Attracting and Retaining Staff in Australian Hospitality Sector

This essay sheds light on the prospect of attracting and retaining employees in the Australian hospitality sector. It evaluates the influence of recruitment policy on organizational climate, sustainable management of staff recruitment and retention, and appraisal of prominent recruitment procedures.

Running Head: Attracting and Retaining Staff
ATTRACTING AND RETAINING STAFF

Attracting and Retaining staff 2
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Staff attraction and retention...........................................................................................................3
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................10
Reference List................................................................................................................................12

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Introduction
Australian hospitality sector is one of the influential revenue earner for the island
continent and its population. Observations made by the national survey reports on the
performance of hospitality sector sheds light on the amount of revenues generated by the
industry through skilled labour and their management. Organisations that conduct their business
under the hospitality sector can pertain to a number of categorical fields, such as tourism, hotels,
entertainment and miscellaneous activities. The tourism sector in Australia serves a key player in
Australian economy. As per the yearly reports, tourism has represented approximately 3.0% of
national GDP in Australia in the year 2016. This has contributed almost $47.5 billion to the
national economy. The present essay will shed light on the prospect of attracting and retaining
employees in this hospitality sector. Human resource is one of the major factors that cater to
attainment of goals for a business sector.
Staff attraction and retention
Theme 1: Influence of recruitment policy on organizational climate
Comprehension of selection-productivity and recruitment can be included in the peripheral
responsibilities of an organisation. As opined by Hayes (2017), human resources are one of the
major requirements of a company that aims for long-term growth. The interaction among the
parameters of human resource helps to confirm to a specific organisational culture that in turn
can result in higher productivity and excellence. In order to evaluate the relationship, Syed &
Kramar (2017) have implemented a tool to understand the integral constituents of staff selection
and recruitment. The advantage of this comprehension is that it can readily contribute to
productivity of tertiary institutions. The constructive unit of appraisal can cater to functional as

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well as additional or supportive human resource in the company. As opined by Bhoganadam &
Rao (2014), selection and recruitment of employees must be carefully mapped. This is because,
competitive advantage enjoyed by company is directly influenced by the productivity of their
staff members. Due to continuous entrance of multinational organisations in the hospitality
sector of Australia, companies must advance their techniques of recruitment.
In order to evaluate the level of employee satisfaction, the need of resorting to a single
and confirmed recruitment policy can be applied to regard the procedures of selection into
organisations. This can help to determine recruitment techniques used by various hospitality
companies in the Australian markets. However, Deery & Jago (2015) argue changes in
marketing trends can bring essential changes in the process of interviews or recruitment.
Nevertheless, Robinson, Kralj, Solnet, Goh & Callan (2014) report impact of negative emotions
in working atmosphere can often be exhibited in case an unsuitable recruitment policy is
implemented in an organisation. The basic need of hospitality industry is that needs its human
resource to be cordial, active and possess ample amount of communication and leadership skills.
These skills determine the primary attitudes of the staff, and in turn present a specific
organisational behaviour of the company in front of their external stakeholders, such as
customers.
The response to suitable recruitment policies is also exhibited in the contexts of human
resource practices as well as organisational climate of the company. According to the findings of
Cloutier, Felusiak, Hill & Pemberton-Jones (2015), it can be said that the aforementioned
parameters can be effectively used as units of active social exchange. Negative exchanges are
based on the measures that capture non-supportive management practices and unfair treatments.
The findings of Vasquez (2014) suggest that the theory of social exchange ensures positive

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exchange to lead enhanced behaviour and attitude of the workers. In addition, negative
exchanges often lead to enhanced stress related to work and lower motivation. Overall, it can be
a larger propensity to quit. However Syed & Kramar (2017) argue negative exchanges rarely
result in lowered levels of discretionary behaviour. Disaggregating exchange practices can reveal
organisational morale and equitable rewards that can provide consistent impacts on behavioural
prospects of team working, mutual trust and employee involvement.
These can provide significant impact on motivation of the employees, which in turn can
influence organisational culture. Huda, Haque & Khan (2014) argue prevalent recruitment
policies can often implement a one-size procedure to fit over4all needs of the company. This
often gives rise to gaps during the recruitment of efficient candidates. Employers often overlook
the specific needs and requirements of the job roles, and perform a generic screening method to
select their desired candidates. The traditional approaches often overlook the contextual issues of
employees resulting in unsuccessful recruitment practices. The descriptive survey of Kossivi, Xu
& Kalgora (2016) reveals almost 65% employees are recruited on the basis of recommendations
and formal qualifications in the hospitality industry. This often gives rise to a gap in employee
capability and organisational expectations as the employers have not taken any practical tests
during the interview. Deery & Jago (2015) reveal almost 76% of hotels in Australian hospitality
sector prefer recruiting employees who possess relevant experience from their past services in
this industry. However this reduces the opportunities for freshers’ graduates and hinders
innovation in this sector.
Theme 2: Sustainable management of staff recruitment and retention

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Sustainable development is considered a compelling concept when it comes to employee
recruitment and organisational progress. Syed & Kramar (2017) consider businesses consider
possible methods of contribution to mitigate significant challenges in their organisational
processes with the help of skilled labours. In addition to stress on market, environmental impacts
that can modify and change biodiversity can also be crucial to workplace culture and employee
health. Recruitment managers often struggle to introduce practicable sustainable approaches in
the hospitality sectors by following systematic integration of multiple issues into development
programmes. In addition to development of the old staff and recruitment of new employees,
companies can utilise their knowledge base to resolve critical issues in consideration of
organisational progress. Effective implementation of business cases in case of sustainable
approaches can be clarified through the necessary industries. According to Baum et al. (2016),
strain on human resource can also increase in the employee turnover rates and reduce
productivity. The result of steady population growth is that human resource is becoming more
widely available in the current economy.
As mentioned above, multiple companies have been opting for sustainable recruitment strategies
that can realise relevant cost-savings in human resource and promote organisational growth. This
is because; a vibrant society must create a healthier economy for the provision of its operations.
Shamim, Cang, Yu & Li (2017) state in order to achieve the aforementioned vision, an
organisation should designate specific purpose into its opportunities, operations, profits and
solutions. However, notion of purpose must be embedded in the working culture of the said
organisation in the hospitality sector. According to Mabaso & Dlamini (2017), organisational
culture answers critical queries relative to the inherent processing of the company with the help
of carefully articulated beliefs that strive to achieve a cognitive profit. In a recruitment process,

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managers and employers must exhibit an attitude that helps to guide the professional behaviour
of the potential employees (Harvard Business Review, 2017). This approach can influence the
formation of strategy and transcends leaderships.
This is suggestive of a commitment of the employer to the hiring company, which in turn can
help to guide the potential employee in their venture during their time here. In addition to this, it
can also make them realise the expectations of the company from them. As opined by Saridakis
& Cooper (2016), this realisation can facilitate the employee to motivate them to work in a
specific manner to achieve the organisational goals. Similarly, it can also foster a significant
impact on employees that foster a strong cultural purpose among the probable candidates for a
job profile in the hospitality industry. According to the findings of Afriyie, Blankson &
Osumanu (2013), employers must showcase the specific behaviour that they expect from the
candidates that they are recruiting. Sustainability plays a major role in this phase. This is
confirmed by Syed & Kramar (2017) that sustainable employee management motivates an
employer to improve the origin capabilities of the prevalence employees in the organisation.
However, prior to recruitment, company should ensure that their existing staffs are working as
per the best possible capacity in their respective job roles.
This is because; recruitment of new staff requires added responsibilities and fiscal expenses to
train them as per the requirements of the job role. The priorities centre to help brands that offer
safe services to their customers, can help them to protect the future health of their human
resource as well as the company environment. This can be done by the help of a throughput
commitment to utilise renewable resources and responsibly-sourced raw materials that can
reduce carbon footprint of the organisation. This, in turn can help employees to ensure that the
organisation is working in the best interest of its stakeholders. As opined by Nadda, Rafiq &

Attracting and Retaining staff 8
Tyagi (2017), this can influence the formation of responsibilities and their timely distribution.
Overall, sustainable management of employees and recruitment approaches can mitigate the
issues of excessive financial drainage. The resource recycling benefits can cater the consumers in
a post-consumer stage that helps in overall improvement of the human resource in hospitality
sector.
Theme 3: Appraisal of prominent recruitment procedures
The factors that can evaluate incentives of the organisations to adapt to new recruitment
methods are namely market trends and company needs. Baum et al. (2016) state the willingness
of an organisation to publicise data about the working culture and job characteristics to their
prospective workers can motivate formation of innovative recruitment strategies. This can also
help to promote referrals that act as active information rendering substitute to the job-seekers in
the present day situation of the hospitality industry. Shamim, Cang, Yu & Li (2017) evaluate
these criterions are inherently related to comprehend the profits from screening the needs that
can influence organisational ability to appoint applicants. During the recruiting, information
availability to job-seekers must be rendered transparent and openly accessible. This would help
to promote productivity of the employee after their recruitment as they would process a better
understanding of the job role and company expectations. The selection protocol acknowledges a
self-selected genre from the available pool of applicants.
As mentioned above, returns to enhanced screening can depend on the likelihood of
perception of different candidates about the company and their job roles. In case the screening
procedure dissuades further applications, it can increase hiring costs that can lead the
organisation to prosper to higher wage premiums. This, in turn, can entice similar applicants to
opt for similar position in the company. Alternatively, Syed & Kramar (2017) argue informative

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advertising pertaining to company expectations about specific job characteristics can reduce the
uncertainty of candidates. This in turn can reduce uncertainty of the company officials about
interview procedures and relative conformities. However, Saridakis & Cooper (2016) argue this
strategy can prove to be expensive and thereby limit the functionality of small enterprises in the
hospitality industry. The prices related to the implementation of this strategy can further increase
if the applicant pool is reduced (Mabaso & Dlamini, 2017). In case an applicant is unlikely to
obtain the said job, they can apply for it influenced by their uncertainty that surround the
aforementioned interview score.
Uncertainties in interview scores can lower the value of options for participants. As
opined by Robinson, Kralj, Solnet, Goh & Callan (2014), this can dissuade the potentially
qualified interviewees and reduce the value of a specific job profile. However, Abomeh (2013)
argues organisations rarely engage in a detailed job screening for their applicants. This is
because elevated costs pertaining to required resources can pose as a significant hindrance.
Hence, I offer a significant explanation for under-investments in the screening protocols during
recruitment. As mentioned by Syed & Kramar (2017), employers may be unwilling to adapt to
discriminating selection criterion as it would violate organisational ethics and code of conduct.
Saridakis & Cooper (2016) argue this requires the company to offer higher salary packages to the
candidates. This in turn can attract better applicant pool and lead to an elevated wage bill against
skilled labour. Nevertheless, organisations avoid the aforementioned evaluation as application
costs are considered to be often negligible on behalf of the applicant.
Thereby, a selective pool of applicant can be considered as a valuable data source to
appraise organisational environment. According to the findings of Scarborough (2016), active
evaluation allows applicants to provide a straightforward self-characterisation in the perspective

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of equilibrium. This obviates a competition that can arise among several organisation in presence
of changing offers. According to a recent survey, it can be stated that almost 65% of companies
have lower employee turnover rates that employ secured job holdings, in comparison to a
company with highly volatile working environment and lucrative salaries (Olenski, 2017).
Similarly, companies can employ retention strategies in the form of reward packages, job
security and frequent organisational training. In addition to lucrative salary packages, employees
must feel secure in their current position. As stated by Cloutier, Felusiak, Hill & Pemberton-
Jones (2015) frequent organizational training and evaluation can help the existing employees in
the company to develop their skills. This can bridge the gap between their capabilities and
company expectations. In addition, it is less expensive to organize intrinsic training sessions for
existing employees than conduct an interview with a fresh pool of applicants and subsequent
training.
Conclusion
Based on the information studied above, it can be stated that employee recruitment and
retention is crucial for organisational progress. The researcher has discussed the evaluative
measures to obtain a talent pool from available candidates for a job. Simultaneously, the
organisation should also cater to the talent gap of its existing employees by implementing
organisational training and motivational strategies. This in turn can reduce employee turnover
rates and maintain the paradigms of sustainable recruitment strategies. A limitation of this study
is its time and budget bound nature. Constraints on time have hindered the possibility of
obtaining primary data. Similarly, limited budget has mandated the literature search to be
barricaded within the articles that are freely accessible. Sustainable strategies can help to conduct
a comprehensive appraisal on the prevalent and required taskforce by the company. Overall, it

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can be thus deduced that recruitments in hospitality industry must introduce innovative reforms
to accept new talents in their workforce.

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Reference List
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Syed, J., & Kramar, R. (2017). Human resource management: A global and critical perspective.
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