High turnover rates in hospitality | Workforce reduction doesn’t discriminate between enterprises and industries. It’s always harmful, disruptive, and costly in both resources and effort. In the hospitality industry, however, turnover and low retention rates are especially detrimental. Employees are the face of the brand and constantly interact directly with the customer base, which increases the pressure of having great training.
HR in the Hospitality industry is complicated as it is a fast-paced environment with many changing daily aspects. Today, we look at how high turnover rates in hospitality impact the day-to-day business & and how you can mitigate the negative effect it has on business operations.
High Turnover Rates in Hospitality
While varied schedules and low pay rates contribute to the staggering statistics, poor management is often the biggest culprit in hospitality. Like many service-oriented industries, employees typically experience high levels of stress which, when coupled with ineffective decision-making from managers, makes high turnover rates inevitable. Staff will change their employer in no minute. They are ready to explore less stressful and more respectful working environments.
Recognize People Will Leave
Hospitality is an employment area where a lot of employees work part-time. Be it the parent while their kids are in school, the student, trying to earn a little extra cash or generally, people who are looking for another job or career on the side, all are there for the short-term. Be aware of this situation and monitor the turn-over rate for this group separate from the fluctuation for professionally trained personnel.
Say Thank You More Often
Hospitality demands a lot of its employees. Rush-hours with stressed and unfriendly customers, time pressure to keep customer satisfaction high but service quality stable across the board, early or late shifts and little to no weekends off to spend with family – these are all aspects of this industry. All this leads to stressful environments where employees can quickly feel underappreciated for their hard work.
Recognize your employees & show them your appreciation. It does not have to be a big deal. Say a simple thank you, congratulate them for mastering a super busy shift or shout them out in the next staff meeting. For any bigger accomplishments you could recognize them through an extra day or weekend off, a gift card, a bonus or sending them home earlier on a very calm day without cutting pay short.
Tip: On top of recognitions, implementing an effective & regular feedback system is an organization’s best tool to continually monitor satisfaction levels within hospitality.
Encourage Workplace Relationships
A healthy workplace is not built accidentally but requires effort, time and determination from the manager. Employees should feel welcome, appreciated & comfortable. To build an environment where employees connect & respect each other requires a policy that enforces this behaviour. Also, regular team events, team lunches or other activities beside work encourage a healthy work culture and relationships between work colleagues. This is especially important in an industry where employees work closely together. Retention can be increased by strengthening colleague relationships.
Succeed with Long-term Staff Planning
The flexibility ofworking time and not working a 9 to 5 job is a selling point for hospitality. Many employees looking after relatives or working another job on the side that require a flexible work schedule. However, this does not mean that employees have no private life without fixed responsibilities and planned appointments. It also does not mean that they can come to work as soon as you call them. Therefore, publishing the shift plan a day before the shift schedule becomes effective, is a formula for disaster.
Release the working plan in a set rhythm. This allows you and the employees to have enough time to adjust to the plan. Give them time to request to change a shift with a co-worker. This takes the pressure out & allows for long-term planning & security for you and your staff.
Tip: A smart software allows you to automate shift planning, send out schedules and keep compliant with rest periods and other regulations.
Become An HR Manager Without Being One
Business success can never be achieved by just one person; it takes a team – and the right team – for you and your business. So how do you find, attract, and keep the right people? You do this by putting employees first. Some of the overall benefits of good human resources (HR) practices include higher employee satisfaction, lower staff turnover, superior customer service and, of course, increased profitability.
In short, A human resource department’s main goal is to implement a variety of functions that are strategically designed to both attract and maintain an effective workforce. Even, if you do not have a single HR manager in your team, get familiar with HR best practices. This can increase your overall business operations. You can attend courses, read online articles or attend short seminars specific for your industry.
This post was written by Novative. They are an exhibitor on the HRTech247 Payroll, Time & Attendance floor in the Technology Hall here.
