Hospitality and Catering – staff retention
RSS FeedFrom By Rob Moore, director of Xpress Recruitment
January 21, 2009
By Rob Moore, director of Xpress Recruitment, one of Scotland's leading recruitment agencies - with specialist knowledge of the hospitality and retail industries. He starts his new series looking at how hospitality and catering employers can develop a full recruitment and retention policy which will give a balanced approach; one which recognises that some recruitment is always necessary - when a company expands for example, or to develop new ideas - but also realises that cost effective staffing will include successful staff retention. He introduces the series with a broad overview of recruitment issues in hospitality and catering.
Attend almost any Hospitality and Catering industry conference or think-tank and it won't be long before the issue of recruitment is discussed. Staff turnover in hospitality and catering are high and have been high for many years. And that brings problems.
Given the competitive pressures from other types of work opportunities, the difficulty facing hospitality and catering isn't just one of finding people for the job. Effective recruitment and retention within our fast-paced industry is one of the key management challenges that will determine whether business targets are achieved or not. The knock-on effect of this is not only financial, but emotional. Reputations are on the line. There's a company's reputation as an employer to consider. And there's also the way the customer views a business - and how that can be affected if it constantly appears that staff leave quickly.
There have been many debates over the years, and some initiatives have been taken - in individual hospitality and catering businesses and on a wider scale. But perhaps too many of those have been designed to deal short term with negative situations rather than to develop effective ways to improve. So, over the next few issues, I'll be looking at how to develop a successful recruitment and retention plan within your business.
But where do we start?
Well we should realise that there are some very basic truths.
One poll suggests that 75% of small and medium sized enterprises (a part of the economy which includes many hospitality businesses) do not have a well planned and structured recruitment and retention plan. And we should recognise that academics and researchers have given formal expression to what we all tend to think. That people leave their bosses rather than businesses!
We'll start with a look at why people leave.
Knowing the reasons why people leave your business is important. If the reasons are uncovered and actions are taken to resolve difficulties then history shouldn't repeat itself. Getting this information - even if it is negative or painful - is vital, and employers should not be afraid to ask searching questions of exiting employees in order to find out more.
But some key reasons why people leave jobs, and things we'll look at early in the series of articles, are :
• Poor relationships with a line manager
• Poor working conditions
• Expectations not being realised
• Lack of challenge or reward
• Feelings of overwork
• Money
The good news is that these points, with some thought, action and ingenuity can be addressed in a positive and cost effective way and over the coming articles will be discussed in more detail.
We'll also look at how to properly understand the cost of recruitment, the methods that can be employed first to decide the right type of person for the job and then to find them. And finally we'll look at learning from the sequence, taking the knowledge gained from finding out why people leave, and adding it to the experience gained from a structured recruitment process to end up with policies and methods that increase the retention rates for members of staff who are particularly important to a business.
We kick off next issue with an analysis of just why those people say "I'm off!".
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