The secret’s out: we’re in the midst of a hospitality hiring crisis.
Resorts are losing money in the long-term by relying on temporary help — help that will move on as quickly as a weekend guest.
If you’ve done everything you can think of to attract and hire talent at your hotel, step back and look at the bigger picture: are you offering the career growth that the modern job seeker wants?
In our 2023 State of Hospitality Hiring Report, we found that most (37%) of hospitality applicants would accept a lower paying role if it came with the career growth they’ve been looking for. The modern hospitality worker, believe it or not, wants to make a home at their workplace. They want more out of a job than a paycheck; they want to grow and expand their skills, see long-term earning potential, and experience a sense of satisfaction.
Read on to learn more about why career growth in the hospitality industry is so important — and why you should offer it at your hotel.
Four reasons why career growth for your employees is important
Placing an emphasis on and allowing for career growth at your resort is a mutually beneficial endeavor. You gain employees who have the skills to perform well in multiple positions, while the employee reaps multiple benefits, three of which we’ve outlined below.
Professional development
When a worker has the ability to grow in their hospitality career, they have the opportunity to gain new skills and experience in different areas of the industry. This professional development can lead to the workers being more versatile and equipped to handle new roles and responsibilities around your hotel. Plus, this tactic promotes productivity among motivated employees, as they’ll be driven to perform at the best of their capabilities in order to earn a promotion. This drive will also help provide better guest experiences and better outcomes for your bottom line. Ultimately, this growth also makes these employees a more valuable asset to your resort.
Drive long-term loyalty
When you invest in your employees, you’re investing in their future — and the likelihood that they’ll stay longer at your hotel. When your staff can clearly see what their next steps are and where they’ll lead them, they’re often more motivated to do what it takes to earn their next role. And if you choose to promote them — or even widely recognized hard workers — you’ll be doing the hard work of driving long-term loyalty at your resort. Almost nothing feels better than achieving a goal that you’ve been working for, and your employees know this. This sense of satisfaction directly correlates to what they do for you and how long they’ll stay with you.
Cut turnover costs
There’s more than just inconvenience at stake when an employee quits; there’s also the costs associated with finding and training a replacement. That’s not to mention the disruption that vacancies cause in the general flow of your organization. You know better than anyone the intricacies that go into training a new front desk employee or housekeeper — and just how much this slows down your day-to-day operations. When you have a new housekeeper, pairing them with a senior staff member to train slows down the existing employee and cuts into typical turnover rates. It can take a few weeks before the new hire gets up to speed and until then, the senior worker is performing at less than optimal levels if they’re working closely with the new hire to train, inspect, and approve rooms for standard cleanliness.
Stand out from competition
There are only so many roles at a hotel or resort — and subsequently, so many areas for career advancement. Just because this is a scarce commodity, however, doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t advertise the career growth opportunities that are available to potential candidates. Essentially, this can heavily influence a candidate’s decision to accept your job offer if they have multiple options for work. Offer a candidate a job, and they’ll stay for a season. Offer them a career, and they’ll stay for a lifetime.
Moving forward
While there are admittedly limited numbers of management roles and positions are limited to move into, as a resort owner you can always appeal to the part of your employees that want better for themselves by advertising the potential that exists within the industry.
