In today’s job market for the hotel and hospitality industry, there is more demand than supply of qualified workers. When you get a great team working hard at your company, you need to focus on keeping them together so that your business will be successful and your customers will be happy. Here are some tips for employee retention in the hospitality industry that you can start benefiting from today.
Utilize Technology
Staying up to date with technology is a great way to help your employees work better by making their tasks easier to perform. For instance, giving hotel housekeepers modern hotel carts will help them stay organized, as well as increase their timeliness and effectiveness. The carts can be stocked to contain what your employees need to work efficiently and move quickly. A kiosk could be in your lobby as a source of information that employees can recommend to guests for area highlights. Make your poolside attendant’s job easier and more customer-friendly by using mobile POS carts in the pool area. All of these carts help your employees provide better customer service, complete their tasks easier and feel good about working for a company that invests in technology.
Provide Continuous Education
A great way to keep awesome workers is to show them they are valuable to you and your company. Providing continuous education opportunities so they can add to their skill sets is an investment in them as workers and proves their value to you. The money spent on expanding their skills is worthwhile because your employees can improve their job performance, add new ideas and techniques to the business and feel a greater sense of belonging to your company. When your workers feel a sense of ownership over new technology or ideas and know that they are valued and respected, then there is a greater chance of retention and overall job satisfaction.
Honor Supply Requests
Supplies take up a huge part of the budget in the hospitality industry and maintaining control over how much is used is key to cost containment. Employees know this and yet still need an adequate amount of supplies to clean, stock and provide for customer requests. Honoring supply requests by employees is beneficial to the company, the employees and the guests because it builds trust and respect between managers and staff, enables the workers to perform at their best and shows the guests their needs are anticipated and fulfilled.Â
Offer Incentives
There are so many ways to offer incentives to your employees that will make work fun and engaging and encourage them to stay with the company throughout all the seasons. You can start with a strong benefits package and competitive wage, and then add bonuses for peak times of the year. Providing methods to support healthy lifestyles such as exercise rooms or gym membership discounts is a great incentive to stay with your company and shows you value workers’ well-being. Create contests between departments and let guests vote on them to have fun and boost morale. Posting the entrees for a homemade valentine’s contest during the holiday weekend in the lobby will not only give guests a way to interact with the staff but will add a festive personal touch. You can make up entertaining titles to give to employees that offer stellar service to your customers and get highly satisfactory reviews. Free food is a nice incentive, as are gift cards and extra paid time off for goals met and expectations exceeded.Â
Your staff is the heart of your company. You don’t want a broken heart, so put into practice these tips to keep your business healthy and realize high employee retention. Invest in technology, education, training, wages and fun incentives to create a company culture that people do not want to leave and others want to join. This way, you can attract and keep the most talented employees for years of success and growth.
