1. Human Resources in Hotels
A Valuable Means to Differentiate
From the Competition
Department of Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Management
Department of Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Management

2. Department of Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Management
Department of Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Management
Contemporary Concerns for HR
• The role HR plays in Lodging Operations
of the Future
• Consequences of Turnover
• Complying with Employment Laws
• Boosting Employee Productivity

3. Department of Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Management
Department of Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Management
HR at the Crossroads
• Two likely scenarios for the HR function in
hotels:
– HR will evolve, adapt, and become more
important to lodging organizations.
– HR in lodging organizations will be
outsourced using outside talent and
technology.

4. Department of Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Management
Department of Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Management
Alternative 1: HR as a Leader
• Organizations must look beyond cost
containment to get value from the HR function.
– Difficulty with organizational structures is that HR is
not viewed as a profit center.
– Useful ways to look at HR as a “profit center”
• Reduction in employee loss time
• Reduction in sick days
• Reduction in Recruiting costs
• Etc. Can you think of other ways to reduce the costs of
managing employees?

5. Department of Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Management
Department of Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Management
HR as a Leader
• Another way to look at the cost effect of
HR other than cost reduction is
productivity
– Improved employee productivity
– Returning guests through employee-guest
interactions
– Can you think of other ways that employee
productivity can be measured?

6. Department of Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Management
Department of Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Management
Alternative 2: HR will Disappear
• Positive side of this scenario:
– Technology provides for a reduction of redundant functions
• Employees processing HR information themselves
• HR functions moving to a Central Location
• Negative Side of this scenario
– HR is the enemy – causes operations extra work
– HR is inefficient – too many support staff that do not come in contact
with the guest
– HR is out of touch – they do not understand what it takes to take care
of the guest.
Current HR professionals in hotels must strive to reduce the negative
attributes often associated with the HR function and look for ways
to add value to the properties that make up the organization.

7. Traditional Roles of HR
Employee performance appraisal
Wages and benefit management
Recruitment
Training
Hiring
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Department of Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Management
Department of Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Management

8. Department of Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Management
Department of Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Management
HR as an Organizational Leader
• Key concerns that HR must consider to become an
organizational leader:
– Employee motivation
– Jobs as careers
– Job fatigue
– Changing role of supervisor
– Employees in the decision making process
– Sharing management with other organizational stakeholders
– Consequences of technology on jobs and organization
– Cross cultural attitudes
– Social responsibility of employees and organization

9. Department of Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Management
Department of Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Management
Consequences of Turnover
• Actual costs incurred by employee
separation
• Cost of recruiting new employees
• Inefficiencies of new employees in
training
• Disruption of guest service and employee
moral
• Opportunities for diminished image, lost of
customer loyalty etc.

10. Department of Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Management
Department of Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Management
Consequences of Turnover
• A fine line between tenure and
performance
– Organizations must constantly review policies
and practices to ensure that employees
productivity does not diminish as they reach
longer periods of tenure.
• What are strategies that hotels can undertake to
reduce job fatigue and reduced productivity?

11. Department of Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Management
Department of Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Management
Calculating Turnover
• TO % = Number of new hires /
Total number of employees
• For example:
– 75 employees when fully staffed
– 60 new employees hired during the period
– = 60/75 or 66.6 %

12. Department of Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Management
Department of Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Management
Mentoring
• An Important way to enhance:
– Productivity
– Moral
– Retention
• Positive effect on both mentor and protégé
• Stages of Mentoring
– Initiation of the relationship
– Cultivation of the relationship
– Separation of the relationship
– Redefinition of the relationship