Recruitment and Retention: Recruitment and Retention in the Hospitality Industry Strategies

Introduction

Organizations are highly dependent on human resources and as a result, employees have an essential role in any firm. Having employees who are skilled, knowledgeable and having the right ability goes a long way in giving an organization a competitive advantage. In this line, many companies seek to make retention of employees a priority. However, one of the greatest challenges facing this organization is workers turnover. As much as this is likely to have a significant impact on organizations from a broad spectrum, it is more serious in the hospitality industry. This owes to the fact that the field has more employees than any other (Yup Chung, 2000, p. 23). With this in mind, it is critical for organizations to have an effective management that is aimed at the retention of talented employees.

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Challenges facing the hospitality industry

Globally, tourism, events and hospitality industries have for a long time been under the threat of having an undersupply of motivated, qualified and talented personnel. Firstly, the challenges begin at the recruitment stage. Being able to find the right person to do the right job for the company becomes a problem. The employee's attraction strategies that will make the customers keep on coming back is one of the key areas to look out for (Bennett, 2016). However, this is not always a walk in the park. Secondly, the turnover of workers is another major challenge in the industry.

Strategies to attract and retain the best possible employees in the hospitality industry

In a greatly competitive global environment, each organization is interested in having the best workforce that will add value to it. The management of these organizations is hence tasked with the role of being creative in developing strategies to not only attract the best talent into the organization but also retain it ("Professional development opportunities key to retaining talented employees," 2006, p. 67). Different strategies may be used by employers to make sure that they have the right people on board for the required task (Bennett, 2016). This can only be achieved through proper talent management.

Talent management is an approach that aims at recruiting and retaining of talents in an organization, their role expectations, identifying existing gaps in talents needed, ensuring the growth of employees through managing careers and how all this relate to the organization (Farbrother, 2017, p. 43). The best organization strategy to retain employees lies in an effective and robust human resources management and especially those that are valuable to the organization. This can be achieved through a number of ways.

Encouraging management career dispositions

In any retention program, the first step should be to encourage those who are suited to a management career in the hospitality industry. This can only be achieved by recognizing the personnel's aspirations. Furthermore, hotel organizations should aim at appreciating the aspirations of their new talented employees in terms of career advancement (Choudhury & McIntosh, 2013, p. 39). Chiefly, the dangers to any organization are underdevelopment, underutilization and poor management of poor employees. One major challenge with employee retention is lack of career loyalty especially in the hospitality industry (Breiter, 1991, p. 50). However, if new employees feel appreciated, motivated and encouraged to pursue their aspirations in life while still in the industry, more talented workers will be retained.

Establishment of management development support systems

There exist few or no formal strategies on management development programs. Ironically, these programs are recognized as vital and valuable in enhancing managerial performance. In order to foster a sense of professionalism, boosting self-esteem and an increase in career satisfaction, management development training must be established and encouraged (Yup Chung, 2000, p. 17). The existing hotel management development strategies are poor in the industry. Most recruiters in the field of hospitality underestimate what it takes for an employee to attain higher ranks in management and also be effective. Additionally, it's just a few employees who have awareness or guidelines showing what is required of them. In this line then, it is crucial to develop a clear support system for managerial and human resource development in the hotel industry.

Development of training programs based on perceived needs

Most employees feel that training needs should be qualitative rather than quantitative. This training serves to boost the morale and confidence of workers in an organization. Chiefly, training programs that are aimed at improving negotiating skills and disciplining of employees are the main and most dominant training needs in management training (Welch, 1999, p. 27). This should be the preference of any organizations.

Enhancing relationships in the organization

Connections are important considerations when it comes to learner retention. This is the relationship created with both the employees and off the job that will enable the employee to stay in the organization (Farbrother, 2017, p. 42). There exist three types of connections in an organization; links sacrifice and fit. Firstly, the compatibility of the employee and the organization is the fit. It is the ability to fit into the organization comfortably. Secondly, links are the connections created within coworkers in an organization. Also, it extends to the relationship between the employee and the mentors. Thirdly and finally, sacrifice is the sacrifice one has to make when leaving the organization in terms of financial reward, working environment and loss of relationship with others in the organization (Welch, 1999, p. 33). The ability to foster these connections is a milestone in the retention of employees in any organization.

Creating a culture of communication in an organization is one of the key strategies that any human resource management system should concern itself with. In order to ensure this, key strategies must be put in place at the organization level, unit level and the down to team level. Developing a unified overall agreement in the organization on how to conduct training and achieve the desired goals should be at the forefront at the company level (Yup Chung, 2000, p. 80). Secondly, ensuring that the training takes place and monitoring the program is done at the unit level. Finally, motivation and performance that comes from team building are achieved at the down to team level (Farbrother, 2017, p. 53). The use of such an approach where employees not only have a chance to develop career wise and also establish constructive relationships within the organization ensures higher retention in the hotel industry.

Encouraging and ensuring of work challenge

This strategy is aimed at putting employees in assignments that are tasking to them and letting them learn and develop themselves. This is tasks that they are not necessarily prepared for which give them a chance to overcome new challenges and in addition, they develop new skills which in turn greatly impact on their staying in the job (Farbrother, 2017, p. 60). This work challenges influences the employee commitment towards the organization and also increase the chances of them engaging in tasks that are meaningful.

The strongest motivation for employee's commitment to an organization develops when facing new challenges. Commitment becomes natural to them as they develop a connection between them, the job and the organization. Furthermore, the employees realize that they are being used more actively to achieve the objectives of the organizations by using their skills and abilities. In this way, the talented employees will feel more utilized, appreciated and develop a sense of belonging and ownership to the organization (Choudhury & McIntosh, 2013, p. 70). In the long run, they are more retained in their current employment. This strategy will help the managers in the hospitality industry remain competitive in a highly competitive environment worldwide.

Routine assessments of the personal effectiveness

In any organization, managers are not solely responsible for organizational performance. In many instances, most employees are at a position to see and identify positions and gaps to be filled and even where there is room for improvement. Such ideas can only be brought on board where there exists an engagement-oriented at improvement and realization of the organization objectives. Furthermore, the success of any organization requires more than the management passing knowledge. It requires consultation and feedback both vertically are horizontally in the different ranks (Yup Chung, 2000, p. 70). Routine assessment is therefore crucial in order to determine who among the employees is more talented, receive a promotion, a raise or an incentive to keep him/ her working for the organization. This approach is more likely to see the skilled and talented employees more appreciated, committed and develop a sense of ownership towards the organization.

In conclusion, the importance and the need for talent recruitment in any organization are very important. In the hotel industry, human resource management should adopt different strategies for retention of employees in the organization. These strategies will help address the problem of turnover of employees in organizations and consequently improve the performance of the firm. Some of the strategies that can be employed are encouraging of management career dispositions, routine assessments of personal effectiveness, encouraging and ensuring of work challenge and enhancing relationships in the organization. This will help address the challenge of turnover and help the management of hotel organizations in recruitment and retention of employees.

References

Bennett, M. (2016, September 22). The Challenges With Hospitality Recruitment And Employee Retention. Retrieved October 24, 2018, from https://www.slideshare.net/MarloweBennett/the-challenges-with-hospitality-recruitment-and-employee-retention-66281153

Breiter, D. (1991). Recruiting and Retaining Entry-Level Employees: The Need for Strategic Change. Hospitality & Tourism Educator, 3(3), 44-47. doi:10.1080/23298758.1991.10685427

Choudhury, N., & McIntosh, A. (2013). Retaining students as employees: Owner operated small hospitality businesses in a university town in New Zealand. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 32, 261-269. doi:10.1016/j.ijhm.2012.07.003

Farbrother, C. (2017). Talent Management in Hospitality and Tourism. doi:10.23912/978-1-910158-66-1-3339

Professional development opportunities key to retaining talented employees. (2006). Women in Management Review, 21(4). doi:10.1108/wimr.2006.05321dab.006

Welch, T. (1999). Strategies for retaining happy employees and increasing company profits. Employment Relations Today, 26(2), 15-24. doi:10.1002/ert.3910260203

Yup Chung, K. (2000). Hotel management curriculum reform based on required competencies of hotel employees and career success in the hotel industry. Tourism Management, 21(5), 473-487. doi:10.1016/s0261-5177(99)00102-8