Labor and Skills Shortage in the Hotel Industry
Pointe Hilton Squaw Peak Resort in Phoenix, Arizona has been facing labor problems and coping like any other hotel. The labor problem seems to be a mix of issues on top of the labor shortage itself. The lack of skills and high labor turnover aggravate the situation.
Connected Problems
Skilled Labor Shortage
Hotels hire many people at the entry level. However, the kind of people that hotels need is skilled and specialized. After all, not any one can do the job. So, even if there are many still unemployed, hotels suffer from a shortage. There are not enough applicants and fewer still of the applicants qualify. Part of the reason for this is that hotel work is not a typical 9-to-5 job. Work hours are different. Most hotels operate 24/7, some people may be assigned to the graveyard shift. Break times can also be different if there are any at all. Competition has also increased. The problem becomes more pronounced during peak seasons. Hotels need more staff during certain times of the year. This is the time of the year that they could earn profits and recover whatever losses they may have for the rest of the year. According to Teri Agosta, GM of the Pointe Hilton Squaw Peak Resort, “We usually get a lot of applicants for jobs, but we want to make sure the fit is right on all levels The challenge is finding people who have the talent but also fit into the environment of the resort and the chemistry of the department.”
A contributing factor to the problem is improving economic conditions. During the crisis, there were a lot of unemployed, highly educated persons who got displaced the recession. They sought jobs in the hospitality industry. With the economy improving, these people are going back to their industries.
High Turnover
As there are not enough skilled workers and because of not very high wages, hotels suffer from a high employee turnover. Hotels pirate workers from each other. This problem worsens during peak seasons.
Minimum Wage and Overtime Pay
Minimum wages for workers in the hospitality industry—especially ‘tipped’ employees—are expected to rise . Actually, it is about to be increased in some states and others are likely to follow . The minimum wage increase is on top of the overtime pay adjustment that Pres. Obama is contemplating. The hotel industry is protesting this overtime pay increase as being too fast and too much. The overtime pay hike can have a worse impact on the hotel industry because of the classification of some workers. Salaried employees that have traditionally not been entitled to overtime pay have been included in the proposal. While the high minimum wages make hotels act more carefully, higher wages do not make jobs at hotels more attractive.
Workplace Conditions and Litigation Issues
Workplace conditions make jobs at hotels unattractive. They also seem to be a source of legal problems for hotels. Work hours, break times, safety, and the related pay for all of these are often the subject of the complaints. The courts seem to be taking the side of labor in many cases. With the new laws related to hiring disabled persons, workplace conditions can raise more issues . While some conditions cannot change and are a reality and in the hotel business, some form of incentives may be considered to overcome this problem.
Conclusion and Possible Solutions
Labor-related problems in the hotel industry are perennial and have existed for a long time. Recruitment, skills, technology and wages are among the factors that could help improve or aggravate the problem. Hotels must be able to keep up with the changing times and changing technology.
Hiring Veterans
Pointe Hilton Squaw Peak Resort and affiliates in the Hilton Worldwide Holdings adopted a unique and helpful solution: Hire military veterans. Pointe Hilton hunts down veterans all over the country. “According to Dottie Muller, regional director of human resources for Hilton, the company sends corporate human resources personnel to individual properties to conduct workshops for management on how to attract veterans as potential employees.”
Referrals
Pointe Hilton also relies on referrals from present employees. Referrals are a very safe of recruits. Employees will not refer questionable characters for the job. The hotel offers incentives to encourage employees to refer people.
Education, Onboarding and Training
The lack of skills of entry-level applicants has always been a problem. There are many unemployed people but they do not meet the industry’s needs. Since hotels cannot blame or rely on industry or the environment forever, they may want to consider training people themselves. They will have to develop a formal training program that all applicants or new employees must undertake before they are given assignments. The program can even provide additional training in office management like accounting, use of computer software, among others. It is program similar to those in hospitals for medical staff. Whether the trainees are paid or not is up to the hotel or depending on the local laws and regulations. Hotels can further make these programs attractive by having some kind of accreditation process sanctioned by the local education authorities. The accreditation can serve as a certificate that would facilitate employment in the industry in general. There is a risk to this program. Trainees can leave after completing the program and join competitors. Hotels can consider the program as part of their corporate social responsibility or responsiveness investment and commitment. They should even work together on such initiatives. In the end, they will all benefit as there would always be a ready pool of skilled people available. Pointe Hilton has a program like this for veterans .
It is important to note that better-trained and thus better-skilled people are more productive. They work faster and accomplish more in a shorter period of time. This could help reduce issues about feeling overworked. Overtime pay should not be overlooked.
Good Employee Relationship and Mentorship
Sometimes, proper treatment of employees can make a lot of difference and help retain employees longer. A hotel may want to develop a training culture. Some supervisors can act as mentors of staff at the same time. The employees learn and feel good about working at the company.
Millennials and New Technology
The labor pool consists of whole new generation of people, the millennials. These young people are today’s jobseekers. They can be recruited and trained. However, millennials are different from previous generations. For one thing, they grew up in the age of the internet and social media. Traditional ways of recruiting and training of millennials will thus have to be modified to suit them. The use of computer technology, the internet and social media will have to be maximized to accelerate recruitment of training of this generation of employees.
These are just some of the possible ways that the labor-related problems in the industry could be addressed.
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