A journalist of a German hospitality magazine observed recently: “Although many restaurants, bars, and hotels are finally allowed to reopen due to falling corona numbers, unfortunately, they often cannot find anyone who would like to receive their guests, clean their rooms or cook for them. In times of the long-awaited relaxation of the coronavirus, the massive shortage of skilled workers in the hospitality industry is becoming a tragic but also home-made dilemma,” says Zeitler.
For decades, the German Hotel and Restaurant Association (DEHOGA) and many employers have done too little to train new specialists and keep them in the industry; according to Zeitler: “Instead of retaining the specialists with attractive pay, the focus was on avoiding collective agreements, mini jobs and precarious employment set. Half the prospective chefs give up their training and look for something else – that speaks volumes and needs to change.”
I fully agree with this statement: Germany’s hotel industry should not have a labor shortage. The country has a huge pool of highly qualified, yet unemployed professionals. There is also a large pool of trainable individuals available. Then the industry could approach hoteliers and people with hospitality experience above the age of 60 but due to the applied agism (age discrimination) this is highly unlikely. No millennial manager, recruiter or HR professional would like to hire someone with substantially more experience and better qualification and by not paying attention to this highly skilled labor pool they miss out on excellent talent and highly skilled individuals.
A 53 year old , award winning executive chef recently interviewed with a well-known hotel company. He was rejected because the human resources specialists were afraid that he could not adjust to the way of work in Germany. Think about his for a moment. A German Award winning Executive Chef: highly skilled in European -, South Asian and Middle Eastern cuisine is not qualified to manage a kitchen in a German 5 star hotel ? I might not comment on this, if I would not know this chef personally. However knowing him, makes me wonder, why he was not recruited. But even here – whatever the reason might have been, he was not even considered for alternate future positions in this prominent and expanding company. At least the recruiters should keep his file for a potentially alternative position. Smart HR professionals usually do it but in this case I wonder, why the specific HR person was not more proactive instead of talking publicly on labor shortage in the industry. As a shareholder in this company I refuse to listen to the talk about labor shortage but investigate the competency levels of these managers.
I am in touch with many hoteliers and recruiters, and it has always been challenging to find employment in the hotel and restaurant business. If you are at line level, restaurant server, bus boy, room boy, or front office associate, you should have no difficulties finding a suitable job for yourself. The same should be valid if you are in a supervisory and junior management position. The opportunities for rapid growth were never as good as they are today.
Yet, many hotel companies maintain extremely high entry barriers and continue to apply selection criteria like during the times of high unemployment, which is no longer the case. Even for non-management positions. Looking at the skill requirements for base positions like receptionists, housekeepers, or kitchen helpers, it is no wonder these companies cannot find staff. Instead of making potential employees feel welcome and wanted, the opposite is the case. Entry requirements remain unusually strict, and HR managers need to consider looking at their own recruitment practices. We do not even want to speak about the salaries paid for skilled workers in the industry in Germany compared to other countries. In the USA for example an untrained waiter makes US$ 15.– per hour plus 15-20% in tips. This easily adds up to 4000 US$ plus a months and this is for a waiter with no or little training. I don’t want to fall into the trap and make unjust comparisons but as a long term global hotelier I can speak my mind.
Managers and department heads are by definition solution providers. For HR specialist it means that their job is to provide the employees for any hotel operation no matter if there is an oversupply or a shortage of talent. It is simply their job. Let me use a simple comparison from the F&B department. When guests are complaining about slow or bad service, it is the role of the restaurant manager and of course the F&B manager to solve this issue quickly. Neither one of them has the luxury to complain about the bad quality of waiters or impatient guests. Their job is to make sure, service is quick, of high standard and expedient and the food is brought to the customer. In case a waiter seems not to be competent or slow, he will need some supportive training, maybe a pep-talk and possibly a careful review of his or her suitability for the job. Of course until the problem is fixed the restaurant manager and also the F&B Manager have to jump in and make sure, the problem does not become a bigger issue. HR in the hotel industry has been taken no responsibility. Instead of providing top management with clear cut recommendations and potential consequences there are no signs that they even have addressed the issue properly.
Human Resources departments in Europe and, to a certain extent, also in North America seem to have adopted a “learned helplessness” and justify this with a lot of analysis and team discussions. There is indeed a severe generational issue with today’s HR professionals. Horst Schulz discussed this in one of his TV interviews in the USA: “If I have a manager coming to me and complaining about employee motivation, I will fire him.” That is authentic Horst Schulz, former CEO and President of Ritz Carlton Hotels.
At Ritz-Carlton employees were recruited primarily on their attitudes, only then the skill level came in. Horst Schulz recites honest reviews of his challenges to find the right employees and eventually outsourced parts of the Human Resources responsibilities to an outside agency. Strangely enough, Ritz Carlton was also the company, employees were eager to join, not because of higher salary or perks but because of the image the company projected. Today, as part of Marriott this practices continue very much and the quality of employee engagement in Marriott is today probably the best in the industry.
Thirty years ago, recruitment was much more complicated than it is today. Job portal-based applications flood companies with applicants, and ATS sort out those applications of candidates who do not match the profile. That does not necessarily mean that potential applicants who did not pass the ATS check are not qualified. All it means is that these candidates need to have their resumes or CV prepared to pass the ATS without fail. And then we have LinkedIn, which has changed the recruitment game altogether.
I believe hotels and hotel companies should take a closer look at the competency levels of their HR departments and request improved productivity. HR will have to adjust and accelerate quicker in assisting the money-making operational departments and not sit in their ivory towers. They should first lower entry barriers to overcome the immediate shortage and then train and train these new team members. This is possible with a skilled and dedicated HR team like the one I worked with during my Hilton years in New York.
I remember the hotel strike of 1984. The entire union staff, about 1400 employees walked out at midnight and did not return for almost 7 weeks. HR Director Thomas Nehmet and his team jumped into action. The next day, starting at 7 AM the executive team of the hotel became HR officers and interviewed almost 2000 people within 48 hours, while middle management, junior management and supervisory staff serviced 2500 guests in the restaurants and meeting rooms buffet style around the clock. 48 hours later the hotel had almost 900 new employees, eager and ready to get into action. The training was the responsibility of each respective outlet manager and floor supervisors. It had to be completed within 12 hours. The result: 60 hours after the strike had started the hotel was fully operational again and enthusiasm and friendliness of the new employees made up for minor mistakes. The onboarding process was swift and efficient. The guests were impressed and never complained. Later we Waldorf Managers would talk about the new employees actually doing a better job than the unionized staff. The learning out of this is simple. Adjust to the situation as quickly as you can, dare to innovate , break old norms, throw certain processes overboard and face the challenge head on. Never during my entire career would I find Human Resources managers so engaged as in the USA with Hilton and anybody wanting to become a good HR manager should spent there at least 2 years working there.
Again, Horst Schulz comes to my mind as he points out, that selecting the best individuals suited for just any job and any position is crucial. In his highly recommended book “Excellence Wins”, he covers in several chapters the importance of the right way to select suitable talent. However, in a situation, where you simply do not get enough quality staff (talent) you might have to reduce the entry barriers a bit or take a closer look at the quality of your ATS systems. And of course, once you have the new team members on board, it is the responsibility of the HR training department and outlet managers to train and familiarize new members with company standards, policies and processes. Horst Schulz would personally spent a week in each new Ritz Carlton Hotel to help training and introducing the new Ladies and Gentlemen to his company philosophy.
You are a hotelier and eager to advance your career quickly. It is important to understand how recruiters and HR professionals tick and what drives them. I have written about this in a previous blog. They are an important element in the process of bringing new employees onboard, train them and eventually help them to chart a long term career with the company. Once you are onboard, make sure you get to know them. HR managers are important to your future career and often they have the ability to help you charting a specific course for you. Most of them will just do their jobs but there are those diamonds, who follow a higher calling and really help the talent they have recruited to shine. Keep this in mind.
I know you will make the best out of my information here and if you require more know how feel free to send me a mail with your question or book a call for a free consultation.
All the best for your career journey.
Your colleague and Mentor
Helmut H Meckelburg
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