Hospitality as an Aspirational Career Destination for Younger Generations: A Collaborative Approach

Successful and expanding industries must constantly adapt to changing landscapes, such as geopolitical, supply chain challenges, environmental concerns, and talent acquisition and development, to name just a few. 

In the 1960s, American manufacturing companies adapted to “outsourcing,” a concept that moved manufacturing to countries with lower labor costs, which increased profits. It was the beginning of globalization as we know it today, and many non-US companies also followed this path.  The retail food industry adapted by moving from small stores with staffed service counters to large stores and supermarkets where customers, usually unassisted, selected their products by walking through aisles. A further example of industry instilling change is the restaurant industry, which incorporated the self-service model, such as food buffets, and made the customer a co-creator of the end product, which affected the customer–employee interaction and, as such, the customer experience.

Probably the most acute challenge in today’s hospitality industry is acquiring and retaining talent. Unlike the manufacturing industry, where many processes can be automated, the hospitality industry is largely service-oriented and depends on human-to-human interaction to deliver optimal guest experiences. While the guest room, a plate of food, or a cocktail can be considered products, these are delivered using a service, and product and service become inseparable, which is the basis of the hospitality customer experience, the dining experience, or the overall hospitality experience. In essence, creating a memorable guest experience in hospitality involves co-creation between guests and employees.

Additional challenges facing the hospitality industry today are rapidly changing customer expectations, new customer profiles, and difficulties in employee acquisition and retention. The latter has become more acute since the COVID-19 pandemic. The industry faces increasingly demanding employees regarding working hours, compensation, and professional and personal growth. In many instances, each company approaches the above in its own way. As such, there is no collective industry-wide approach to talent management. Over time, the industry lags in attractiveness for future employees. Historically, employees worked for many years with a hotel company and progressed to senior management through professional development. Younger generations of hotel employees, who are the future of the industry, seek faster career trajectories and want to be appreciated for their efforts. Hotels that cannot accommodate them will have increased turnover.

Business leaders typically seek to have three prominent values in their companies. Shareholder value, customer value, and employee value – not necessarily in that order. In many instances, employee value receives less attention. Yet, if employee value increases, it increases the customer value and ultimately, the shareholder value. Marriott’s philosophy is “Take care of associates, and they will take care of the customers," and it is as true today as when J.W. Marriott introduced it many decades ago. So, if one very large company can approach employee retention and development in such a way, why can the industry not act collectively to make it attractive to future employees? One response could be that it's because each company looks out for itself. Why would Hotel A be concerned about talent acquisition for Hotel B? Each has its own challenges.

There is no doubt that the hospitality industry is a very exciting one. So why is it difficult to acquire and retain talent? If we look at the previous examples of industries that adapted to change, there was always one company that took the lead, and others followed. Is it possible that hotel and restaurant trade organizations could take the lead and discuss what would make the industry more attractive to current and future employees? Despite the fact that the major companies are competitors, could they collaborate on a common objective to make the industry more attractive? After all, they do this very well for their customers – why not for employees? 

Could we envision a Venn diagram representing hotel companies, educational institutions, and hotel and restaurant trade organizations collaborating towards a common objective?  Positioning the industry to younger employees as an aspirational career destination.

To achieve this objective, some difficult conversations need to be addressed, such as increasing compensation levels, modifying working hours, introducing flex time, employee engagement, employee appreciation, upward mobility opportunities, and creating what is often referred to as Hybrid roles, which include employees blending multiple, traditionally separate skill sets, for example, a restaurant server with culinary skills, or a front desk agent with housekeeping supervisory skills.  Hybrid roles are ideal for increasing employee motivation and engagement and reducing boredom in the workplace. Additionally, creating hybrid roles, not the same as multitasking, allows for more flexibility in scheduling and for last-minute call-ins due to illness or family emergencies.  

The result of such a collaboration would be a more flexible workforce able to adapt to the fast-changing and exciting environment that is the hospitality industry.

Key takeaway: 

Today’s employees have many exciting career choices and lifestyles that afford a good balance of work and leisure time across many industries. Hospitality companies competing for talent must realise these choices exist and strategize accordingly when creating the offer. A collective approach to improving the industry's current talent challenge helps all stakeholders. The talent needs of a small independent restaurant differ from those of multinationals, but employee expectations of an exciting and rewarding career in hospitality remain the same for both.