When the war broke out in Ukraine, I had the privileged ability to put Ukrainian refugees into Hospitality work.
During this time, I will never forget this, one 4-star hotel employer said to me:
"I have vacancies for waiters, but I need them to be experienced and start straight away".
I asked her: "How long would it take to train beginners do you think?"
"3 months" she replied.
I asked her, then, how long had the vacancies been unfilled.
Her reply:
"6 months".......
During Covid-19 lockdowns I worked with the irrepressible Wandsworth Council Lifelong Learning which offered free training and qualifications to support Hospitality workers in London during troubled times.
Guess what?
Some Hospitality employers declined the opportunity, saying: “We don’t have the time”.
During lockdown. When they were closed.
The Disconnect Between Wants & Reality
There is a lot of talk in Hospitality about how we must train more to retain people, how we must have training programmes to attract more people to our industry.
But then we trip over at almost the first hurdle, either not training or not taking up the training opportunities available because "we don't have the time"
But why is this?
It's fair to say, as humans, we all have a vision of ourselves, of how we would like to be.
Most of us would like to eat better, sleep more, exercise more, study something and so on.
But, whatever it is, we often fall short and it is often around the things we know that will be good for us, or make us feel better about ourselves.
In his book War of Art, Steven Pressfield describes this as “resistance” and, I can confirm, we are not alone in experiencing this.
And yet....
And yet, equally busy or busier Hospitality businesses DO have the time.
They do have the time to structure their rotas and invest in their people.
Despite rising costs, despite staff shortages, despite being busy there are plenty of employers empowering & investing in their people.
It Doesn't Take A Lot Of Time
To think, that in less than 45 minutes you can jump online and get qualified with an Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) Health & Safety in The Workplace Certificate.
In around 6 hours you could have the essential qualifications and certificates you need to be confident in a career in Hospitality*.
Let’s put this in perspective shall we
The average person in 2023 spent 181 minutes A DAY on social media. That’s over 1200 minutes a week (or 20 hours).
People have enough time to scroll through short videos of fake news, kittens doing cute things and new dance trends of the minute, but not enough time to grow themselves.
So for approximately 1/3rd of that time in one week - just one week! - could see a change in behaviour, and in some cases, new qualifications.
Think about that for a second.
If, of course, you have the time...
In 1/3rd of the time an average person spends on social media, they could earn a qualification.
In A Business Context
There are multitudes of statistics proving that training increases employee satisfaction which in turn reduces stress and, therefore, absenteeism and also increases profits.
It also reduces staff turnover.
One study found that companies that trained staff saw 63% higher productivity, 69% higher profits and 74% higher quality.
It also reduces the need to micromanage your team, freeing up managers to do their job – manage.
Do you have the time to invest in your team or do you still think you are too busy?
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*Knowing what courses or training to give people can be a minefield, especially if you're new to it, so I have developed an on-line, e-learning, value for money "Entry into Hospitality" bundle that covers customer service, food safety level 2, manual handling, health & safety in the Workplace and allergen awareness.
Click here for your value for money and essential knowledge Entry Into Hospitality Package Now
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I'm also offering a Time Management Course for those people who are struggling with finding the time, and am offering a no-risk free trial for the 1st module.
Invest in yourself. You have the time.
