and working to their fullest potential.
Treating them like family in a congenial environment – not just
paid staffers – can go a long way in creating happier, more devoted
employees. And, this will ultimately enhance guest satisfaction and your
bottom line.
Effective leadership is having the ability to delegate and provide
your employees with the necessary tools to perform their jobs. In
an industry that operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, you cannot
possibly do it all as an owner or manager. Cross-train your employees
and empower them, so that they can fill in for one another in a pinch.
As they learn, they will gain additional skills and not stay stagnant
in their work.
Promote from within. Instead of taking the valuable
skills they have learned at your hotel and accepting a higher position
at your competitor, employees will remain with you if they understand
from the start that there are advancement opportunities. At Turf Hotels,
some of our employees have been with us for more than 20 years. As a
matter of fact, one of our employees joined us as a dishwasher and advanced
to our purchasing agent. That is a very strong example (and incentive)
for employees to join and stay with my company.
This management
philosophy can be applied by other hotel owners as well.
Turn to outside sources for help – such as your
franchisee association or advisory council – and take advantage
of any special management programs or courses available to you. At
the IAHI, for example, we offer members the unique General Manager Academy
and Leadership Institute – in their second and third years, respectively. The
invitation-only programs, presented in collaboration with InterContinental
Hotels Group (IHG) provide the opportunity for hotel owners and general
managers to better understand their leadership style, more effectively
motivate others, and ultimately become more well-rounded leaders. Confident,
highly trained leaders are more likely to attract top talent who want
to be a part of their team.
Become active in your owners’ organization. By
joining committees that interest you, you’ll be able to exchange
best practices and learn effective management strategies from other hotel
owners. You can then turn to them for advice and offer your assistance
to them as well.
Thinking of your hotel employees as your family, promoting from within,
and utilizing the resources of your franchisee association or council
will ultimately help lower turnover, improve profitability, and attract
loyal employees that will be with you for years to come.
Michael Hoffman is the 2006-2007 Chairman of IAHI, the Owners’ Association
of InterContinental Hotels Group, and president of Turf Hotels in
Albany, New York.
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