Hotel doorman gets the push
WITH digitalisation, there appears to be a push to get rid of the doorman, says Mark Fletcher, HR Director of Ritz-Carlton Millenia Singapore. But the doorman is more than an overdressed ornament; he’s the icon of a certain lifestyle, and guests walking into a luxury hotel want him to greet them and open the door for them. They don’t want to enter through an automatic metal-and-glass doorway, like what you see in a shopping mall.
Of course technology is a great time-saver where it matters, such as in key card access and using an app to make your room booking. But it should not replace the human touch, Mr Fletcher adds.
The question is how do we make hard, impersonal technology soft and personal, asks Margaret Heng, Executive Director of the Singapore Hotel Association. Together with Des Pugson, Managing Director of Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts, the three veterans of the hospitality trade were speaking at a day-long master class for HR bosses, managers and executives on Friday evening, July 14, 2017, at the Lifelong Learning Institute.
The panelling session, organised by Human Capital Singapore, was fronted by HCS CEO Madam Ho Geok Choo and HCS Director David Ang.
“Behind all the digitisation there remains the human touch,” Mr Pugson reminds the audience of 40, mostly from the hotel HR profession.
The importance of the human touch should be extended to everybody in the hotel industry, particularly the rank-and-file. Mr Pugson mentions that rank-and-file workers are so important that they and all employees in Banyan Tree are called “associates”.
To highlight their importance, their regular training is not confined to practising how to pour drinks, he says. “We give them leadership training. We tell them, today you’re a waiter, tomorrow you’re going to be a general manager! We teach ground staff higher-level skills like planning and ordering stocks, and doing staff rosters. Their jobs become more interesting and you will not have problem retaining them.”
The idea of providing top-level skills to the rank-and-file is a kind of inverted pyramid, says Madam Ho, who expresses delight with the idea of leadership at the bottom of the pyramid.
On the human touch, Mr Fletcher quotes a woman in her mid-50s working in his hotel’s laundry department. As she is afflicted with gout and has difficulty walking, Mr Fletcher managed to get her to do permanent morning shift which entitles her to ride a taxi to work in the early hours. “At least she gets paid taxi transport coming to work which takes care of half her walking problem,” he says.
“Remember that in Human Resource, humans come first,” says the Ritz-Carlton HR boss.
One last issue for the hospitality profession is internship. An HR manager from the audience asks if the period can be extended from the mandatory six months to one year. Margaret Heng points out that the reason for six months is to prevent abuse and exploitation of the interns. However, her hotel association will press the authorities to extend to a year.
Human Capital Singapore provides training for all levels of Human Resource practitioners, from junior executives to directors, as well as business owners and all involved in the managing and running of companies and organisations big and small..