The Future of Work in Hospitality
2 experts shared their view
(Viewpoint by Bruce Tracey & Michael Warech) Advances in FoW technology (e.g., chatbots, interactive video, artificial intelligence, apps for providing real time feedback, facilitating virtual collaboration, creating personalized learning journeys) are already staples used in recruitment, interviewing, demand roster scheduling, performance management, learning and development, teaming, and other personnel activities. Big data is being used to improve strategy, internal and external processes, products and services, client experiences and, importantly in predictive analytics to enhance HR decision making - everything from recruiting, candidate slating, selection decisions, succession planning, and other resource allocation determinations.
So, what does all this mean for HR leaders and practitioners in the hospitality sector given that our human capital challenges (e.g., high turnover, long hours, unclear career progressions) continue to loom large?
This panel is brought to you by National HR In Hospitality Conference (postponed)
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National HR In Hospitality Conference (postponed)
In Silicon Valley, “The Future Of Work'' means the gig economy, and the impact of AI. But let's look from the customer experience-in. The US economy is now 84% services. Technology alone has historically been an insufficient differentiator. In banking, for example, the Internet has supplemented, not replaced, high value in-person services: there are twice as many bank branches now as in 1980, but 75% fewer banks.
So while hospitality firms will automate and outsource, they'll need to compete on experiences, as delivered by their employees. Digital skills will be important, but social skills will be the differentiators. Teams will deploy talent with micro-precision and in real time to maximize the guest experience. Internal talent marketplaces that are now being deployed to fill positions will evolve for hourly workers to fill roles that may vary by shift, or even by task within shifts, with just-in-time learning and instant feedback. AI technologies born in the gig economy will enable a new type of management of employees, targeted precisely to customer needs in real-time - “Uber-ized” - differentiated by empathy. These will be the best workplaces, attracting the best employees by offering the most opportunities for flexibility, learning, and growth. By transforming how they find and enable talent, HR leaders will be key co-creators of the customer experience and the winning hospitality companies of tomorrow.
With today's talent shortage across hospitality and record-low unemployment rates, recruiting has become more important—but also increasingly more difficult. We see enormous opportunity in how employers leverage new technology to find more qualified talent. In our most recent Human Capital Trends Survey, we found that only 6 percent of organizations across industries believe that they have best-in-class processes and technology within their recruitment functions. Recently, there has been an explosion of new tools, many powered by AI, designed to make processes like collecting and tracking applicants more scientific, scalable and effective.
But competing in today's tight talent market cannot depend solely on recruitment alone. People now rate the “opportunity to learn” as among their top reasons for taking a job (Deloitte 2019 Global Human Capital Survey), and business leaders know that changes in technology, longevity of skills, and business models have created enormous demand for continuous development. We see leading organizations taking meaningful steps to deliver learning to their people in more personal and innovative ways. For example, going forward, we expect to see more organizations seeking out opportunities to integrate real-time learning into the everyday workflow. With cloud-connected mobile and wearable devices becoming almost omnipresent, and the introduction of augmented reality devices, organizations will be able to explore new approaches to virtual learning in which learning occurs in small doses, almost invisibly, throughout the workday.