Ms. Gioia

Human Resources, Recruitment & Training

Keeping Front Line Employees: Solutions for every hotelier's biggest problem

By Joyce Gioia, CEO, Employer of Choice, Inc

As my profession of speaking and training takes me around the world, I ask the General Managers of hotel properties, "Where does it hurt?" Where in your organization do you experience the greatest challenges? A few, whom you will read about in subsequent columns, are such enlightened leaders that they have none to speak of. The majority, without hesitation, answer "Employee turnover in my front line: housekeepers/room attendants, bell staff, kitchen help, and often switchboard". Invariably, I make suggestions some of which you will read in this article.

One Size Does Not Fit All

First, it's important to remember that "one size does not fit all". People are individuals. What works with some won't necessarily work with others. What you will read here is a series of tips and tactics that have worked for hoteliers and restaurateurs around the world.

Understand that your employee is a person, not just a work machine. People want be treated for who they are¨Dunique and special. Wonder why the younger generations are so keen on body armor, including tattoos and piercings? It's the only way they know to express their uniqueness.

Create your Own Certifications.

Taking a page from the Ritz Carlton playbook, create your own certifications for front line employees, complete with curricula and tests (not necessarily formal). Here's an example: A First Level Housekeeper will know how to clean rooms sufficiently that s/he can work unsupervised and the room will pass inspection. Not only does this individual know how to clean each item, but s/he understands "the why" as well as the consequences of lack of attention to detail.

The Second Level Housekeeper does everything the first one does, but faster and better, plus you might include some customer service training. Your Third Level Housekeeper is so adept that s/he can teach others her "craft". Yes, you read it correctly, "craft". Treat your experienced front line staff as the professionals they are. And be sure to give a printed certificate each time the employee reaches the next level. You also might want to give the individual a frame with the first certificate. Or better yet, post the framed certificates somewhere in the back of the house.

Train supervisors before putting them in leadership positions.

Most organizations (inside and outside of the hospitality industry) fail to train their supervisors before moving them into positions in which they oversee the work of others. We urge hoteliers (and all employers, for that matter) teach people how to be a leader, before promotion.

When hotels do not provide this development, the consequences are sometimes devastating. The people moved into these positions feel ill-at-ease because they don't know what they are supposed to do. The people who report to them are unhappy, because they are often mistreated (or worse, ignored) and the property loses because this discomfort and unhappiness leads to employee turnover.

Almost without exception, when companies experience frontline turnover, it is due to a lack of training of frontline supervisors. It is rare that these new leaders had such good role models that they have learned how by watching. We urge hoteliers to teach new supervisors to coach their people to higher performance.

Catch people doing things right.

Make "rounding" (Leadership by Walking Around) part of your business week. And while you're doing it, deliberately look for front line people doing things really well: the housekeeper taking extra care, the front-office person handing a difficult guest with just the right finesse, the maintenance person who goes out of his way to help a guest find where she needs to go. And don't forget to include at least some small reward, along with the recognition.

Spot bonuses are great for providing that kind of reinforcement. Sajid Khan, former General Manager of the Fiesta Royale Hotel in Accra, Ghana used to give small hand-outs to his staff on the spot when he saw them providing exemplary service to a guest or doing a particularly good job.

Measure and post the scores.

People will feel invested in high scores for their departments. Paul Hutton, now General Manager of the Hilton Sydney, posts the departments' scores on a bulletin board, decorated by the employees, of course. The quadrants of the bulletin board represent the four pillars of Hilton Service: People, Quality, Customers, and Profit. A healthy competition between departments will create positive results all around.

Ask people to contribute to making things better.

Your brand new frontline people have perspectives that can be very valuable, if you are willing to tap into them. Whether they worked at another hotel property or in some other industry, they saw what worked and what didn't. Ask them to share those insights.

Years ago, Martin Edelston, CEO of Boardroom, Inc., asked the management guru Peter Drucker what he could do to better engage his employees. Drucker replied, "Ask people to give you their best ideas, then implement them." Out of that conversation, Edelston created the I-Power Program to solicit his employees' best ideas. As a result, Boardroom is now the most profitable company in the United States, and perhaps the world. Edelston nets over a one million USD per employee. The expectation is that everyone will bring creative ideas to meetings and to constantly be looking for ways to make things better.

This attitude of "kaizen" or continuous, never-ending improvement will serve to engage your frontline employees in a way that will benefit everyone, especially the property. "People support what they help to create."

Clarify expectations

When people know exactly what you expect of them, they feel more confident about working. They know when they are performing up to your property's standards and when they are not. Train your frontline supervisors to share what their people can expect of them as well. This mutual clarity leads to more secure working relationships, higher productivity and morale, and of course, lower turnover.

Effectively onboard your frontliners.

Contrary to popular belief, onboarding does not begin on a new hire's first day of work, but rather with their first contact with your organization. Make sure that every contact is supportive in building a strong relationship and bond between the new hire and the organization.

The supervisor's role is particularly important. S/he should be warm and welcoming. Value and honor your new employees as "Internal Guests" or Internal Customers. The better you take care of your employees, the better they will take care of your guests. (In a subsequent column, we will cover "onboarding" in detail.)

Make it a game show.

Find a way to take the material you want your new hires to learn and create a game around learning the information. The owner of a small coffeehouse/caf¨¦ in North Carolina used to create games around learning about her new products. The small prizes she provided added to the fun atmosphere and encouraged people to study.

You can actually buy the software to create game shows yourself. With your list of questions and/or answers, depending on which television program you are modeling, you can create these games without investing a lot of time or effort.

This game concept is a particularly good idea to implement with switchboard and bell staff employees, because of the large volume of information they must know if they are to be effective in their functions.

Engagement Leads to Retention

When implemented, these ideas will lead to higher levels of engagement and therefore higher levels of employee retention. The bonus is that you also get higher productivity. Making an effort to engage your frontline employees is clearly a win-win-win-win initiative: your employees are happier; your frontline supervisors and mid-level managers are more effective; you have less stress; and you have automatically improved your bottom line.

Joyce Gioia is a workforce futurist concentrating on relationship aspects of the future. This arena includes workforce and workplace trends, as well as consumer, education, and business-to-business trends. Ms. Gioia is also CEO of Employer of Choice, Inc, a distinction earned only by companies whose leadership, culture, and best practices attract, optimize, and hold top talent. Employers of Choice® enjoy "a higher level of performance, greater workforce stability, and the level of continuity that assures preservation of the knowledge base, customer loyalty, employee satisfaction, and stronger profits". Ms. Gioia can be contacted at 336-210-3548 or joyce@hermangroup.com Extended Bio...

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