Insider: Five Essential Practices in Staff Motivation and Retention
By Sanjay Nijhawan, Chief Operating Officer, Guoman Hotels
Mr. Sanjay Nijhawan
In this article, “Five Essential Practices in Staff Motivation and Retention”, in the Hotel Business Review I detail why investing in people and in their career works in tandem with investment into the brand and business strategy. It has to be a holistic approach as much as a long-term one.
For most countries and cities the hospitality industry is a significant business whereby competition to attract top people and retain them is increasingly a competitive and challenging job. Once those talented people are part of the organisation what will make them stay and what will keep them motivated.
The cornerstone to a happy person in their working environment is certainly a passion for what they do. From my experience over the last 20 years people who work in hospitality do so because they love this business. Moving on from the passion has to be a strong connection with the culture and the ambitions or aspirations of the company and what is it that an employee wants to be a part of.
My five-point plan covers the obvious and the not so straightforward. There’ll be no surprising anyone with the acknowledgement that money makes the (hotel) world go around, but rewards certainly don’t always have to be about cash. Recognition and rewarding employees who shine no matter what their position and whether they are customer facing or not is often more about status than anything else.
Achieving the best in terms of culture and environment is a great way to keep morale high and avoid the cancer or gossip and canteen grumbles. The little touches mean so much. How do we do it? Think back to when you were a child at school and remember the satisfaction you got from getting your homework right…
At the heart of all these ideas is the belief in a mutually-inclusive, caring environment. The fact that we are in business and, at the end of the day, all have pressure from investors, shareholders and institutions, need not mean we lose sight of what sets us apart from the animals – it’s not called human resources for nothing.
Having an employee-centric outlook is not a weakness and not new-age nonsense. A happy ship is one that sails in the right direction no matter what the conditions.
Click here to read the full article
Sincerely,
Sanjay Nijhawan
Chief Operating Officer
Guoman Hotels
0870-333-9280
Sanjay.nijhawan@guoman.co.uk
