Employees of a hotel are always expected to be at their best. They are the face of the business and they are the ones, that carry the word of your brand. However, many times employers expect all the best knowledge and effort from their employees and they forget to offer anything in return.
According to Think Education research, 42% of hospitality workers identifies a lack of recognition from superiors and workplace opportunities as their biggest barrier to getting ahead.
EMPLOYEE RECOGNITION - is the acknowledgement and appreciation for an individual's contribution to a group, and it's integrated part of a positive hospitality company culture.
One of the employee recognition strategies can be the benefits program. With the help of this program you can improve the whole company attitude and boost the morale and motivation of your teams.
What's important when creating an employee benefits program
✅ Keep everyone involved in the process. This way you will be able to make the adjustments during the process.
✅ Make sure, the rewards are something that your employees see valuable and desirable. Otherwise they will have no interest to be seeking for it.
✅ Rewards should be something that everyone could benefit or enjoy. You should not offer a bottle of whiskey for a non drinking person or a box of cigars for a non smoking person.
✅ Clarify the goals of the program. Everyone should understand what is the target they need to reach, in order to be rewarded.
✅ Apply S.M.A.R.T. targets for the program
✅ Reward system should be applicable for everyone at your company. You should never create rewards or programs that applies just for specific departments or positions
✅ Rewards should be based on objective performance data. Everyone should be judged by the same standards and have the same requirements.
All in all, the whole benefits program should become integrated to your everyday business life and should be executed regularly. If you will fulfil the program once or just in random occasions, people will feel lied to and will lose the motivation to try to achieve their best.
Why should you have an employee benefit program at your hotel?
First an the most important point is to keep the motivation and engagement of your employees high. Motivated team members = loyal team members. Thus with such programs you will be creating a high quality employee network. Once you have happy employees, you will be known as "Preferred Employer" and with this status you will increase your employment value proposition. Meaning, more people will be interested in becoming part of your team and less people will be thinking about leaving. This will result in a low employee turnover rate and will create you a top employer brand.
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Summarising the thought, I just want to emphasise that employers should not expect to get a 100% of the employee if they get nothing in return. It takes not much to show the appreciation to your workers: sometimes just words "Thank you" can do miracles. We know, that in hospitality business people are usually over-working themselves, so offer a half day off in return. Or organise a personal development plan for those, who feel stuck in their position. Even throwing a small office party or having a team building can help to lift the spirit. With the help of benefit program you can create the whole strategy which will become a part of your company's culture and you will notice happier and more motivated employees of yours!
Some ideas of Employee benefit programs can be found in this useful article by Ben Travis. Check it HERE