Mr. Feeney

Human Resources, Recruitment & Training

Coping With Chaos: How to manage your hotel workforce in uncertain times

By Paul Feeney, President, Sanford Rose Associates

For example:

• Workers are increasingly unhappy with their jobs - a trend reported by Forbes magazine. So what happens when a key employee departs for greener pastures?
• The U.S. military was calling more and more Reservists and National Guard members to active duty. Who might be called from your company's U.S. operations, and what are your obligations for their re-employment?
• Position openings placed on hold have begun to cause morale and productivity problems, yet higher management remains resolute in its decision not to hire. What, if anything, can you do?
• When the economy does improve, you don't want to be left at the starting gate while all your competitors capture the top talent. How can you avoid finishing last?Readers can complete their own lists. Perhaps, for instance, one of your direct reports is a definite "weak link" - but you are concerned that firing him or her will be approved, while hiring a replacement will not. Or you need to reduce headcount but have no weak links.

As the old saying goes, if there weren't problems, God wouldn't have created managers. And anticipating problems is at least half of the battle for solving them. The smart manager therefore, with the active participation of the organization's HR professionals, will do a little brainstorming to identify the "what-ifs" that may be lurking just around the corner. The even wiser manager will address existing issues and concerns as well.

When Active Duty Calls

Do you know who belongs to a Reserve or National Guard unit? If not, that information is undoubtedly in personnel files, and members probably attend summer camp each year as well. Also, they may be looking pretty anxious these days.

Those who serve their country deserve the highest respect - and the Uniformed Services Employment and Re-Employment Rights Act of 1994 (known as USERRA) ensures they receive it.

The Act, in brief, prohibits employers and their agents from denying employment, re-employment, promotion or specified employee benefits because of an employee's or job candidate's military service. Of particular note, employers must provide leave for military duty - with no limit on duration during times of war or national emergency. USER-RA also mandates prompt re-employment (in the same or similar job) when military service ends, unless the employer's business health has worsened drastically, accommodation of a newly acquired disability would create a significant hardship on the employer, or the employment left behind was of temporary duration.

Moreover, the returning veteran is considered eligible for the same pay increases and promotional opportunities that he or she would have received if military service had not occurred.

Any organization anticipating military leaves should consult with an employment lawyer, because there are nuances in the Act concerning matters such as benefits extension. Also, individuals in some states may be entitled to pay and benefits protection beyond that required by USERRA.

The departure of someone for military duty is like the departure of any other employee - i.e., disruptive - with the exception that the departing military employee will be returning. In a large corporation with many similar jobs, it should be relatively easy to shift workload for a year or two and then find an opening upon the person's return. Smaller organizations will not have the same "luxury" and may need to fill a vital position opening with a temporary or contract worker.

Other Unplanned Departures

Once fired, most terminated employees admit they should have seen the handwriting on the wall: important meetings to which they weren't invited, files quickly thrown into desk drawers when the employee visited the boss, the awkward silences and averted eyes of fellow employees, etc.

If truth be told, when an employee quits (instead of being fired), most bosses likewise should have seen the handwriting on the wall: closed-door telephone conferences, unexplained absences, missed deadlines, a change in attitude or work ethic, etc. Barring the unexpected offer of the "perfect" job, most people leave for reasons that could have been discerned in advance, such as missed raises or promotions, personality conflicts, negative perceptions about the company's future and so forth.

There is no reason to wait until a valued employee quits then trying to do something about it. After-the-fact counter-offers typically don't work because they are blatantly transparent ("why am I suddenly worth a raise?"), reflect the inconvenience of an unanticipated departure (the project is only half-done) and generally do nothing to address the concerns that caused the employee to take another job. If you smell trouble, it's better to address the problem now. The concern one shows today can keep a minor irritation from becoming a major inflammation.

And on a larger scale, be sensitive to organizational morale in general. In a recent study, only half of all employees were happy with their jobs, so how are things in your organization? Better than average, worse than average or about the same?

"It's Our Policy, Stupid"

Repeated productivity studies have shown that corporate staff reductions reach a point of diminishing return, yet companies often keep cutting. Similarly, the survivors of corporate personnel reductions may well increase output for some period of time, but eventually it declines. Worse yet, a freeze intended to stop new job creation becomes interpreted to prohibit replacement hiring - and key positions go unfilled.

Sanford Rose Associates has watched some employers forego rational hiring, capital investment and other key decisions as individual managers, fearful of the economy and their own futures, become less and less inclined to take risk. Thankfully, that is not true of all organizations.

Imagine for example a team of five high-level individual contributors, who are responsible for a major product-development project. Corporate headquarters issues an edict that every work unit in the company will shed 10 percent of its personnel. The manager of the individual contributors faces a difficult decision, since she can eliminate 0 percent or 20 percent; half a person is not an option. Does she fight for the retention of all five or try to play the loyal soldier? Then suppose that a trusted executive recruiter informs the manager that a sixth individual with unique skills, whom the company has lusted after in the past, has expressed interest in changing jobs. Should the manager add to staff, replace staff or pass on the opportunity?

Nine times out of ten, mandates to control personnel or other costs are well intentioned; it's the application that gets so screwed up. Courageous managers will press for clarification of policies that make only partial sense and will fight - within reason - for exceptions to policy when less rigidity can produce greater reward.

Paul Feeney is President of Sanford Rose Associates, an Executive Search Firm. Sanford Rose Associates was founded in 1959, is a full-service executive search organization conducting retained and contingency searches through a network of 60+ offices worldwide devotes its practice to all areas of finance, accounting, general management, operations, technology, management consulting and project management for national and international searches. Paul has over 18 years of executive search management and corporate recruiting experience while working in New York, London and Prague. Mr. Feeney can be contacted at 973-492-5424 or pffeeney@sanfordrose.com Extended Bio...

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