In the Hospitality Industry
Hotels, Restaurants and Motels exist to make a profit – would you disagree? The largest controllable expense operating a business in the hospitality sector is the payroll – agree? Further, it makes sense for management to strive to understand its people – one of the biggest drivers of customer satisfaction.
Whether they are referred to as Employee Climate, Engagement, Opinion or Satisfaction surveys the common theme is the need to poll employees in order to assess their perceptions about an organization.
Frankly, the hospitality industry has been fairly diligent with surveying process – surveying is encouraged by many brands. Nevertheless, often typical surveys don’t go far enough to probe the nuances of a competitive labor pool in a community? Broad based comparative data provides a balanced perspective; and such information when compared against flagged concerns in a given survey enables management to more effectively address issues.
A survey should only be conducted if there is a willingness to consider and act on the findings; and where necessary, intervene with new employee relations initiatives. Also, it becomes vitally important to acknowledge and thank the employees for their contributions to the survey.
Consider a few more reasons to survey employee satisfaction.
- Surveying will help you construct proactive strategies to attract and retain staff;
- Surveying will help to measure the performance of supervisors and managers;
- Surveying provides a convenient measurement to contribute to incentive bonus plans or any other reward structure;
- You can compare departments in your organization or to other organizations to seek out the weakest links;
- If mutual respect is an organizational value, surveying will strongly demonstrate and support it;
- Remember, unions find fertile ground in a dissatisfied workforce – it’s best to know your employees satisfaction mindset.
Surveying is a very simple and inexpensive way to calibrate an organization and optimally manage for maximum profitability.
It is important to note that survey results provide a great snapshot of the surveyed group, and aggregate data adds valuable perception for your community of interest; but, in order to drill down for meaningful interventions within an organization – there may be a need for further feedback sessions with objective facilitators.
By John Platz – HR/IR Satellite Inc.