Human Resources in Hotels
A Valuable Means to Differentiate
From the Competition
Contemporary Concerns for HR
• The role HR plays in Lodging Operations
of the Future
• Consequences of Turnover
• Complying with Employment Laws
• Boosting Employee Productivity
HR at the Crossroads
• Two likely scenarios for the HR function in
hotels:
– HR will evolve, adapt, and become more
important to lodging organizations.
– HR in lodging organizations will be
outsourced using outside talent and
technology.
Alternative 1: HR as a Leader
• Organizations must look beyond cost
containment to get value from the HR function.
– Difficulty with organizational structures is that HR is
not viewed as a profit center.
– Useful ways to look at HR as a “profit center”
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Reduction in employee loss time
Reduction in sick days
Reduction in Recruiting costs
Etc. Can you think of other ways to reduce the costs of
managing employees?
HR as a Leader
• Another way to look at the cost effect of
HR other than cost reduction is
productivity
– Improved employee productivity
– Returning guests through employee-guest
interactions
– Can you think of other ways that employee
productivity can be measured?
Alternative 2: HR will Disappear
• Positive side of this scenario:
– Technology provides for a reduction of redundant functions
• Employees processing HR information themselves
• HR functions moving to a Central Location
• Negative Side of this scenario
– HR is the enemy – causes operations extra work
– HR is inefficient – too many support staff that do not come in contact
with the guest
– HR is out of touch – they do not understand what it takes to take care
of the guest.
Current HR professionals in hotels must strive to reduce the negative
attributes often associated with the HR function and look for ways
to add value to the properties that make up the organization.
Traditional Roles of HR
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Recruitment
Hiring
Training
Wages and benefit management
Employee performance appraisal
HR as an Organizational Leader
• Key concerns that HR must consider to become an
organizational leader:
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Employee motivation
Jobs as careers
Job fatigue
Changing role of supervisor
Employees in the decision making process
Sharing management with other organizational stakeholders
Consequences of technology on jobs and organization
Cross cultural attitudes
Social responsibility of employees and organization
Consequences of Turnover
• Actual costs incurred by employee
separation
• Cost of recruiting new employees
• Inefficiencies of new employees in training
• Disruption of guest service and employee
moral
• Opportunities for diminished image, lost of
customer loyalty etc.
Consequences of Turnover
• A fine line between tenure and
performance
– Organizations must constantly review policies
and practices to ensure that employees
productivity does not diminish as they reach
longer periods of tenure.
• What are strategies that hotels can undertake to
reduce job fatigue and reduced productivity?
Calculating Turnover
• TO % = Number of new hires /
Total number of employees
• For example:
– 75 employees when fully staffed
– 60 new employees hired during the period
– = 60/75 or 66.6 %
Mentoring
• An Important way to enhance:
– Productivity
– Moral
– Retention
• Positive effect on both mentor and protégé
• Stages of Mentoring
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Initiation of the relationship
Cultivation of the relationship
Separation of the relationship
Redefinition of the relationship