| As many of you here today have worked in the hotel industry for some time, |
| I'm sure you have experienced the problem of high staff turnover in your hotels. |
| Every hotel relies on having loyal and experienced members of staff |
| who make sure that everything runs smoothly. |
| If staff are constantly changing, |
| it can make life difficult for everyone. |
| But why do staff leave frequently in many hotels? |
| Of course, many hotel jobs, such as cleaning, are low-skilled and are not well-paid. |
| A lot of managers think it's this and the long hours that are the main causes of high staff turnover - |
| but what they don't realise is that it's the lack of training in many hotel jobs which is a huge factor. |
| So, what kind of problems does a high turnover of staff cause? |
| Well, having to recruit new staff all the time can be very time-consuming, |
| and managers may have to cover some duties while waiting for new staff to arrive. |
| This means they don't have time to think about less immediate problems |
| such as how to improve their service. |
| When staff leave, it can also severely affect the colleagues they leave behind. |
| It has a negative effect on remaining staff, |
| who may start to feel that they too should be thinking about leaving. |
| So, what can be done to change this situation? |
| Firstly, managers should stop making basic errors |
| which leave their staff feeling upset and resentful. |
| When organising shifts, for example, |
| make sure you never give certain staff preferential treatment. |
| All staff should be given some choice about when they work, |
| and everyone should have to work some evening and weekend shifts. |
| If you treat staff fairly, |
| they'll be more likely to step in and help when extra staff are needed. |
| Keeping staff happy has other tangible benefits for the business. |
| Take the Dunwich Hotel as an example. |
| It had been experiencing a problem with staff complaints |
| and in order to deal with this, |
| invested in staff training |
| and improved staff conditions. |
| Not only did the level of complaints fall, |
| but they also noticed a significant increase in the amount each customer spent during their stay. |
| They have now introduced a customer loyalty scheme |
| which is going really well. |
| Now I'd like to look at some ways you can reduce staff turnover in your hotels, |
| and I'll do this by giving some examples of hotels where I've done some training recently. |
| The Sun Club received feedback which showed that staff thought managers didn't value their opinions. |
| They weren't made to feel they were partners who were contributing to the success of the business as a whole. |
| This situation has changed. |
| Junior staff at all levels are regularly invited to meetings where their ideas are welcomed. |
| A year ago, The Portland recognised the need to invest in staff retention. |
| Their first step was to introduce a scheme for recognising talent amongst their employees. |
| The hope is that organising training for individuals with management potential will encourage them to stay with the business. |
| At Bluewater, managers decided to recognise 50 high achievers from across the company's huge hotel chain. |
| As a reward, they're sent on an all-expenses-paid trip abroad every year. |
| Fun is an important element in the trips, |
| but there's also the opportunity to learn something useful. |
| This year's trip included a visit to a brewery, |
| where staff learned about the new beer that would be served in the hotel. |
| Pentlow Hotels identified that retention of junior reception staff was an issue. |
| In order to encourage them to see that working in a hotel could be worthwhile and rewarding, with good prospects, |
| they introduced a management programme. |
| These staff were given additional responsibilities and the chance to work in various roles in the hotel. |
| Green Planets wanted to be seen as a caring employer. |
| To make life easier for staff, many of whom had childcare responsibilities, |
| the hotel began issuing vouchers to help cover the cost of childcare. |
| Louise Marsh at The Amesbury has one of the best staff retention rates in the business. |
| Since she joined the company, |
| she's made a huge effort to achieve this by creating a co-operative and supportive environment. |
| For her, the staff are part of a large family where everyone is valued. |
| OK, now I'd like to... |