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![]() The Antidote to the Labor Shortage Issue A recent article in the New York Times (“Historic’ Shift in Labor Force Favors Workers,” Neil Irwin, June 6, 2021) noted that middle- and lower-level positions—the equivalent to our front-desk staff, housekeepers, and kitchen staff—are changing jobs more often than at any time in recorded history. While the pandemic can be blamed for a major disruption to the work force, especially for this segment, the shift could be seen before the pandemic, with record low unemployment—4% or lower—and even a declining population of working-age Americans. Regardless of the reason, hiring challenges for all hotel positions is here for the foreseeable future. Whether hiring a manager or a front-line employee, finding candidates using the old criteria of education and experience and then, once hired, expecting them to work long hours isn’t going to work. There is hope, and this article cites several ways to begin to solve this issue:
And here are two of my own recommendations:
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![]() The hospitality industry is especially vulnerable to a smaller labor pool and employees’ desire for greater flexibility and higher salaries. It’s going to take an innovative hotel general manager or a creative executive team to determine a short- and longer-term plan for training, developing internally, and being more open-minded about candidates who in the past would have been eliminated. It’s a shift toward candidates who may not have the technical skills but an overall desire and the skills to serve the public. It’s a shift toward spending more time with employees and becoming an employee-centric organization. |
![]() "Companies are going to have to work harder to attract and retain talent. It’s a historic moment for the American labor force." – Karen Fichuk, CEO, Randstad North American "We all struggle with work-life balance and there’s no easy solution. I think everyone needs to find the right balance for themselves, and to do this, we need to have more dialogue about work and family, especially among men, and at higher levels of the corporate hierarchy." – Max Schireson, former CEO of MongoDB. (Schireson left his job as CEO of MongoDB, an Internet database company, to spend more time with his family and work toward better work-life balance.) Take the Next Step Now Hire Jo-Anne to:
If you would like to hear more, simply reach out to Jo-Anne at About Jo-Anne Hill Jo-Anne is an industry expert who founded JH Hospitality Consulting to help hotels around the world dramatically improve revenue and profitability in creative ways. Her strategic thinking, skill, and practical approach to problem-solving come from hands-on experience at companies such as The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts, the Mandarin-Oriental Hotel Group, the Dorchester Collection, and Shangri-La Hotels & Resorts. Jo-Anne’s recently published book ‘Cultivating Leadership: How great leaders make a difference, one hotel at a time” dives deeper into the equation: happy staff = happy guests = more revenue. |
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