Employability Skills: A Report on Travelodge Hotel

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Employability Skills

Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Task 1...............................................................................................................................................3
1.1 Develop a set of own responsibilities and performance objectives.......................................3
1.2 Evaluate your own effectiveness against the above defined objectives................................4
1.3 Make recommendations for improvement.............................................................................5
1.4 Review how motivational techniques can be used to improve quality of performance........6
Task 2...............................................................................................................................................9
2.1 Develop solutions to work-based problems. You need to develop solutions to at least two
work-based problems identified during your work experience or in your role as a manager at
Travelodge Hotel.........................................................................................................................9
2.2 Communicate in a variety of styles and appropriate manner at various levels. You need for
example to write a formal letter to senior management of the hotel to inform them about the
problem and a memo to all staff................................................................................................10
2.3 Identify effective time-management strategies in relation to the work-based experience or
in your role as a manager at Travelodge. Present your evidence as a written report to your line
manager......................................................................................................................................12
Task 3.............................................................................................................................................14
3.1 Explain the roles people play in a team and how they can work together to achieve shared
goals...........................................................................................................................................14
3.2 Analyse the team dynamics.................................................................................................15
3.3 Suggesting alternative ways to complete tasks and achieve team goals.............................16
Task 4.............................................................................................................................................17
4.1 Evaluate tools and methods for developing solutions to problems with reference to your
chosen organisation or Travelodge Hotel..................................................................................17
4.2 Develop an appropriate strategy for resolving a particular problem of labour turnover with
reference to your chosen organisation or Travelodge Hotel......................................................19
4.3 Evaluate the potential impact on the business of implementing the strategy. You should
consider both financial and non-financial impacts on the business...........................................20
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................21
References......................................................................................................................................22

Introduction
Every industry needs a specific set of skills that are relevant to that industry and it is essential for
the employees of the company to have these skills. However, along with the industry specific
skills, there are some general skills such as time management skills, interpersonal skills,
communication skills and problem solving skills that needs to be developed by every individual
for the personal and professional growth. I have been working as a manager at Travelodge, a
tourism organisation that has been facing the problem of employee turnover and customer care
service. As a manager, I need to communicate these problems to the top management after the
proper analysis of the root cause of these problems. In this report, I would conduct a self-audit
and also setup my responsibilities and skills necessary to fulfil these responsibilities. I would
also present solutions to the work based problems that Travelodge is currently facing.

Task 1
1.1 Develop a set of own responsibilities and performance objectives
For every individual, it is important that the responsibilities of the individual and the desired
performance objectives are set. One the responsibilities and desired performance objectives are
set, individual could start working on a development plan to improve his skills.
I have been working as a HR Manager at Travelodge. My responsibilities as a Manager and
performance objectives are described below:
1. As a HR Manager at Travelodge, It is my responsibility to manage the staff working
under me.
2. I need to establish myself as a good leader and make sure that my sub-ordinates follow
my command.
3. As a manager in the HR department, I have to make sure that all the recruitment and
selection activities are executed within the set deadlines. Hence, I need to be very
efficient when it comes to Time Management.
4. I need to continuously communicate with my team members and also with the top
management. I am the link between the lower level staff and top management. Hence, I
have to be very good in communication skills.
5. As a HR Manager, it is my responsibility to provide excellent customer satisfaction.
Hence, I need to monitor all the HR activities at Travelodge and make sure that all the
processes and best practices are being followed in all the departments.
6. As a manager, I would face many problems that would need immediate attention and
resolution from me. Hence, I need to develop excellent problem solving skills.
7. The government of UK has implemented legislations that have to be implemented at
Travelodge such as Employment Act, Equality Act, and Minimum Wages Act etc
(Branham, 2017). As a HR Manager, it is my responsibility to understand and implement
these legislations at Travelodge.

1.2 Evaluate your own effectiveness against the above defined objectives.
As a HR Manager at Travelodge, my responsibilities and Performance Objectives have been
identified in the previous section. In this section, I would provide an evaluation of my skills
against these objectives in the below table:
Responsibility /
Performance
Objectives
Current Skills Level
0 – Lowest
5- Highest
Required Skills Level
0 – Lowest
5- Highest
Evaluation
Leadership Skills 4 5 As HR Manager, I
should be able to have
full control over team,
but sometimes I am not
able to manage my team
members
Problem Solving Skills 3 5 Travelodge has been
facing many problems
most of them are related
to the HR department. I
am working on these
problems but till now I
have not been able to
make considerable
progress
Legislation Relevant
Knowledge
3 5 As HR Manager, I need
to implement all the
government legislations.
As of now, I have little
knowledge about some
latest updates in the
employment legislation

Time Management
Skills
4 5 Although I am well
organised and always
try to adhere to the
schedule, sometimes I
get delayed in the
execution of activities
because of bad time
management.
1.3 Make recommendations for improvement
My skill audit in the previous section identifies the areas that I need to work upon to achieve my
performance objectives as a HR Manager at Travelodge. I need to focus on every weakness and
find ways to improve my rating in every skill
To improve my leadership skills, I need to focus on finding the ways to motivate the employees
who work under me in the HR department. There are content and process theories of motivation
that could help me in this regard. I need to learn about the needs (used in Content Theories of
Motivation) and behaviour (used in the Process Theories of Motivation) of the employees
(Guirdham, 2018). I also need to study about the great leaders of all time and learn from them.
Problem solving skills should be improved by using the different methods adopted by people for
problem solving. I need to analyse and assess the problem and then find alternate solutions to
these problems. Then, I need to select the optimum solution for the problem.
To develop Legislation related knowledge in the travel and tourism sector, I need to conduct
research on the latest updates in the employment legislations. There are online materials
available that I could use for my research.

Time Management is all about prioritising the tasks. I need to find a model that is suitable for my
Work. Travelodge provides e-learning platform where material on time management strategies is
available. The E-Learning material contains Stephen Covey Time management Model that
provides a way to prioritise the task into 4 different quadrants depending on the urgency and
importance of the tasks.
1.4 Review how motivational techniques can be used to improve quality of performance
As a HR manager, it is important for me to keep the employees of Travelodge motivated so that
they could perform better. For this purpose, I could use the following 2 motivational theories:
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs theory
Abraham Maslow created a pyramid of needs which is shown in the figure below. Employees
working at Travelodge have different needs according to their roles and responsibilities.
Figure 1: Maslow’s Needs Pyramid (Feltus, 2015)
1. Physiological need
Every employee at Travelodge has these needs as these are the basic needs such as home
and food. An average compensation by Travelodge will be able to fulfil these needs.

2. Safety and security need
Job security is crucial for the employees because high unemployment rate in UK.
Travelodge needs to assure its employees that the organisation will provide them job
security
3. Love and belongingness
Travelodge needs to develop a healthy and safe working environment where people could
enjoy their work to fulfil these needs (Herrenkohl, Judson & Heffner, 2018).
4. Self-esteem
Every employee at Travelodge needs to be recognised for his work and should be
appreciated for his performance. Rewards and appraisals are good tools to fulfil these
needs.
5. Self-actualisation
Employees who work at Travelodge need opportunities for their career growth. Unless
Travelodge allows employee to actualise their talent, these needs could not be fulfilled.
Herzberg two factor theory
Herzberg classified the needs of the employees into two different segments known as Hygiene
Factors and Motivators as shown in below figure:
Figure 2: Herzberg Hygiene and Motivation Factors (Herzberg et al, 2014)

Herzberg’s Hygiene Factors consists of job security, good working conditions, policies of
Travelodge and management. These factors do not motivate the employees but their good
management could eliminate dissatisfaction.
Motivators consist of quality of work, recognition, achievement, responsibility, opportunities of
growth. If Travelodge is able to fulfil these needs, then it would result in enhanced motivation of
the employees.

Task 2
2.1 Develop solutions to work-based problems. You need to develop solutions to at least two
work-based problems identified during your work experience or in your role as a manager at
Travelodge Hotel
Travelodge has been facing two problems at the moment that have been affecting the growth of
the company. The first problem that Travelodge is facing is high employee turnover and the
second problem at Travelodge is the worsening customer care service of the company.
As HR manager, it is my responsibility to reduce the employee turnover at Travelodge and also
find a solution to its impact on the customer care service.
There are many different reasons behind the high employee turnover. To address this problem, I
need to identify and eliminate these reasons. Currently, there are many vacancies in different
departments at Travelodge. The shortage of staff is forcing the department managers to allocate
extra work to the employees in their department. This heavy workload is one reason behind the
stress among the employees and causing high employee turnover (Katzenbach & Smith, 2016).
Since employees are overloaded with work and they are also in stress, it is affecting their
behaviour which could be seen in their interactions with the customers of Travelodge.
Travelodge needs to fill the vacant positions by organising the recruitment and selection process.
Travelodge is also making some transitions in its business model and employees of the company
are not aware of these changes. Top management has not been communicating with the
employees of the company for a long time which is another reason behind the dissatisfaction
among the employees. The Top Management of Travelodge needs to communicate with the
employees on regular basis to improve their morale (Kirtley & Weaver, 2014).
Shift Management is another issue that Travelodge is having. Sometimes, the employees are
asked to work in double shift because of poor shift management. When an employee is working
in 2 shifts (first day shift and then night shit), it would certainly frustrate the employee. This is
one reason behind the poor behaviour of the employees and its negative impact on the customer

care service. Travelodge needs to improve its shift management system and discuss the issue
with the shift supervisors.
2.2 Communicate in a variety of styles and appropriate manner at various levels. You need
for example to write a formal letter to senior management of the hotel to inform them
about the problem and a memo to all staff
Letter to the CEO of Travelodge
To,
The CEO
Travelodge,
I have analysed the employee turnover reports for the last 2 quarters and I have noticed that
employee turnover has increased by 17% in the second quarter. This is a big problem for the
company as we are losing some very skilled and experienced employees. Travelodge cannot
afford to lose this kind of talent at the moment because we are trying to expand our operations.
Also, the recruitment and selection of the new employees will require huge resources and then
Travelodge would also have to arrange the induction and training for the new employees.
Some of the reasons I have identified behind high employee turnover are low motivation level,
lack of communication from the top management of the company and extra workload. The stress
level and dissatisfaction among the employee is increasing which is reflecting in their behaviour
with the customers and causing poor customer service.
We need to focus on these two problems and develop a plan to address these problems with
highest priority. I request you to call a Board Meeting and discuss these problems.
Regards
XYZ