In this article, all five main types of training programs will be explained in detail that are used in the hospitality industry.
Most hospitality organisations make sure that employees go through a few or all of them based on their experience.
There are five main types of employee training programs commonly used across industries. These are not exclusive to the hospitality and travel industry.
For a new employee, it is very important to learn from these corporate training programs. This will allow the company to grow more rapidly as these training programs improve the skills of both the new and experienced employees.
All the five types of corporate training are discussed one by one.
1. Onboarding and Orientation
This is the first training a new employee can expect while joining. At times, this can be said to be the most important as well as it sets the tone for the rest of the duration of the job.
A lot of top hotel chains in the world and most of the top hospitality companies in the US and elsewhere ensure that the first impression is the best one.
Thus orientation is a crucial first step for all hospitality organisations across the globe.
It is the start of the employee’s career and the employee needs to learn about the organisation he/she is working for.
The onboarding and orientation training includes all that information about the hospitality organisation, job expectations, work culture and more.
The new hospitality employee must know the history of the organisation he or she is working for.
Another part of this training is the expectation of the organisation from the employee. The employee must know what the organisation wants her/him to do.
Also, giving the employees initial training about the skills is important.
At the outset, an employee may not be able to recognise the exact job. The initial skills teach him how to start his/her work according to the requirements of the organisation.
In other words, onboarding and orientation training are all that is needed for an organisation to make a new employee profitable as soon as possible. All this while ensuring a proper career trajectory for the hospitality employee.
This training is considered as a base for all good employees.
2. Compliance Training in Hospitality
The compliance training is more about learning the rules made by the organisation.
These are important to learn.
Think in terms of Chefs needing to know about all the food and safety rules.
Wine Sommeliers need to know all about wine serving rules in the area.
This type of training helps the hospitality organisation as well as the employees to steer clear of any legal implications of the job.
Compliance training is very important for the beginner. However, the senior employees should be allowed as well to refresh themselves with any new rules and the existing ones.
The hotel industry and the travel industry overall have different rules even within various hospitality organisations depending on the location, work specifications and more.
Thus, this compliance training is extremely important in the hospitality industry.
This training also includes legal laws that can impact the organisation. This is even more important for hospitality professionals as most hospitality employers hire candidates from diverse nationalities.
The rules can differ from the home country of the employees and thus getting them used to the law of the land as well as that of the organisation is crucial.
3. Hard Skill Training
Hard skill training is the key to success for any organisation and is not limited to the hospitality industry.
It is because hard training means improving the skills of the employee.
This is the purpose of hard training to enhance the specific skill set of the employees.
Hard skills are crucial for an organisation. Consider the case of the hotel industry.
Jobs like Chef de Partie, Butcher, and Sommelier need some hard skills. They need regular training for the same to ensure they keep performing to their best potential.
Some of the categories of hard skills in the hospitality industry include but are not limited to:
- Knowledge of software like Opera, Micros, Amadeus etc.
- A lot of skills required in the Food and beverage production department can be considered hard skills.
- Knowledge of foreign languages (French, German, Spanish, Japanese etc.)
- HVAC technician and other Engineering operations.
- Housekeeping and Laundry operations
- Safety Management (More Important than ever after the Covid-19 Pandemic)
And the list goes on and on.
How does this training help the experienced employee? This training teaches them about the new trends. Not only that but these trainings also help hospitality employees to learn the methods to keep updated with the modern techniques.
4. Soft Skill Employee Training in Hospitality Industry
Soft skills training is at times even more important than hard skills in the hospitality industry.
The hospitality and travel industry is all about creating experiences. It is customer-centric and people-focused. Thus soft skills are crucial.
Most of the crucial hospitality skills would include one or more of the below soft skills like:
- Customer Service Skills
- Emotional Intelligence
- Multitasking abilities
- Communication and connection skills
- Team working and other interpersonal skills
The soft skill training does not include any technical skills.
That is the training may not help an employee to improve the skill set, however, it is the need of the time.
The soft training teaches the employee on how to communicate with colleagues and clients. It also includes training on time and project management.
5. Product Knowledge Training
Product knowledge training is basic training about the product that the organisation wants to sell.
It can be a physical product or software.
For hotels, these are hotel rooms, food and beverage, spa and recreation services or any other similar services for hotel guests.
For travel companies, the products are tour packages, air tickets, meals and more.
Any employee needs to learn the product in and out to be able to properly sell or upsell the same. A better knowledge about the product would make sure that the employee would be able to answer the client convincingly. That is why product knowledge training is very important as branding and customer retention of hospitality organisation depends on better product knowledge of professionals.
Conclusion
Here you go, some of the most important types of employee training programmes in the hospitality industry.
Most organisations use all of these training programmes at some time or the other.
Better training means a more engaged employee pool that leads to better organisational performance. Try it and see it for yourself.
