Employer branding and its critical role for the hospitality industry-Part 1

Recently, I was attending an industry event and met up with a few colleagues and naturally, the discussion turned to the challenges of managing hotels. The key interest in this discussion was about staff turnover, retention, onboarding costs and the effects that all of these issues have on the performance of the business.

Over the course of the conversation, one of the colleagues who had recently taken over management of his property mentioned the difficulties he has in recruiting good talent because of the notorious reputation his hotel has with regards to managing or “Mismanaging” the human capital of that hotel.

I could immediately relate to my colleague’s dilemma as I myself had been in a similar situation not too long ago, having taken over the management of a hotel with massive talent and culture challenges.

People who had joined the hotel were disappointed with the manner the Human Resources process was conducted and many of the people who eventually left, often after short stints were never provided exit interviews. People who were looking for employment were intrigued by the consistent Job Adverts from the hotel, oftentimes for the same positions. People who applied did not have a systematic response process by the hotel but were randomly contacted, some reached to the interview stage, some never got answers and most of those who were eventually interviewed never heard back from the managers who were involved in the interview process or by the Human Resources department. Those applicants who followed up, either never reached the managers who interviewed them or some were told that they were in the shortlist. Others were informed that they will be hearing from the “Management” but the calls never came.

In this day and age, as much as Hotel Marketing invests heavily in social media to create positive publicity for their businesses, unprofessional and haphazard Human Resources (HRM)practices can cause immeasurable damage to the brands and businesses by those who were let down, by using the same social media platforms. It is imperative that an organization maintains good relations with employees who would have left (unless there are obvious issues such as critical discipline, conduct or performance, among others) and with candidates who are interested to join the organization.

I do not believe anyone would disagree that the human element in the hospitality industry is critical for the service delivery, guest satisfaction, competitive advantage and loyalty, leading to organizational performance. In Australia, the tourism labour demand is 85,000 or 15.3% between the years 2015 and 2020. (Deloitte Access Economics, 2015). (Australian Trade Commission-AUSTRADE). There is no doubt that the industry will continue to be challenged due to the massive influx of room inventory available and incoming and the country’s need to generate tourism dollars.

In today's knowledge economy, organizations compete intensely to possess the right talent to be ahead of the competition. Various strategies are implemented to employ and retain top talent. A successful and proven strategy is “Employer Branding”. Employer Branding is used to manifest an image, attractive of an organization towards it’s current and future employees. It is deemed as one of the overarching reputational elements contributing to the competitive edge of the organization. To me, entrants, especially the talented newcomers are important ambassadors to the organization as they are technically savvy and highly active in the social media world.

Employer branding is a tactical long-term strategy to manage the awareness and perceptions of employees past, present and future, with regards to an organization.

“The strategy can be tuned to drive recruitment, retention, and productivity management efforts. It works by consistently putting forth an image surrounding management and business practices that make your organization an attractive, “good place to work.” The net result of successful employment branding is that your organization’s exposure and reputation increases, creating consensus among your employees, magazine editors, managers in other organizations, and high potential applicants that you are one of the top employers of choice”. (Sullivan, 2004)

In order to achieve a successful outcome in Employer Branding, employees, existing and future, need to be treated as guests of the hotel/ organization. Such an experience among employees and in the market place will reflect the image that satisfied internal guests will be motivated to deliver quality products and services to the external guests/ customers.

“For creating a good employer brand two types of customers are much needed one is current employees who are presently working in the organization, their expectations should match with the companies values so that they will be satisfied and have appositive word-of-mouth. The second is the prospective employees, in order to attract talented and right employees the employer’s needs to create a positive and satisfying experience for individuals throughout the recruitment process”. (Dev, 2019)

References

Australian Trade Commission-AUSTRADE. (n.d.). Australian Tourism Labour Force Report: 2015-2020. Canberra: Deloitte Access Economics Report 2015-2020.

Dev, P. P. (2019, January). THE HISTORY AND IMPORTANCE OF EMPLOYER

Sullivan, D. (2004, February 23). The 8 Elements of a Successful Employment Brand. Retrieved December 2019, from Dr.Johnsullivan.com: https://drjohnsullivan.com/uncategorized/the-8-elements-of-a-successful-employment-brand/