Challenges in Attracting and Retaining Employees in Hospitality Management

Running head: HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT
HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1Hospitality management
Introduction:
The Human resource department is not only responsible for recruiting people; it is the
duty of the department to keep the employees committed towards the company and also to
ensure people are willing to work for the company. The purpose of the assignment is to
understand the key challenges that are faced by the HR department of organisations operating in
the hospitality industry regarding attracting and retaining employees. The term hospitality
management involves managing and administrating a hotel or a resort and to ensure that the hotel
is warm and pleasant to welcome the guests as give them the feeling like home. The managers
should ensure that the guests who have come to the resort in a vacation and tour are having a
warm and cosy feeling and are not disturbed by any behaviour or attitude of the hotel or people
over there. The management system also has to make sure that they are running the organization
with perfection and profitability (Ladkin & Buhalis, 2016). Attraction is the strategies that are
taken by the Human resource department in order to encourage people to apply for a job or to
work with the company. On the other hand, retention is the process by which the human resource
management of a company develops a sense of responsibility and commitment towards the
organisation (Jasper & Waldhart, 2013). The organisations that operate in the hospitality industry
are in direct contact with the customers hence the people working in the industry are trained and
skilled individuals who can deal with the client on a day to day basis. It is important to attract the
right people to work for the company as the employees are the major asset of an organisation in
the hospitality industry. Thus, the recruiter’s has to make sure that they are using proper skills
and technologies to recruit the workers for this industry. It will critically review the selection
method, areas to improve by the recruiters for using the online recruiting system. The online

2Hospitality management
recruiting system that saves times, energy and cost for both the worker and the employer are a
new trend in the market. On the other hand, it is also important for a company to ensure that the
attrition rate is high as there are considerable resources incorporated on an employee and the
company is at a loss of talent when an employee resigns of leaves the job abruptly.
Discussion:
Challenges in attracting and retaining the workforce in hospitality industry
In Australia hospitality industry has significant revenue and it has reported an annual
turnover ranging from 32% to 300 %. However, the industry profit is highly affected by a regular
change of employees by the employers in seasonal period. This makes the other workers work
more difficult thus reducing the productivity. Attraction of the candidates to apply for a job
position is one of the major challenges that the company face. Before applying for a job the
candidates does a background check of the company, however small or big it may be. There are
two purposes of the process one is to prepare oneself for the interview and the other is to judge
the organisation and its culture. As technology is at everyone’s finger tips a quick search of the
company is mandatory (Ladkin et al., 2016). Thus, the employers and this industry must
maintain and know the importance of employee management and structure in this industry. As
the importance of the human resource is imperative in the hospitality industry attracting the right
kind of people with the right skills is essential. According to Biga et al. (2015), online
advertising is one of the most popular medium used to communicate with the prospective
applicants. The biggest challenge here is to communicate the right information and produce the
right content in order to effectively communicate with the applicants. Highlighting the most

3Hospitality management
important information and providing the people with the information that they will be interested
in should be prioritized.
In the process of recruitment there is another major challenge that has been highlighted
by Biga et al. (2015), the authors state that there are legal barriers which restricts the company in
understanding the background of the applicant clearly. Furthermore, they indicate that the
authenticity of the experience is often ambiguous and therefore can be barriers in attracting
people (Kramar, 2014).
The tenured work force helps the industry in various sectors such as separation,
recruiting, selection and the cost of hiring. The hospitality firms that have gained success in this
industry and are still on the verge on success are maintaining a proper employee retention and
development skill. The importance of employee management plays an extremely vital role in the
entire industry thus deciding the best scope for the industry to develop and expand (Boella &
Goss-Turner, 2013). The organizations must conduct proper survey not only to figure out the
reasons that why the employees are leaving the industry but also to find out the best possible to
maintain a proper employee management system and influence them to work in this sector.
According to Biga et al. (2015), the successful and cost effective recruitment in this industry
plays a vital role. This includes the proper maintenance of the labour laws, proper behaviour of
the managerial with the employees and best selection of the workers who suits the job profile.
They can use skills that will motivate the workers and encourage them to work efficiently by
rewarding them for the best performances, appraising them, giving gifts to encourage them to
work in a better way (Kramar, 2014).
The recruitment for the staffs is generally practised by advertisement, references from the
existing workers and other sources. It is then followed by proper interview through phone call or