Hospitality Industry Talent Shortage

This assignment examines the critical issue of talent shortages within the hospitality industry. It delves into the reasons behind this scarcity, exploring factors such as competitive salaries, work-life balance challenges, and policy implications. The analysis also investigates the consequences of this shortage on the industry's growth and stability. Finally, it proposes potential solutions to attract and retain qualified personnel, including competitive compensation packages, improved working conditions, and supportive government policies.

Running head: HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY 1
Hospitality Industry
Student’s name
Institution affiliation
Date

HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY 2
Executive summary
There is a fast-growing market in the luxury hospitality; this is the case with the case with
the growth of travel and tourism industry. In 2015, a robust growth was evidenced globally in
both travels and tourism industry and in 2030, it is expected that international tourists will
transcend to 1.8 billion annually and the growth may stand at 3-4 % in a year according to a
report by the UNWTO. In 2030, a long-term outlook, a strong future exists for growth in some of
the emerging markets such as Middle East, Latin America, and Asia. East and central Europe and
Africa are also expected to provide a wider market for tourism and hospitality (Bai & Bai, 2011).
In the past, it was expensive and exorbitant to raise investment in a hotel company, but in the
past decades, most of the hotel groups are adopting a model of management that employs asset
light strategy through franchising to another party for a fee.
However, due to the need for labor-intensive methods in travel and tourism industry, a
huge challenge exists as the sector may face limitations in providing enough pool of skilled
talent for the 80 million jobs that are projected over the next decade as per the world tourism
council.
Introduction
Despite Singapore having a small size, the country prides itself in a pool of wealth making
it a wealthy nation characterized by an open economy. According to the World Bank, it has been
ranked as the best country for starting and running a business successively. The rise of Singapore
was mainly attributed to exports.

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The hospitality industry is one of the largest as compared to other industries and has more
than 200 million employees employed globally. It has been realized that the number of talents is
still growing as demand increases in such an industry. One of the main key drivers in the
Singapore economy is the hospitality industry which has seen the country’s reputation and fame
rise. Singapore continuously offers lucrative offers regarding a destination that has a lifestyle.
Singapore boasts of an integrated resort that is a world resort and a Marina Bay Sands. Other
developments that are still ongoing are the orchard road, and a shopping town ranked as one of
its own in Asia.
With such prospects, it becomes crucial for Singapore to step up its efforts in service
delivery by providing excellent service to ensure customer satisfaction. There is the need for
professionals and talents in the hospitality industry to increase the pool of skills that can assume
management positions as well as recruiting teams that are well trained and qualified to fill more
jobs that are created as a result of the growth of the industry.
The hospitality industry aims to see growth and more prospects future. Due to the
expansion and growth of the business, it is the role of the human resource management to
provide more workforce a dictated by business needs across all sectors. Also, the human resource
ensures that there is maximization for each team.In Asia for instance, skills and techniques
formed an important part in analyzing peoples performance, their engagement capacities or even
getting apprenticed in various training through development programs that were meant to
measure productivity at workplace.
Human resources are tasked with the responsibility of ensuring the right staff is in place in
the advent of a booming industry. The high demand for increasing the number of staff is a

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challenge for the hospitality industry at a time when the pool of labor is shrinking.To solve such
a challenge, it would be prudent to identify the possible causes of such a problem, and it is,
therefore, the place for the industry to work in close cooperation with the labor unions and form
strategic alliances. Such a move will ensure that more time is created paving the way for
resource mobilization such as money needed in developing the recruitment project. The
politicians, on the other hand, need to be educated on the hospitality industry need to impact on
economic and immigration policies needed in the hospitality industry.
Challenges to the hospitality industry
Low turnover
The hospitality industry globally faces some many threats not only in Singapore but also
globally such as low turnover and a shortage of skills in the workforce. For instance, in the
hospitality industry, it is expected that all organizations face the same hurdle of inadequate talent
to assume management and leadership roles to ensure operations and teams are lead effectively
(P & Spencer, 2011). The intense and aggressive competition for quality graduates among
various industries has led to high demand and shortage for employees leaving the hospitality
industry with inadequate talents (Chalkiti & Sigala, 2010). The hospitality industry perceives the
fresh graduates as inexperienced and without the necessary skills as unfavorable for employment
losing them to other sectors such as outsourcing, entrepreneur and human resource (Qu & Tse,
1996).
Generation diversification
The intensified awareness on multi-generation workforce and the implications of having
variances in workplace expectations and values among workers are raising eyebrows among

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relevant stakeholders. There are huge disparities among the young generation regarding
disparities in the so-called generation Y (La Lopa, 2010).As opposed to the older cohorts, the
young generation values more self-actualization, career progression leading to high
expectations.Such groups are dynamic regarding changing jobs frequently in different industries
and institutions to achieve their desired goals and objectives in life (Hyun Jeong Kim,
Tavitiyaman, & Woo Gon Kim, 2009).
Lack of appropriate infrastructure
The hospitality industry also lacks sophisticated mechanisms necessary for analyzing
employee engagement. It is through having long-term projections that human resource
management can predict and forecast for areas that may be short of talent and thus adopt training
programs in management levels needed in anticipating future demands as a result of growth.
Staff needs are overstretched
An industry such as hospitality is an integration of many components and departments
and identifying which areas are in short of talent is another hurdle. For instance, there is the front
office, food, and beverages among others. It has been discovered that the front office and food
and beverage are the ones that mainly suffer from a shortage of staff. According to recent
research, it was discovered that the biggest challenge facing the hospitality industry is the
shortage of human resources. According to Sam Sake, MENA travel organizers, the average
ration of staff needs is estimated at five staff per room. However, as of 2010, the ratio went
higher putting staff needs for more than 50000, and in 2016 the ratio tripled to 150,000 number
of staff needed. However, in luxury hotels, the ratio was favorable putting staff needs at seven to
one. Also, there is the problem of retaining the workforce; it is estimated that only 20 percent of

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the staff will prefer staying their employer and industry management forecasts that poaching may
dominate the issue of recruiting staff (Moncarz, Zhao, & Kay, 2009).
Long working hours
The long working hours in the hotel industry is also another issue when it comes to
recruiting staff in such an industry. The hotel industry commands only a small percentage for
instance out of 14,000 graduating from polytechnics only 3000 choose to join the hospitality
industry representing 1.9% which is relatively a small percentage compared to what other
industries absorb. As of today’s graduates they would prefer being off duty I the weekends and
also during the public holidays. However, looking at the hospitality industry, there is no room for
such accommodations as there are no frameworks that can schedule fix offs during the
weekends. Most hotels operate twenty-four hours, hoteliers, for example, are required to operate
for a minimum of 198 hours monthly. Hoteliers are also expected to work overtime more so
during the peak season. The overtime may be a two-hour session or may overlap the next day
depending on the situation. It is a requirement that the hoteliers are given two days off duty, the
weekends are offered on a rotation basis. It is due to the demanding nature of the hospitality
industry that makes most individuals prefer working in other industries.
Seasonality of the industry
In Singapore, July, August, and October are the slow period for the hospitality industry.It is
evident that most businesses in the hospitality industry such as tourism and hotel are seasonal.As
a result of seasonal nature of such industries, it becomes a major challenge of maintaining the
employees during low seasons forcing the businesses to be closed or lay off some workers due to
lack of finances to run such businesses in low seasons. As a consequence, most individuals

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prefer working elsewhere to ensure that they have a job security in the long-run. The businesses
in the hospitality industry are in most cases at a loss regarding losing experienced staff that had
drained company resources regarding training.In acquiring new staff in anticipation of peak
period has the effect of straining the company finances in training the new staff so as they may
acquire the required set of skills thus increasing the costs of operation for such ventures.
The hospitality industry in most cases is also affected by political issues in some regions
making it unfavorable for some of the talented workers to move in such countries. For instance,
in some countries, there are strict entries for foreign workers thus restricting entry of talents that
would help in developing the industry as they possess a unique set of skills from their
countries.The shortage of human resources for the hospitality industry continues to increase due
to such inflexibilities in labor laws that affect the overall performance of both the foreign and
nationals working in such sectors.
Strategies for addressing the challenges
The issue of salary and remuneration is one factor that can motivate people to enter the
hospitality industry (Jeetesh K, 2015).The players in such an industry should offer lucrative and
competitive salaries for employees to attract and lure top talents that are poached by other
industries. Also, the issue of benefits for the employees and their families at the workplace
should be many such as health and pension schemes are one way of maintaining employees in
the industry (Mosley, 2007).
The government should work closely with the human resource management when drafting
some policies that favor the nationals and the foreigners working in the hospitality industry. For
instance, in Singapore, it was noted that most of the workers working in the hospitality industry

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came from foreign countries and very few nationals worked in such an industry (Pizam & Shani,
2009). The labor laws and policies should offer more chances to the nationals and not the other
way round no wonder the country is in short supply of labor.
The practical frameworks in a hospitality industry also ought to be adjusted to incorporate the
freedom and flexibility for those who wish to work in such an industry. For instance, the working
hours and the weekend where many people need time with their families should be balanced so
that employees can work some weekends and not all of them (Yazinski, 2009). Motivation
should also be offered especially during peak when people work tirelessly, and this could be
offered regarding cash and work bonuses.
Conclusion and recommendations
As evidenced in the above discussion, it is evident that indeed there is the shortage of talent
in the hospitality industry. Lack of the necessary talent may cripple the industry shortly, and thus
the necessary mechanisms are needed to ensure continuity of the sector. It is important for the
firms in such an industry to provide competitive salaries and packages that will attract the best
talent which will increase the labor supply solving the problem of shortage of the needed
workforce.
It is also critical for the legislature to work with labor unions and other relevant
stakeholders in ensuring that the policies in place favor the nationals and the foreign workers in
the hospitality industry. As discussed, it has been pointed some of the policies are the causes of
the shortage of human resources in the hospitality industry, and therefore it is necessary to
review the already existing laws and policies to ensure a favorable working environment
(Christensen Hughes & Rog, 2008).

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Works Cited
Bai, L. &., & Bai, B. (2011). special issue on development and progress in contemporary
hospitality management research. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality
management.
Chalkiti, & Sigala. (2010). staff turnover in the Greek tourism industry. International journal of
contemporary hospitality Management, 335-359.
Christensen Hughes, & Rog, E. (2008). Talent management. International Journal of
Contemporary Hospitality Management, 743-757.
Hyun Jeong Kim, Tavitiyaman, P., & Woo Gon Kim. (2009). The effect of Management
commitment to service on employee service behaviors:the Meditating Role of Job
Satisfaction. journal of hospitality & Tourism Research.
Jeetesh K, S. (2015). The Effects of Job Satisfaction towards Employee Turnover in the Hotel
Industry: A Case Study of Hotels in Kuala Lumpur City Center. Journal of Tourism and
Hospitality.
La Lopa, J. (2010). Guest Editorial:Food for Thought on Management Turnover in the
Hospitality Industry. journal of hospitality & Tourism Education, 11-13.
Moncarz, E., Zhao, J., & Kay, C. (2009). An exploratory study of US lodging properties'
organizational practices on employee turnover and retention. International journal of
contemporary Hospitality Management, 437-458.

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Mosley, R. (2007). Customer experience, organisational culture and the employer brand. Journal
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