Can you afford not to be an innovative leader in all matters of human resources?

Stephen W. Ayers, CEO STAY Ahead Hospitality

The days when staff was just numbers on your payroll lists have long been gone. Finding good staff today is difficult, and once found, keeping them on board is an even more difficult task.

In more rural and outlying areas it is easier to attract and keep loyal employees, but in the cities the matter is a whole lot more complicated. I hear constantly from colleagues that not only can’t they find staff for vacant positions, but that no sooner are they on board and productive that they get ‘poached’ by competitors.

Yet when I ask some of them what their HR department is doing to actively combat the situation, their answer sometimes amazes me. Many just have a ‘designated’ person in charge of hiring, firing and everything in between. The HR duties are just an annoyance for the designated manager who has his or her own department to run.

Need another employee? Stick another wanted ad in the local paper. The candidate looks more or less OK? Hire him and carry on. Need a more senior manager? Call the headhunters. A brief interview, a call to check references and hire the guy. Heck, the ads can be placed in the local papers anytime, they are going nowhere, and neither are the headhunters. 

But the consequences are very real and…….very expensive.

Set aside for a moment the fact that every new employee costs around $5,000 until he or she becomes a fully effective and functioning member of staff. Sure, if ten employees leave and ten are hired every year, that impacts the bottom line by $50,000, and that is just the beginning.

To engage the guests of today and tomorrow in the right way that delivers on their needs and expectations, every hotel needs to first engage their staff and create a culture that takes care of their needs and expectations. Human resources are not just the rules and regulations, the health and safety, the grievance procedures, social benefits and payroll. Sure they are absolutely important, but they are the personnel management side of things, the ‘cold’, legal side. Human resources encompass not only the personnel management but also the ‘engagement’ of your staff, and this is the ‘caring’ part.

The rise of the Millennials to becoming the largest consumer group has altered the map with such a different set of values compared to generations before. They are the majority of your staff and also your guests. This needs a different approach, a more caring hotel culture to ensure increased staff loyalty, longer service and improved results.

Implementing and ensuring a great, caring and successful staff culture needs focused leadership and commitment. In hotels and restaurants of a decent size this means a dedicated HR professional who is passionate and heads up an HR office full time.

In my article The Three Golden Pillars I wrote about the critical importance of Staff as the most important pillar, and property owners and managers who do not recognize this are staring at a bleak future!

Stephen Ayers is the co-creator of The Meaningful Seminars focused on the new meaning of staff culture, hotel branding and meaningful purchases by guests.