The Great Resignation has had a major impact on the hospitality industry. Its effects are still being felt in terms of ongoing staffing shortages across the industry. Here are some strategies for dealing with the staffing shortages at your hotel or restaurant.
It is more important than ever to make sure you are holding on to your skilled and experienced hospitality workers. In the past, some in the industry believed that hospitality workers were largely replaceable, so there was little emphasis on retention. However, good hospitality workers are rare, especially these days. Making sure you hold onto the talent you have will help your staff shortages now and in the future.
Don’t assume you know what your employees want. Early in the Great Resignation, employers tried to stem the tide by simply offering higher salaries or packages of benefits that management thought was appealing. These enticements sometimes had negative effects by highlighting how little management understood or cared for their employees.
Talk to employees about what they want or need to continue working. Some potentially helpful changes include:
Responding to your workers’ concerns will not only help you retain your current personnel, but it can also make your workplace more attractive to new employees. The changes themselves are appealing, but in addition when word gets out that management is responsive to employees, people will be more likely to want to work at your hotel or restaurant.
When you are short-staffed, it can be hard to maintain the services you offered when you had full staff. Resist the temptation to overburden your remaining staff. Instead, you might have to recognize that you might not be able to offer all the services you have in the past. Decide what tasks really need to be done, and what tasks might be deferred until staffing reaches optimum levels again.
This is where you want to listen to your customers. Figure out the services that really matter to their experience and maintain them at the same high level, while letting some less important services lag.
One of the most common approaches has been for hotels to offer reduced housekeeping services. Make daily housekeeping an “opt in” service. In addition to having appeal to customers because of its “green” aspects of reduced energy and water consumption, some people like fewer disturbances by housekeeping. Meanwhile, it saves many hours for your housekeeping staff.
Restaurants can ask guests when they arrive if they want immediate service or would prefer to settle at their table with the menu first. Restaurants can also offer guests the option of using an app at their table to make orders. This not only appeals to many visitors, but it can also make it easier for your short staff to serve all your guests in what they perceive to be a timely manner.
Needless to say, a staffing service is an invaluable tool when you are short-staffed. It can be even more helpful if you have the option to hire on any temporary staff that works particularly well for your team.
Although this can initially seem expensive, it’s often a good value when you compare it to the cost of a hiring search in today’s market.
If your hotel, restaurant, or event center is struggling with staffing shortages, let Xclusive Services help you provide optimal service to your customers while maintaining your current employees.
Our Xclusive Excellence™ promise means that we will:
The efficient, effective staff we supply will help you keep your customers happy. Our staff will also help reduce strain on your current employees. You will have the confidence of knowing that we are handling all legal requirements for our employees, and that we have managers available 24/7 in case you do experience any problems.
Please call a nearby location for an urgent staffing need or use our online form today to request a quote.
