hotels are struggling to make the most of the pent-up demand for travel experiences .
FIERCE COMPETITION Hireology recently surveyed hospitality job seekers and found that employers are competing against 15 other companies for every applicant .
At the moment , the bulk of that competition is manifested in bigger pay offers , but Robinson said that hospitality companies are unlikely to win the arms-race of higher wages .
“ Most operators are concluding that they just need to pay more money , but it ’ s a short-term solution . It ’ s also a solution that erodes margin and at some point there is always someone who can pay a dollar more an hour ,” he said . “ In the short run , you pay more but that ’ s not a strategy ; it ’ s just commoditizing labor .”
Some hospitality companies have been forced to hire contract workers , but that is only a stopgap solution that may be making the problem worse .
“ Contract staffing as a percentage of total staff on the payroll is about twice as much as the historical average ,” Robinson said . “ So , we ’ re solving the problem by spending more money with a contract-based workforce and , in many cases , we are paying the folks who are quitting twice as much as they were getting to come back as contractors .”
HIRING DIFFERENTLY The solution , Robinson said , is to shift the hiring mindset from being an administrative function to being something closer to being a sales and marketing operation : selling the company to potential employees .
“ Companies that are recruiting successfully are thinking about it more as a B2C ( Business to Consumer ) marketing activity than they are as the traditional administrative role of human resources ,” he said . “ The question to ask is ‘ Am I thinking about my employment opportunities as a product that the market actually wants to buy ?’ The market being the labor pool .”
In a saturated market , workers once only asked where to find a job , but now it ’ s come down to : Who do I want to work for ?
Hireology found that two aspects stood out in getting people to sign on : flexibility and career growth .
The Hireolology survey found that 43 % of respondents said that greater flexibility would keep them at their current employer over a higher paying offer and 50 % said they ’ d take a pay cut for the flexibility they want .
In a post-pandemic world , where many people have reassessed their priorities , people are thinking less about a work / life balance than a life / work balance . Does this job fit in with what I want to do rather than how do I fit in with this job ?
“ That means looking at how we are managing shifts and staffing our properties and potentially filling in gaps with different work configurations ,” said Robinson , who noted that more complex work schedules put more pressure on management . Now they may be hiring two employees willing to work 20 hours a week rather than a single worker willing to work 40 hours — but that is the cost of success .
The second stand-out selling points is what Hireology calls “ meaningful work ,” essentially career progression and culture .
“ In today ’ s context , career path means 18 to 24 months from now ,” Robinson said . ‘ If I come to work for you today , two years from now , what might I be doing ?’ Access to that opportunity is a key differentiating factor in both the decision to work for you and the decision to continue working for you .”
Robinson said that long-term , more flexible immigration policies would help ease the supply-side pressure on the employment market , but he doesn ’ t believe that will happen any time soon .
WE ’ RE TELLING FOLKS THAT IF THEY ’ RE WAITING FOR THIS TO GET BETTER , THEY ’ RE GOING TO BE WAITING A WHILE ,” HE SAID . “ IN OUR PROFESSIONAL CAREERS , WE ’ RE NOT GOING TO SEE THIS BACK IN BALANCE FOR THE ROLES THAT OUR BUSINESS IS TRYING TO RECRUIT FOR .
– ADAM ROBINSON
Jan / Feb 2023 hotelsmag . com 33