Challenges and Trends in Human Resource Management in Hospitality Industry

HUMAN RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
Issues and trends related to HRM...............................................................................................4
Job description for management position in hospitality industry..............................................7
Person specification....................................................................................................................8
Performance management ..........................................................................................................9
Revision of existing HR policies...............................................................................................12
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................15
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................15

INTRODUCTION
The study is about Human Resource Management having its challenges and strategies to cope
with issues and implement measures. Human Resource Management is about recruiting people at
work, providing them training about work concerned and solving the problems of employees.
The study takes in account the contemporary issues and trends in HRM of hospitality industry.
An account of job description with person specification has been provided of managerial position
of hospitality industry. The process of Performance management has been illustrated helping the
organisation in employee retention and motivation. The existing HR policies analysis and
revision including some changes have been discussed.
Issues and trends related to HRM
Human Resource as a function has evolved over the years as organisations have become large in
operations. As more people were recruited, HR function also became large. Thus, also came
problems with the function growing up. The first issue which came up was of intercultural
management. For instance,people being recruited in Travelodge hotel are from diverse
backgrounds and different countries it being an international hotel. There is an influx of urban
and rural culture also. People from different countries have different mannerisms and culture.
Bringing them together to align with each other and thus realising organisation's objectives is the
ultimate goal of HR (Martins, Silva and Silva, 2017). Managing the rural and urban influx is a
challenge which HR has to address . The people working from different countries may face a
language barrier in the initial period. HRM keeps induction of employees to help the employees
break ice between them and get to know each other better. Here they speak about their academia
and previous experiences and thus get to know each other better. The HRM also help arrange
some fun activities in which employees further gel out with each other. Through talks, people
also get to know each other's culture and tradition. Travelodge believe in unifying various
cultures in one team and through team cooperation and efforts help build the organisation (Otoo,
2019).
As employee base is large, the amount of data to be kept also becomes a challenge of
many employees. All the identities taken of the employee have to be stored, their forms filled up,
dispatch of Provident Fund forms also has to be taken care of. HRM have to keep their software

updated and thus have to bring new technical changes in software to hold employee data. The
Provident Fund has to be kept in regulations with government policy of the nation concerned.
There is another challenge to recruit a pool of talent who can cater to guests who are
coming from different countries. Guests from different countries would like to be greeted in their
own language. Thus comes a task before HRM to recruit people who can converse in different
languages. This may hike up the salary budget and thus HRM have to manage the salary budget
of the company. Travelodge HRM focuses on getting a talent pool who can cater to international
guests (Thite, 2018).
Other issue being faced by HRM is management of work force and allotting duties to
them. Hospitality has a number of functions and thus employ a large base of employees. The
employees' interest area has to be kept in mind and duties have to be allotted according to the
skills possessed by them. It can only be managed if employees' feedback is taken after an interval
of time. Their interest in work will keep the momentum going. The second thing is that
employees are from different places and would like to visit their homes once in a while. The
Travelodge HRM have to schedule the leaves of the employees in a way that it does not hamper
the working of the organisation and also their morale is not affected. Like every hotel, there
comes a peak time for Travelodge and at that time it is necessary to have work force in sufficient
number. Thus, HRM has to figure out ways in which the employees get leaves before such a
period and are rewarded for their service during peak seasons (Datta, 2020).
HRM have to manage the salary component of employees. There can be issues regarding
attendance which has to be looked after by HRM.
Speaking of trends within HRM, the trend foremost is redefining the role of HR
professional. The HR have to broaden their horizons and become more creative while discussing
business solutions and giving valuable inputs.
The current era has seen advent of technology in the way HR function. HR from the
process of recruitment use technology to source candidates till their on-boarding in the
organisation. There are tools which help HR in filtering the resumes of the numerous candidates
received on their portal. There are mass mail messages to help reach out to candidates who
possess the desired qualification to suit the role. In recruitment and selection process, use of
techniques like Skype for conversation and interview can be held with distant candidates. There
are software which can be used to conduct intelligence tests for employees.