Global workspace is getting more competitive and finding the right talent is becoming more difficult. Even in this technology era, the Hospitality industry, that hires the most diverse workforce, can’t find the magic wand to hire and retain the best employees with ease. Rather than obsessing with technology, it is important to first understand what exactly today’s Hospitality Job seekers want.
This is even more important in the post Covid pandemic world of hospitality.
We are not going to downplay the importance of technology in hiring. Technology is a boon as far as recruiting the right talent is concerned and has made life a lot easy for the human resource department.
Hospitality recruiters can easily find and screen the best hospitality job seekers in minutes with the use of technology. Hundreds of Hospitality recruiters have used this Hospitality Portal to do the same.
However, we are not hiring robots and to hire and retain the best talent of the hospitality industry, it is important to understand their needs and wants.
It is these needs and wants of today’s hospitality job seekers that we intend to focus on in this post.
Understanding the mindset of these job seekers from the hospitality industry can help the recruiters overcome several Challenges of recruiting in the hospitality industry.
So, let’s begin.
1. Better Salary and better overall compensation package
Yes, this has to be the first and most important one as far as the key thing that today’s hospitality job seekers want.
Based on the data from Bureau of Labor Statistics, Hospitality and Travel industry have one of the minimum hourly average wage across industries in the USA.
The situation is even worse in other parts of the world.
The profit margins are decreasing for the hotels due to competition and technology and so are the bonuses and gratuities.
The Hospitality industry aims to make up for its rather low salary compared to other industries by bonus and tips during peak season.
Incentives like free stays, food coupons etc. also add to the desirability of the hotel jobs.
However, with tight margins and dipping profits, most of the hospitality organisations are not being able to make up for this loss of money making opportunity for the hospitality professionals.
This is even more true for freelance hospitality professionals and less experienced hospitality workers.
According to a research by the prestigious Cornell University and reported by The Rail media back in 2016, the restaurant industry has to shell out fortunes to tackle the staff turnover. The cost has only increased in 2022 especially after being hit by Covid Pandemic.
Check the image below for an estimate.
These costs can be saved by offering better compensation packages to hospitality professionals.
Passing on more benefits would save a lot of costs.
Barring a few of the well Paid Hospitality Jobs, it would be safe to say that the salary structure in the Hospitality Industry needs a complete overhaul.
2. Happiness and a Sense of Purpose
The turnover rate in the hospitality industry is extremely high. As per several research and data collected, the turnover rate in the hospitality and travel industry is double the average across industries.
What can be the reason for the same? Is it only money?
Definitely not.
Today’s hospitality job seekers want happy workplaces.
A sense of community feeling, a sense of purpose and some aligned goals can keep the teams together for a longer time in this labour-intensive industry.
On a generic level, every hospitality professional is aware that the hospitality industry is all about service. They want happier places and environment to be able to succeed in this mission of providing exemplary service.
According to Amanda Gore, workplaces that are fun are more profitable. Plus there are a lot of other benefits both for employees and the employer.
Harvard Business Review believes that these are the companies with 125% less burnout while Gallup says these companies earn 33% more profit. Details in the image below.
A lot of research done on the subject suggest that across industries happiness, sense of purpose and a positive environment are key things job seekers of today want.
Harvard Business Review in one of its articles suggests that it’s three major things that drive the motivation of employees.
These are the 3 Cs namely Career, Community and Cause.
The below research from Facebook suggests that older workers were more connected with Cause while Career drove the younger ones. Community or that coveted happy feeling is unanimously crucial once across all ages and job functions.
Lots of Hotel chains and hospitality employers have already acknowledged this and have seen a positive change in profitability and staff attrition rate.
For the remaining organisations of this industry, kindly follow suit as this is what your prospective employees desire.
3. Quick and Hassle-Free Recruitment Process
We saved the best for the last didn’t we.
Nothing will make the hospitality job seekers happier than a clear status of their hiring process and the results.
Hotel industry professionals at times need to wait for weeks and even over a month to get an answer about the whole recruitment process.
A lot of hospitality candidates report that they don’t even get an answer at times after their interview.
An article in Forbes Magazine reports a survey done by LinkedIn which involved over 14000 job seekers.
Can you guess the two most important things revealed out of the survey?
Prospective employees of the companies appreciated the detailed information about the job and the company the most.
Job seekers also appreciated the speedy recruitment process.
Then came the turn of salary and compensation.
The Hospitality industry at times due to its labour-intensive nature leads to a slower recruitment process.
So, this is what the research says to all the recruiters out there of the hospitality industry. Whether it’s a yes or a no, please keep the job seekers informed and earlier the better it is for them.
The key practices of information sharing, employment security and contingent compensation can help improve the overall recruitment process. These are extremely important especially for the hospitality industry job seekers.
Happy staff means a happy organisation.
The hospitality industry is all about spreading love and joy. Happier workplaces are the need of the hour.
Hotel industry professionals need a more secure job with a more robust compensation package.
Adding a sense of purpose to the job and a community feeling at times can do wonders as well.
Conclusion
Here you go. These are the 3 major things that Hospitality job seekers are concerned today.
If the hospitality recruiters routinely follow the best practices and get more flexible, the high staff turnover is set to reduce.
The Hospitality industry is already conscious about the changing trends but the mammoth-sized industry would take its own sweet time to catch up with other fast-moving industries.
And the great news is that we are getting there, slowly yet steadily.
