In August of this year, The London Development Agency (LDA) announced plans to invest £3.5m to create world-class hospitality service staff in London. With attention focused on the employment aspects of the industry, we review some of the major changes that have occurred within the capital.
Anyone who is familiar with online recruiting knows what a powerful tool it can be. However, it is still a relatively new model and it needs a lot of attention. Many companies are taking a reactive approach and leaving it to HR administrators to just “post and pray.” By doing so they are not only decreasing their chances of hiring a candidate, but they can potentially miss out on identifying the “A” player. There are many opportunities throughout the online recruitment process where taking it just “one step further” can help you secure top talent for your organization.
Do you inspire faith or fear among potential staff? Sitting in the business-class window seat, the view over the South China Sea is breathtaking. The candidate has been invited to fly to Hong Kong for an interview, and the business-class tickets for two and the promise of three nights in one of Hong Kong’s finest hotels put both him and his wife in a receptive mood. The extra US$8,000 spent on the two business-class tickets compared to the single economy ticket are seen as a prudent investment, commensurate with the company’s brand image as an employer of choice. The welcome letter in the room from the MD and the carefully planned meeting schedule [along with an itinerary for the spouse, including school visits] are designed to maximise the value of the visit. After a day of interviews, a psychometric test and a tour of the hotel, the candidate enters the fine-dining restaurant for the final hurdle – lunch with the MD and chairman.
The results are in! A lot of management discussions center around team building, motivating, leading and empowering staff. But what is not being talked about is what over 70,000 hospitality executives, managers, and line employees of up-scale five and six-star properties perceive to be the basics for successful management in a continuous improvement, team-based, service-culture.
ITHACA, NY | Although scheduling employees is a complex task, it’s worth doing well. A proper schedule can boost an operation’s profitability, according to a new report issued by The Center for Hospitality Research at Cornell University. That’s because a well constructed schedule ensures proper service levels and controls costs—ultimately delivering more profit for an operation. The report, written by School of Hotel Administration Professor Gary M. Thompson, offers a comprehensive framework that allows managers to achieve their operation’s economic goals by creating schedules that help ensure that employees will perform all the tasks necessary to provide appropriate levels of customer service.
As industry reputations go the recruitment industry does not enjoy a very positive image. In fact, recruitment companies are often thought of in the same manner as estate agents and car salesmen. There is a lack of trust and a suspicion that a recruiter is more interested in making a quick fee than in finding the best candidate. Too often we hear companies complaining of candidates who leave within six months of being placed, or of recruiters placing a candidate at a company only to then approach another individual in the same organisation one week later for a job elsewhere. As is often the case, the actions of the few sadly become the perception of the many and the entire sector is tarnished with the same brush.
Where are we going to find the right calibre of people? ASIA’S hospitality industry is heading for one of the biggest economic booms since North America industrialized in the late 19th century. We are on the threshold of an unrivalled period of growth and development. But our focus must not be on the short-term images of civet-cat massacres and body bags full of dead chickens. Jobs in travel and tourism – both direct and indirect – are predicted to increase by more than 33 million for the region by 2010. Macau continues to assert itself with its mega casino developments, Hong Kong is getting Disney, Beijing the Olympics and Shanghai EXPO 2010.
My previous articles about online recruiting have focused mainly on issues facing employers. Now it is time to take a look at the medium through the eyes of the candidate. There are several steps a job seeker can take to better their chances of finding employment through the internet. Two areas we can focus on are: identifying opportunities and marketing yourself online. The rules that apply to traditional job searching do not always translate to the internet and there are many new ones.
'The bigger the better', so the saying goes. Or is it that 'less is more'? Hotels come in all shapes and sizes and management responsibilities, employee numbers, facilities, and revenues vary accordingly. Managing a 100-room hotel with one restaurant and two small meeting rooms is certainly a different proposition to running a 600-room property with multiple food and beverage outlets and conference and banqueting facilities. Is this difference in management responsibilities reflected however in the salaries of the actual management?
Its all about differences…about diversity…that colour the experience which a hotel delivers to its customers. Every competitive advantage begins with people; people are different; differences create opportunity. That’s diversity.
Nothing illustrates the diversity of Asia Pacific more vividly than the variety of pay practices. Apart from market bench-marking, independent oversight is required with pay for performance strategies which could mean reduced pay for non-performers.
As internet job boards become increasingly popular, employment portals are looking to offer more than just job postings and a resume database. The best job boards incorporate value added services that benefit both the job seeker and the employer. These features can include compensation data, skills assessments, industry specific articles, and a host of other relevant career resources. Becoming more of a "one-stop-shop" for career information encourages all parties to visit regularly. In turn, an industry specific community is created.
The best practice companies of the hospitality industry have long recognized the importance of building a solid employment brand. Not only is it good for the overall image of the company, it is the surest way of attracting and retaining top talent. Those companies who are heralded as the best to work for are progressive in areas of employee training and mentoring, they recognize the importance of the work/life balance, and offer creative compensation programs.
These days demanding investors, stringent regulators and scandal-hungry media are forcing companies to operate under much heightened scrutiny. Over the past couple of years boards of directors have found themselves saddled with increased responsibility for corporate performance and governance policy. Accordingly, the turnover of CEOs at large public companies has increased two fold as boards, acting on behalf of shareholders, take a closer look at financial performance and company accounts. The board's role however should not simply be a corrective one when things go wrong. Rather, the board should be responsible for selecting the right CEO in the first place.
SENIOR hotel executives are scratching their heads over an annual dilemma: what, if any, adjustments should they make to next year's payroll? But when it comes to rewards in 2004, the old proverb, "He who pays the piper calls the tune" might be better written as, "Pay the piper who plays the right tune." Nothing illustrates the diversity of our region more clearly than the characteristics of pay practices, which obviously reflect the conditions in each environment. Or do they?
Should the GM have his/her own accounts? YES. Today, the more urgent nature of our business has pushed the general manager from "overseer" and "supervisor of the sales director" to a heavily involved sales manager in his/her own right. Today's GM attends weekly sales meetings, personally greets meeting planners when they visit the hotel, reviews marketing plans and sales goals, and attends the daily revenue meetings as well.
WHEN the SARS panic eventually dies down I, for one, hope that things never get back to normal. Not if "normal" means being equally ill-prepared when the next crisis hits. Hotels throughout the region are having to make some tough HR decisions, with many already introducing unpaid leave that ranges between 20% and 48% of the working month. But senior staff are still expected to continue to work the "hours required", which effectively makes this unpaid leave an ill-disguised pay cut.
Does age matter? We live in a society that is increasingly concerned with age and, in particular, about combating the ageing process. Like people, some hotels age more gracefully than others, some, like the Waldorf Astoria in New York, grow into legendary grandes dames.
In the ever-changing environment of employee-employer relationships, one might legitimately wonder whether it ever makes sense to keep employee manuals or policies in hard print rather than in an easily accessible and updateable electronic format. If the activity in the California legislature is any indication, one would think that to have a written policy manual compliant with the plethora of employee-employer relationship rules and regulations would be senseless, if not nearly impossible. Rules that impact employees and employers are constantly being made and changed.
The best executive search firms assist client organizations in defining executive positions, identifying well-qualified and motivated candidates, and selecting those best suited through comprehensive, quality-assured search processes. Because utilizing an executive search firm requires a substantial investment of time and money, it is critical for restaurant executives to have a keen understanding of what to expect from the client-executive search firm relationship.