Cross-trained Employees are happier ...

That title is true in my own world, but I know in some places, cross-trained employees are overworked... what is the happy medium?

I have always thought one of the ways to an employee's heart was through cross-training.

When I started in hotels, they hired me and tossed me into the laundry with Tammi and Denise, and away I went washing sheets, towels, and tablecloths for a Holiday Inn.

I worked in the laundry for maybe 3 months, then started cleaning rooms...

Mad respect for all my housekeepers out there btw!

After cleaning rooms for a while, the Chief Engineer and I hit it off and he talked to the GM and they moved me to maintenance....

On to fixing rooms, working on the PM program, and making sure all things were running smoothly with the rooms, the pool, and the meeting spaces. We even went through a full-scale remodel.

One day, there was a call-off in banquets, and since I was the closing maintenance guy, they asked if I would help set up and tear down.

Heck yes!

That led me to be scheduled in banquet set up and tear down every once in a while, working with my stepbrother who was serving the banquets.

I had been at the hotel for 6 months, working in 4 different roles, and at the same time starting to learn a fifth when I would stop by the front desk and chat with Nadeen, a flight student from Kent State who worked nights, and learn about checking guests in and out.

All of this lead me to realize that if you are willing to do what it takes to get the job done, then you slowly become a valuable asset.

NEW HIRES

In Chicago, the topic came up about cross-training and how we get folks to want to do it. I personally think cross-training allows for the employee to see the future and stay engaged in new roles and positions and possibly find their next career.

This was mentioned in my post on May 18th with a great Juan Leyva quote.

I have talked with so many exec-level hospitality professionals over the last 10 years and paid very close attention to their backgrounds. I have seen GMs come up from f&b, sales, housekeeping, and maintenance.

But one thing a lot of them had in common, was they had cross-training.

Industry leaders and major companies like Marriott and Hilton start the MIT process and allow for new hires to choose what they want and where they want to do it, which is an amazing program.

Yet, I have noticed that smaller companies feel that they may not have the hours, or the manpower to cross-train someone.

Why is that?

Wouldn't cross-training make the man-hours less meaningful, and therefore allow for the guest to be better served on different levels?

“One of the new challenges I’ve seen in the last two years is what I call ‘job-jumping’... People come on board, you spend the first 30-60 days getting them trained, and then something new and flashy comes their way and they jump at it. So it’s [up to us to] make sure people don’t want to jump. It’s a buyer’s market right now.” ~ Paul E. Cardona?

Paul was talking about cross-training, and getting buy-in to the company culture from day one.

Let's make the new and flashy come from your property... not another one or another company outside the industry and lose the employee altogether, we have seen to much of that over the last two years.

So the question arises, should pay be commensurate with cross-training?

YES!

If we are asking them to do something new, and flashy, once they are trained then pay them for it.

It does not have to be a ton, maybe .75 to $1 an hour, but it encourages new hires to want to learn and want to continue to grow.

This article from Edge Point Learning is a great read and should be passed along between leadership teams.

I would love to hear if you were cross-trained and what it did for your career!