The Employee Selection System In The Hospitality Industry Tourism Essay

In the hospitality industry, there are many departments in the organizations of hotels and other lodging establishments. Every department plays a different role in accommodating to the needs and demands of the guests and this include the human resource department. Although the human resource department is not directly involved in serving the guests in the hotel, this department is essential in ensuring that the service industry is consisted of reliable and experienced employees. Being an industry that is very labour-intensive, every individual that is being hired must meet the specifications of the job and it is the duty of human resource department to choose the right people for the right job.

Human resource generally means people who are comprised in the workforce of an organization. For organizations like hotels, human resources are an important asset because it is them who keep the organizations running by providing services for the guests. The operation of hospitality establishments such as lodging establishments cannot work without employees. The human resource department is therefore set up to facilitate the hotel in the role of staffing, training and helping the organization in managing the people in order to achieve a maximum capability in the workforce, subsequently, fulfilling goals and missions of the hotel. The human resource department is responsible for the following tasks.

Understanding and relating to employees as individuals, thus identifying individual needs and career goals

Developing a positive interaction between employees in order to ensure collated and constructed enterprise productivity as well as development of a uniform organization culture

Recruiting and required the employees and making provisions for expressed and promised payroll and other benefits

Innovating new operating practices to minimise risk and generate an overall sense of belonging and accountability

Identifying the areas which the employees have lack of knowledge and experience in and then provide a training programme to remedy the weaknesses in the forms of workshops and seminars

Implementing resource strategies to create and sustain competitive advantage.

Furthermore, the human resource department is also responsible for preparing the manpower budget and the list of backups at certain levels. For example, a well functioned human resource department will always plan for future situations by analysing the current market job to see how the rate of employee switching is going in the hospitality industry. This rate is different in every sector, with the lodging industry having the highest rate when compared with the other industries. Therefore, the employees in the department will always keep a look out for any gaps that requires them to get substitutes for positions in the hotel by preparing contingency plans and backups which are assessed to maintain the hierarchy of the organization.

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The management in the human resource department faces a challenge when recruiting members to join the organizations, the higher the challenge still if it is in the case of hiring for the lodging industry. The lodging industry as its name suggests is simply known to the public as hotels, motels and other establishments which provide services such as lodging and lodging with meals. Being a labour-intensive industry, the employees are essential for the operation of the organizations. Therefore, the prospects for employment in the lodging industry are very high and employees are easily attainable in the labour market. However, as the labour market gets smaller when more people are getting hired in the lodging industry as well as other industries, the rate of turnover in the lodging industry has begun to rise higher. The high turnover rate in the lodging industry has impacted the growth of the service sector. According to Kenneth and Berger (1994), the turnover in the hospitality industry has been shown to be incredibly high, averaging up to 200 to 300 percent annually. This high turnover rate not only affects developing countries like Malaysia, but also for developed countries like the USA, where the employee turnover rates are more than 100% in food and beverage outlets.

What are the reasons behind the high turnover rates of employees in the lodging industry? There are various reasons of why the percentage of turnover among employees in the lodging industry is higher compared to other industries. In the next few chapters, the reasons of the relatively high turnover rate will be explained.

Chapter 2: Quality of the Employee Selection System and Leadership

For every establishment, the most important thing for the organization is to choose the right people for the right job. The employees of the hotel are the backbone of the organization. If they are not meticulously chosen by the human resource department and subsequently hiring the wrong people for the wrong job specifications, the reputation of the hotel will be tarnished when the customers judge the service standard of the hotel based on the employees. On top of that, a bad employment system is one of the major reasons of employee turnover in the lodging industry.

More often than not, the applicants for lower position jobs in the lodging industry are usually young and inexperienced. It is not right to assume that the lower levels in the hierarchy of an organization is less important and therefore, simply selecting any applicant from the list will fit the job perfectly. If an individual with little passion in the lodging industry seeks the job just for the sake of getting a job but appears to be keen and enthusiastic during the interview, this might be able to fool the human resource department into hiring him, thinking he is the best candidate for the applied position. This shows that the employee selection system is poor in quality as the employees are not thoroughly examined before hiring them.

It is easy to see that an uninterested employee who has no passion for the hospitality industry will not stay for long in his position. Without a genuine love for the profession as well as the desire to excel as a hotelier, there is no forms of motivations that can help the employee to stay working in the lodging establishment. Sooner or later, the employee will aspire for a better work-life balance, a faster career growth or even a growing desire to stop working in the department where the managers are not the least concern about his well being, for example. Consequently, he will resign from his position after a few months due to boredom or a bad relationship with their superiors. The cycle continues as the human resource department continues to hire applicants without meticulously examining them and assign them to jobs that do not suit them properly and then have to result to terminate them or a receive a resignation from them when they do not perform as well as expected by the department.

Besides, the other main reason why the turnover is high in lodging industry is that the quality of leadership in the establishment. Not every individual is designed to fit well in the culture and the regulations of a property especially the likes of a hotel. Besides, the lodging industry is one industry that practices the culture that foster dependence which requires the employees to follow a chain of command which requires the lower level employees to report to their own direct superiors respectively. It is impossible for hotels to have a perfectly high standard of leadership qualities and therefore, not all the leaders or supervisors are good managers to their subordinates or owning the ability to lead the teams in the various departments in the hotel.

The disability to lead or motivate the employees as their supervisors can bring about a negative impact on the employees and as a result, they become more and more dissatisfied with the way they are being treated by their superiors. For example, an employee who has an emergency to leave early from work and the supervisor disallows him from doing so and forces him to stay till the end of the shift without considering the reason behind the permission of early dismissal. What will the employee feel having to work under a supervisor who could not care less the well being of the subordinates? The employee will be discouraged and begins to consider about leaving the organization for other job opportunities where they might be able to work under a better leadership.

It does not mean that being strict towards the employee is a good leadership quality. A leader must not only be strict to employees but at the same time, needs to demonstrate an example to be followed by the employees. If the way the supervisors lead does not bring about motivation at the workplace, it is no wonder that the turnover rate of the employees is so high because almost no one is able to work under a management that is stressful or filled with negativity, for example, employees are often being scolded for trivial mistakes with no hint of encouragement to strive for improvement especially during the rush hour in the lodging establishment. Thus, the same position keeps changing employee and this increases the employee turnover percentage due to poor quality of leadership.

Chapter 3: Working Environment and Work Specification

The working environment is considered as the workplace and its surroundings. This factor is one that most employees place priority on, ensuring that the job that they doing provides a conducive environment that will enable them to work happily and efficiently. In the lodging industry, the working environment is defined as a place where there is constant contact with guests and it is of utmost importance for the employees to present themselves well at all times. The working environment does not only include the physical workplace which can be seen by all, for example, sitting at the reception but it also involves the figurative part, which is the environment that involves acknowledging the presence of guests day in and day out of the shift (working hours). Suffice to say, the guests are a part of the working environment in the lodging industry.

The working environment in the lodging establishment is another reason of the high turnover rate of employees because this industry is one that requires employees to have a high level of patience and a good stress management due to its occupation nature. Having to face guests all the time and if the guests are demanding, they still need to meet the demands of the guests no matter how tired they are. One can only last for so long working in such a stressful environment while at the same time is forced to put on a smile for each and every guest who walks into the establishment. Besides, the working environment in the lodging establishments also includes their supervisors or co-workers who make pressure more intense in the workplace. The hospitality industry is such a challenging field that not everyone will make it as their permanent profession. Majority of the employees who work in hotels are either school leavers or part-timers who lack the courage to or perseverance to keep pursuing the career in this area, hence, they change jobs as soon as they can find a working environment that is less stressful and gives them more time to relax.

Furthermore, the work specification is also the reason of the high employee turnover in the lodging industry. The shifts in a regular lodging establishment are divided into three shifts morning, afternoon and midnight shifts; consisting of about eight or more hours per shift. Sometimes the employees need to work more than the regular eight hours when there is a shortage of employees in the department. Sometimes, employees are assigned the midnight shift, also known as the graveyard shift in the hospitality context and stay on duty till the next morning. Every shift is important because the guests may check in at any time of the day. The lodging industry cannot expect all the guests to check in only in the afternoon because some guests for example, just got down from a flight and need lodging for the night. On top of that, the work in the lodging industry requires a lot of physical activities which tires the employees easily. Therefore, employees who cannot take the pressure or fatigue will resign or be terminated for lack of competency in the job which leaves the position vacant for another employee who most likely will do the same thing.

The irregularity of working hours in the long term is not the kind of profession which many people like as they tend to prefer stable working hours, such as office hours. Furthermore, the work specification in the lodging establishment, especially in the food and beverage department, requires the employees to stand for a long period of time which is something that needs endurance on the part of the employees. The high turnover of employees occurs in the lodging industry because not all of the ones hired have the aspiration to be hoteliers and therefore, the work specification does not meet their criteria of a job selection. This is one reason why they leave shortly after working for a considerable brief period of time.

Therefore, the working environment and the specifications of the various positions in the lodging establishment is an important element which determines how long the employees can work in the industry. The lodging industry is very labour-oriented which results in high demand of employees. However, the ones who are ready to accept the job opportunities offered by this industry are more likely to change their job environment when they feel that the irregularity working hours in the hotel environment is no longer what they prefer to continue to do, so they need to venture into other career line that is appealing to them.

Chapter 4: Salary and Low Job Satisfaction

For every industry, the purpose employees choose to work is to earn a decent salary to support oneself or even a family. The career is the source of income and therefore, salary has become another reason of why the turnover of employees is extremely high especially in the lodging industry. Being an industry that caters to the need of customers, guests in the hospitality context, the lodging establishments has a mission to provide guests with the best services even though if it means to hire more employees to facilitate the management to fulfil this goal. The number of employees working in the lodging industry is high especially in the lower levels such as front desk representative and the salary for such positions is always deemed to be low in terms lodging industry workers work harder and longer hours compared with the employees from other industries who have fixed working hours and a considerable low level of stress. For example, the front desk representative earns an average of $20,000 per year, referencing from a statistic in United States in February 2010.

Furthermore, some employees who are desperate for a job will work for a short duration of time in the lodging industry and at the same time, scouting for jobs outside the industry which offers higher pay and shorter working hours. Most employees use the lodging industry as a stepping stone in order to achieve a better position somewhere which is not so dependent on guests as well as too much reliance on commission-like pay. Therefore, when they could not accept the same salary for the amount of work that they do, they decide to leave. The scenario repeats when the next employee who comes to replace the previous employee has the same vision of treating the current job as a temporary solution before he can find a higher paid job soon. The reason why most employees leave the lodging industry after working for a short time is because they are not satisfied with the wages that is paid by the hotel as they think they deserved to receive a higher salary for the worth of the work that they do every day, especially the irregularity in the time shift as explained in the previous chapter.

Many of the employees who are working in the lodging establishments do not have the opportunity to express their creativity and intellectual development as the job requirements in the hotel follow a standard operating procedure to synchronise the work among the employees. Therefore, the employees feel that what they have to offer to the industry is very limited as they cannot express their potential to the maximum, something which can make them stand out from other employees. However, the lodging industry places importance on teamwork and individualism is rarely practised in the lower level of management whereby the employee is given a full responsibility in a certain task. The satisfaction level of employees upon the job is slowly decreasing as they begin to feel bored with the tough routine of serving the guests every day without any chances to be valued by the management. Besides, a low job satisfaction happens when the employees feel that they are being taken advantage of which they are obligated to work extra hours at times to cover the insufficiency of manpower during peak seasons with extra minimal wages. As a result, more negative emotions surface such as feeling of undervalued, helpless or unimportant.

Employees seek satisfaction in their career and when they fail to achieve it in the lodging industry, they will begin to wonder if they are not well suited for the service area, therefore, leaving the industry altogether. On top of that, employees desire to attain benefits from their workplace. These benefits are not necessarily in the monetary sense but they also include the appreciation by the organization such as a raise in salary or extra days off in the week. However, it is not possible for the establishments in the lodging industry to reward employees by giving extra days off when industry is so labour-intensive which means, they need all the employees they can to serve the guests who steps into the establishment all the time.

Chapter 5: Impact of New Technology on Skill Requirements

The technology era has made a major difference globally including the lodging industry. The information and communication technology (ICT) system integrate the power of the Internet, the customer relationship management and also the supply chain management in a directly seamless, one-source direction site which allows all kinds of operations to be performed with one user friendly tool. The types of operations that can be performed are such as making reservations, storing of guests’ data, tracking as well as payment and reporting from one department to the other. For example, the guests can now reserve rooms from the comfort of their home without having to contact the hotel personnel to make reservations.

By cutting out one or two stages of reservation in the system of the lodging establishment like hotels, it gives a great impact on the employment of the human resource department. This is because with the advancement of technology, certain tasks that have been operated manually by the employees in the lodging establishments such as helping the guest to make reservation has now been replaced with the Internet. This is where the reason of the high turnover of employee comes in. In order to maintain the personal touch that the guests love to experience when they contact the hotel, the management still hires employees to collaborate with the automated functions that has made the procedures in the hotel much simpler than before. Therefore, the employees who are not competent enough to handle the change that has replaced the old system are replaced with employees that have the different levels of skills which complement the job specifications.

On the surface, the management might see this as a solution to replace old employees who lack in skill compared to the new employees. However, the turnover of employees continues to be high in percentage as the technology is always evolving so fast the knowledge that the current employees have becomes obsolete ever more quickly. The training of employees to operate in the lodging industry has become a continuous need meanwhile the remaining jobs require employees of greater skills than before. As a result, the human resource has to keep hiring new employees who are better in operating the new systems in the hotel. This reason used to be the least problem to the lodging industry in the earlier years but now, as globalisation continues to develop, the industry must keep up to the up-to-date systems and hire the right people to operate them, such as hoteliers who are at the same time comfortable with new systems and are flexible to adapt to new changes, a challenge that is continually forcing the turnover of employees to remain higher than the other industries which are not so labour-intensive.

Chapter 6: Conclusion

The lodging industry is such a challenging industry because it requires a lot of employees to make the system functional. The job opportunities that is presented in this industry is so vast that many people are willing to apply for a position within the industry for various reasons but most of the employments do not last long because of the reasons that have been explained in the previous chapters.

The first reason of why the employee turnover is exceptionally high in the lodging industry is because of the poor quality of employee selection system and the leadership practised in the organization. The human resource department has the task of selecting the right people to do the right job. If the employees are not screened properly, there is a higher probability that the individuals assigned to the position are not up to the job, subsequently, cannot handle the work and has to be replaced with better employees who have experience in the lodging industry. The leadership of the lodging industry also affects the turnover of employees. A leader who cannot cooperate with his subordinates or give a proper guidance to train them to perform better at work will also cause the high turnover in employees because employees always seek to work under good leadership that will enable them to learn new things about the industry.

Furthermore, the working environment and the job specification are another reason of the high employee turnover in lodging industry. The hustle bustle in the hotel, having to meet guests all the time with a pleasant appearance can be a challenging job as no matter how tired an employee is, he must not display it upfront to maintain the service level towards the guests. The long working hours is also another cause of the high employee turnover as well as the irregularity of working hours that causes employees to encounter fatigue due to the different shifts they are assigned to.

On top of that, the salary and low job satisfaction has become another cause of high employee turnover in the lodging industry. Employees will leave when they realise that the amount of work they do are not being appreciated when their pay is lower compared with other industries which offer higher pay for lesser amount of work. The job satisfaction then decreases further when employees have fewer opportunities to express their creativity and intellect since the lodging industry has their own standard operating procedures to keep everything synchronised for the guests.

The last reason for the turnover of employees is the impact of the new technology on skill requirements. Technology has been advancing at an incredible speed and there are far easier ways to operate things in the lodging industry. The tasks that have been done manually in the past are now able to be done using new software that can be assimilated in the reservation procedures as well as the storing of guests’ data. The employees who are resistant to these changes have to be replaced with newer employees who are more technologically inclined as their new skills are needed to be incorporated with the technology used in the hotel. As the technology advances on, the turnover of employees begin to remain high in percentage as more new skills are required to replace the old in order for the lodging industry to function at its best to serve its guests.