Employee Training in the

Hospitality Industry

Tina Tculaia

Certificate in International and Tourism Operations

Hotel and Tourism and Management Institute, Switzerland

Introduction

For the last few decades, Hospitality Industry has been growing significantly,

affecting various fields and areas of working. Therefore, to be up-to-date every

high rate Hospitality Corporation considers necessary to do changes occasionally

to make their service better day by day. Cannon and Gustafson (2002) stated,

“Every hospitality organization needs well-trained employees. Guests expect it,

and employees are now choosing employers based on the training and

professional development they offer.” In order to be successful, each Hospitality

business requires well-qualified employees, which are the key for satisfied and

devoted customers. Hospitality industry is rapidly growing as the world changes

every day. To be able to stay competitive in this field each business has to be

aware of changing skill requirements, workforce diversity, employee

involvement etc. Consider well-known quotation: “Give a person a fish and you

feed him for a day. Teach a person to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”

(Mcclelland, 2002). The saying explains the importance of training employees to

keep their performance on a high level. In this century it has become more

essential than optional to provide proper trainings to employees. Without

appropriate training programs keeping your staff’s skills on a competitive rate is

practically impossible. Lack of well-skilled employees can seriously damage your

business as well as properly qualified employees can increase your service

quality. Sarvadi (2005) states, “Your employees are your principle business

asset”. One benefits if only investments are made thoughtfully and strategically

what will help certain business achieve desired results.

Definition (Theory)

Furqan Hanif and Ameeq-ul-Ameeq (2013) claim “It is a learning process that

involves the acquisition of knowledge, sharpening of skills, concepts, rules, or

changing of attitudes and behaviours to enhance the performance of employees”.

In order to become a well-qualified employee, one needs to acquire proper

training methods to make the enterprise more beneficial. This is because hotel

guests require a certain level of customer service, so staff training is necessary in

plenty of ways. There are two different methods of training. Agarwal (2012)

observed that “But broadly the training methods are categorized into on-the-job

training and off-the-job training methods.”

(Figure 1: Cole, 1993)

On-the-job training is a simple and effective training way. This method takes

place when an employee is actually working. Trainees are able to gain useful

knowledge and working experience. On-the-job training method includes

several groups such as Coaching, which is providing skills and knowledge to

trainees with the help of already experienced staff members, or, for example, Job

rotation, which is to gain experience of a wide range of jobs through rotations

with the other members of staff. Also the other method of training is off the job,

which Cole (1993) broke down as external and in-company groups. Examples of

this method are conferences, seminars, and conventions. A few more common

methods in off-the-job training are sensitivity training, transactional analysis and

simulation exercises etc. (Amirtharaj and Raja Cross, 2011). This type of training

can be used to train new employees in the use of equipment and it also may cost

extra money, for example, a bill for training corporations.

Benefits

Providing training programs for your staff can significantly improve your

business. It is well known that high-quality service requires high-qualified

employees. Amirtharaj and Raja Cross (2011) discovered benefits from

employee training. Another aspect of benefiting from training programs is the

respect the manager gets from the employees but only in case if the manager

values them enough to invest in them. Employee Training in the Hospitality

Industry has been beneficial over the years, as we have seen improvements,

which have upgraded and raised the standards of the industry. According to

research the Employee Training leads to being beneficial for your business and

as well as your workers.

Benefits for your business is that training can raise the performance of your

business, resulting in increase in profit and staff motivation as well. Training

your staff also leads to better customer service as all guests and customers

expect to have quality guest service. Benefits for your employees are that they

are trained with new skills leading to their self-esteem being more confident and

comfortable in the working environment. Being trained with new and efficient

skills leads to your employees being motivated and accurate in their work

performance.

Importance

The author has now taken the “Project Management Approach” of Anthony D.

Albanese (2002) to show the importance of training. The training provided to all

staff or employee members in a working organization are valued to have

importance. According to Anthony D. Albanese (2002) “Providing superior

customer service is a fundamental goal of every successful business.” The

method of where employees are giving the service of additional service and

attracting extra business is always useful. The main objective according to

Anthony D. Albanese (2002) is to create a pervasive process of training and

development for employees that allow them to increase their self-confidence

that they have the intelligence and ability to fulfil daily challenges. The whole

importance behind training staff or employee members revolves on developing a

successful process of training development which covers five main areas, known

in other words as “Project Management Methodology” approach:

 Evaluates what is essential to be taught- this classifies certain activities that

include: Identifying your audience

Examining historical data

Reviewing company goals

Meeting with employees individually or in a focus group

Developing an advisory committee

A large tool used nowadays an assessment which is used to evaluate a “gap

analysis” that allows you to describe the matter of your training program. This

analysis evaluates how important or skilful a task that is compared to the

present knowledge or skill level of the employee. Identify and develop the

training material- considering into account the amount of time that is take in

developing a program certain things need to be kept in mind as well: This is an

important point to take into consideration as your training and development

plan for your staff or employees are based on these elements. Test by operating

the program with a pilot class level- This is when a hand-full of colleagues are

confident that they will be offered an opportunity to regain truthful feedback to

improve in the productivity of work. In this case, it is possible to make necessary

adjustments to the program as you work through it and implement what you’re

trying to achieve. Evaluation is essential as you begin to implement- Here while

you’re training you should not wait until the completion of your training. While

training you should always look for feedback as in this duration you can make

improvements and use your feedback to have a productive training. This has four

levels of evaluation: Firstly, how participants resulted in effect of the program-

an evaluation sheet best evaluates this.

Secondly, what participants have experienced? - Various methods of feedback

lead to being beneficial. Methods of such feedback: class exercises, testing,

observations, surveys, etc. Thirdly, participants able to apply knowledge and

skills from training? - A productive way has been found that leads to the outcome

of an action plan that applies to the specific job of the employees. An accurate

plan signifies the employee’s activity that will take them to obtain accurate

results to raise their performances and identify possible obstacles or difficulties

that could be faced in the future. These is very beneficial as it leads to

improvements in their performance and help identify what they would like to

achieve as their future goals. Lastly, return on investment (ROI)- This evaluation

method helps measure the level of job success during the training program and

development of the employees. This data is gathered and collected after few

months of the staff training program and development. This is all done to make

improvements and make the evaluation an improving process for the staff.

(Albanese, 2002).

Conclusion and Recommendations

As world develops day by day, a lot of changes happen in Hospitality Industry. To

remain competitive in this industry, Hospitality organizations require more and

more high-skilled employees, as they are the key to satisfied and happy

customers. Therefore providing good quest service is essential as well as it is a

fundament for every successful business. Lack of well-qualified trainees appears

to be more and more common, so Hospitality corporations are more likely to hire

high-skilled employees.
Reference list

Abu Sadat Md. Masum Billah (2013) Different types of training. Available from:

http://hronlinebd.blogspot.ch [Accessed 28 November 2014]

Agarwal, A. (2012) Difference between on-the-job and off-the-job training.

Available from: http://www.projectguru.in [Accessed 25 November 2014]

Albanese, A. D. (2002) Improving employee efficiency through eduction.

Available from: http://www.inboundlogistics.com [Accessed 23 November

2014]

Aldi case study Available from: http://businesscasestudies.co.uk [Accessed 29

November 2014]

Ameeq-ul-Ameeq, Hanif, F. (2013) Impact of Training on Employee’s

Development and Performance in Hotel Industry of Lahore, Pakistan. Available

from: http://jbsq.org [Accessed 28 November 2014]

Amirtharaj, D., Cross, K. R. (2011) Role of training and development in promoting

the growth of hospitality industry. Available from: http://www.slideshare.net

[Accessed 26 November 2014]

Cannon, D. F., Gustafson, C. M. (2002) Training and Development for the

Hospitality Industry. Available from: https://www.ahlei.org [Accessed 28

November 2014]
Johnson, A. W. (2014) The Importance of Workplace Training. Available from:

http://www.insideindianabusiness.com [Accessed 28 November 2014]

Reynolds, M. (2014) The Importance of Training & Development in the

Hospitality Industry. Available from: http://smallbusiness.chron.com [Accessed

29 November 2014]

Sarvadi, P. (2005) The Importance of Employee Development. Available from:

http://www.entrepreneur.com [Accessed 29 November 2014]

Yang, X. (2010) THE IMPORTANCE OF STAFF TRAINING IN THE HOTEL

INDUSTRY. Available from: http://www.theseus.fi [Accessed 30 November

2014]