Employee engagement describes the feeling and attachment employees have toward their jobs. When employees are engaged, they are happy about what they do and care about their performance and that of the company. These workers are dedicated and willing to go above and beyond to fulfill their duties and support their company’s success.
The opposite is true for workers who are not engaged, as they are distracted and lack the drive necessary to excel in their roles. The difference between an engaged employee and a disengaged employee is like that between a bright bulb and a dull one. This guide explains the impact of employee engagement in the hospitality industry.
Importance of Employee Engagement
The importance of employee engagement in the hospitality industry can’t be overestimated. Success in the industry is marked by customer satisfaction, which makes employees an essential point of contact between your company and its customers. While employee engagement is critical across all sectors, the hospitality industry relies heavily on it.
Some characteristics of an engaged workforce are that it’s less distracted, more productive and attuned to customer needs. For a service sector like hospitality, that awareness of guests’ needs could be the difference between a successful and struggling company. Passionate and committed teams drive results for their organizations, but what does that look like for a hospitality business?
Here’s why engaged employees are critical for success in hospitality:
- They are well-settled in the company and care about its mission, values, products and services.
- They are enthusiastic and create an energetic atmosphere in the workplace.
- They are motivated and excited about hospitality.
- They display a positive attitude with customers, creating an emotional connection between the customer and the business.
- They always strive to improve service levels and customer satisfaction.
Challenges of Employee Engagement
The lack of employee engagement in hospitality can lead to serious issues that have a direct impact on companies’ bottom lines. Here are some of the challenges associated with low employee engagement:
- High turnover rates: When workers are no longer satisfied and happy with their jobs or companies they work for, they are more likely to leave whether or not they have a better offer elsewhere. While the nature of the hospitality industry means that seasonal and contract-based work arrangements are common, the industry still has one of the highest turnover rates in the country. Such high disruptions in the sector lead to inconsistencies in expertise and low satisfaction.
- Few career growth opportunities: The supersector faces limited growth opportunities. When employees feel they are not in an environment that supports career advancement or that it’s more challenging to progress to the next stage, their levels of engagement and motivation suffer. Due to stagnation, these employees are unlikely to develop a strong connection with the company.
- High customer expectations: For a service-dependent sector like hospitality, satisfying customer needs is essential for success. However, not every customer is easy to please, as some have high demands and others have unrealistic ones. Your employees must interact with different personalities regularly and find ways to meet their needs. Without relevant resources and proper training in handling complex scenarios, the challenges that come with difficult customers can easily lead to stress and burnout.
- Work-life imbalance: From highly demanding activities to long working hours, the hospitality industry struggles to balance work and life. Long and irregular hours harm workers’ well-being, resulting in stress and burnout.
- Lack of recognition: Employees who feel undervalued and unappreciated for their efforts are more likely to be withdrawn and less cooperative. Over time, the lack of recognition leads to poor performance because they are unmotivated. According to a CGA report, 42% of hospitality workers are thinking of leaving the industry due to the lack of recognition and limited career growth opportunities.
- Unequal treatment: The perception of unequal treatment affects many sectors. In hospitality, workplace mistreatment and role-based discrimination are common issues. Unaddressed, these issues lead to a lack of motivation and poor engagement.
Strategies to Engage Employees in the Hospitality Industry
Promoting employee engagement in the hospitality industry is a step closer to creating unique and quality experiences for customers and guests. Here are strategies you can use to strengthen relationships within your organization and build a more engaged workforce:
1. Create a Value-Based Culture
A value-based culture is healthy and inclusive. It’s driven by values and ethics rather than getting things done by any means possible. Such a positive work environment brings the best out of employees, making each individual feel welcomed, heard, protected and valued. It’s also an environment that supports workers in their duties, enabling collaborations, providing supplies and offering opportunities for breaks.
2. Offer Incentives and Recognition
A reward and recognition program can help catapult employee engagement activities in the hospitality industry. If you want to boost morale and engagement, your workforce needs to feel empowered. One way to show your staff that their efforts matter is to recognize their contributions and tie that to a rewards system.
Offer diverse incentives tailored to employees’ needs. You can achieve that by asking for feedback on the rewards system. Employees who hit certain milestones can choose from monetary perks like bonuses and vouchers to non-monetary ones like paid time off.
3. Provide Competitive Compensation
When you offer competitive compensation, you project value to current and future employees who can visualize financial growth in your workplace. Benefits like health insurance and retirement plans are also key to high satisfaction rates, which impact engagement. By creating a competitive compensation package, you entice skilled employees and motivate your workers to exceed expectations.
4. Facilitate Work-Life Balance
Work-life balance is one of the most critical employee engagement tools for hospitality. In an industry that experiences challenging demands, long hours and special attention to customers’ needs, creating flexible arrangements and promoting reasonable workloads is essential. While the unique characteristics of hospitality contribute to an imbalance between work and personal life, leaders can eliminate conflict between the two important domains.
You want to help your employees achieve satisfaction in both the workplace and home life, as this allows them to be purpose-driven. Create a work strategy that takes into account your staff’s private lives. Perks like flexible hours, maternity leave, child care support and leisure activities can help improve employee wellbeing and boost engagement.
5. Create Opportunities for Growth
No one likes to feel they have no clear path forward. Life is marked by stages, so it’s important to offer your employees opportunities that shape their professional lives. Strategies like cross-training, mentorship programs and tuition assistance will help build internal skills and make promotions accessible to everyone. Your workforce will likely be more engaged and driven if everyone can work toward clear goals.
Improve Employee Engagement With Exude Human Capital
Employee engagement is critical across all sectors, especially for service-based subsectors like hospitality. With industry-wide turnovers, it’s time to rethink your approach and foster an environment that inspires and supports your employees and increases satisfaction and engagement.
At Exude, we believe people are at the core of every successful organization. It’s our mission to help you transform your workplace and lift your employees through solutions tailored to your organization’s needs. Contact us today to learn how we can help create a thriving atmosphere for your workers!