Reliable Employees

There are many issues faced by management when running a hotel, (Human Resource Management in the Hospitality industry – Michael Boella, Steven Goss-Turner 2005 page 55) reports have been created concerning problems within hotels, restaurants and public houses. One of these reports carried out on London hotels, public house and restaurants identified 10 main problems and messages for hospitality employers. These were reported in (Tourism Training Initiative Newsletter, April 1989), they included issues such as customer care and how to keep customers happy, how to maintain a good reputation, keeping a reliable group of employees.

A reliable group of employees is one of the main factors of a hotel, it cannot function without employees, as it has been discussed throughout the blog students can be attractive to employees as they are cheap to employee, will accept minimum wage and will work long hours on a part time basis. However many top established hotels may be unwilling to employ students as they can have a bad reputation as lazy and simply working for the money without showing little effort. There is also the fact that students may have to be trained as they may have little or no experience, this means another employee having to take their time to train them and it will have some cost to the employer.

However in some popular tourist areas and seaside resorts such as Brighton there are initiatives to keep students employed through a contract. Some hotels have made their employees sign a contract binding them to their job before leaving for university, this contract means they have to return to work in the same establishment during the summer months while they are off. In some respects this is an opportunity for some students as they have a guaranteed job over the summer but it ties them to their previous employment.

Overall students are useful to employees due to the huge numbers of them of them looking for employment every year and their willingness to accept lower pay, but also they offer a variety of skills such as good communication and willingness to learn.

References

Michael Boella and Steven Goss Turner (2005). Human Resources Management in the Hospitality Industry. London: Elsevier Ltd.

The balance of work and study

Although the employability of students in hotels is cheap and simple for employers as they are hired on a part time basis, working while in full time education can have harmful effects on the educational performance of the student. According to government figures more than half of full time students work during the academic year, on average full time students worked 14 hours a week, some even working up to 20 hours a week. Many students work to pay for their living costs, but the low pay means them having to work longer hours, these long hours have a pro-found effect on their ability to concentrate on their studies and a quarter of students studied admitted to missing lectures due to work, while almost one in five admitted to handing in work passed the deadline. 70% of students reported having reduced time to study, and felt increased stress levels due to combining work and their studies. (All work and low pay 2010).

The hotel and restaurant sector is reliant on casual staff, of which students make up a high proportion of. These are long hours for low pay, the average hourly rate of a retail job is £9.35 compared to the average hourly rate in a hotel which is £7.91. . (All work and low pay 2010).

As employment among students carries on growing there is a role for both trade unions and student unions to address the welfare needs of students, they must off support to students for both their work and studies commitments, and make sure that they are educated on the basic such as their minimum wage rights and offer support to make sure they are not been exploited through long hours and low pay. (All work and low pay 2010).

Employers have a duty of care towards their employees, they should understand that students although are a force of cheap labour are still in full time education and have to study at the same time. Students will put their education before their job and see work as little more than a way to earn money, this is the reason why students may get a bad press from employees and be judged as lazy and not bothered about their work.

Reference

All work and low pay (2010). Available: http://www.tuc.org.uk/extras/allworklowpay.pdf. Last accessed 15 Dec

Skills and service offered by students.

The employability of students within the hospitality industry is a debatable topic, the younger generation can offer a variety of new skills to a business, however due to their youth students lack experience in many areas of industry meaning they will need to be trained at the cost of their employer.

Many new recruits into the hotel industry are at an operative level, meaning there are high levels of manual, unskilled workers within the industry. Students will be classed as these unskilled workers as they will probably have had no experience working in the industry. However they offer other skills to a potential employer, students are more likely to accept lower levels of pay and work longer hours, also due to the recent recession employers are more likely to employ students as they are cheaper to employ and can be trained whilst working, whereas it would be more expensive to hire fully trained staff with experience. Also the amount of young people attending university is increasing every year and due to the recent recession parents will be less able to support their children while they are at university and the lack of student grants means that more and more students will be looking for part time work in order to support themselves, this means there is a large cheap workforce available to employers.  

Many employers see students as good potential employees as they are quick learners and willing to follow instructions, they are also seen as good communicators and intelligent. (People and the hotel and catering industry 1984). However customers may have a negative view on the employment of a large amount of students in such a professional industry. Customers will always have a high expectation of service in a hotel environment and they may be dissatisfied when being served by students who have had little training, as they are expecting a good quality service. Managers have to understand that although students appear to be an unlimited cheap labour force they will lack experience and will need training in order for their business to maintain a high standard of service and a good reputation amongst its customers.

References

Andrew Lockwood and Peter jones (1984) People and the the hotel and catering industry

Employment of students in hospitality

Employment is an integral part of any business, especially in such a large industry as hospitality. There are many different areas to the hospitality industry but they all rely on workers in order for the business to keep operating. There has been an increase in the employment of students in the hospitality industry, many students find jobs in this industry as there are many jobs on offer with very little training needed and it also gives them an income while they are studying.

Students provide employers with a flexible workforce, they are usually employed on a part time or casual basis which gives the employer the right to increase or decrease hours and oven hire and fire staff depending on the amount of trade that they are receiving, they also offer another area of flexibility as employers can move them to other positions that they were not originally employed for. Lamont and Lucas (1999) found that students have other qualities and that employers view them as intelligent, good communicators, easy to train and willing to learn and follow instructions. Students also appear attractive to potential employers because they are cheap to hire and will accept lower levels of pay. However it may not always be wise to employ students as they can be unreliable and not be willing to follow instructions. They may also give little care and attention to their job and only do the bare minimum. Employers will also have to take the time to train students as some may have never worked in the hospitality industry before, this will cost the employer time and money and will use the time of another employee who will have to train them.

Buchanan (2004) found that students who are employed in such stressful environments such as hotels as well as trying to balance a full time academic workload were more likely to suffer from stress, affecting their academic work and their employed work. When employing students managers will have to consider their academic work and understand that there is a limit of shifts that they can work without affecting their work. This may mean that they have to employ more part time workers who all do a small number of shifts, however the manager will have to consider if this is economically viable and whether it would be cheaper to employ many part time workers or few full time workers.