Hospitality and the Team who get things done!

Over the past number of weeks, as the hospitality has prepared for reopening in both Ireland and the UK, we are constantly hearing from business owners and managers and the difficult they are having in rebuilding their teams.

There are many factors affecting staff retention within hospitality and sometimes it is our own fault - the managers of the industry. Working in such a volatile and time-pressure environment, we often forget that our team are also under pressure and over worked. There are also factors totally outside of our control at play, such as the current pandemic, causing many hospitality people to move on to other industries during restrictions and closures of hotels & restaurants.

Whatever the reason, the fact is that the Hospitality industry is going to find it increasingly harder to bounce back due to shortages in the workforce. The danger now is that the people that are still waiting for the industry to re-open, will once again become over-worked due to said shortages.

There is a far larger conversation to be had here. The industry works for people, namely our customers and by the individuals that make up our teams of staff.

However, over the years employee welfare has been an area overlooked and not confronted. I have started seeing signs of change in this area, which is very encouraging, however a lot more needs to be done.

So as a business owner or General Manager, have you already looked at methods to retain your staff and most importantly have motivated teams working with you?

Something I had not expected when I started working in environmental education for hospitality is the fact that a green programme can actually assist with staff retention and motivation.

A well-managed green programme requires a green team. For me personally, forming my first green team in 2012 made me feel closer to my team-mates not just from the environmental point of view, but in all aspects of our working relationship. 

I felt we were all part of something bigger, that we all had a common goal to work towards, and I was motivated to do our best for our workplace and the planet. 

I have also seen signs of this same feeling of comradery and unity from our Hotel clients. As we spend days training green teams, you can clearly see the closeness of those team members, and how they motivate each other to do better.

It is no secret also that the Hospitality workforce is made out of a large % of young people. Those generations from 18 to 30 years old, have grown up with a different view of the world than my generation did.  They are more in touch with nature and the planet, and so working for a Green Business will soon be a priority for many.

We cannot forget the Fridays for Future movement, those teenagers are going to become our teams and customers in a few years, and they have been striking for Climate Change for years now.

Can you imagine how they would feel coming into the workplace and seeing the devastating amount of waste, we produce for example?

Today, simply writing an environmental policy for your website and doing nothing else about it is not going to help you with staff retention.

A real green business will have a policy, a plan to achieve their environmental targets and a green team that meets regularly to “get things done”. 

A real green business will have the full support of the owners and managers, who will allow their team to be creative around sustainability practices and not be afraid to support them and invest in their activities. 

There is no doubt that the Hospitality industry will bounce back from the pandemic, whether we do it in a “sustainable” way, or go back to the “old ways” is up to all of us. But when we think about “sustainability” we need to remember that without PEOPLE, there will be no industry in the future.