No Vacancy – Hospitality Design Fair at ICC in Sydney 7th September 2022

It was great to attend the show last week, to get the insights from renowned leaders on the current and future challenges ahead.

Staffing and HR issues were really at the forefront with leaders understanding that attracting and retaining the next generation into hospitality are front and centre of all hospitality operations right now.

The panel discussion of The  Talent Challenge: Rebalancing skills in a labour supply shortage was particularly interesting with the panel consisting of Mary Hogg - Regional HR Director Hilton,  Nicole Downs - Group Director People & Performance Ovolo Hotels, Michael Johnson - CEO Tourism Accommodation Australia (TAA) and Caspar P. Schmidt - Managing Director QCC Collection Group Pty Ltd.

Following the Government Job and Skills summit held in Canberra, there were some eye watering facts which came to light including the reality that 120,000 students are waiting to come to Australia and 959,000 visa applications are waiting to be processed. The Government has plans to increase manpower to process the visas, but it doesn’t resolve the immediate issues. Hotels have been doing it tough through the pandemic as the usual source of backpackers and students has dried up.

Companies have had to really dig deep, asking employees what is important to them as the trend is towards reassessing lifestyle choices and flexibility in the workplace. Reaching out to other non traditional hospitality industries and looking at different labour markets, the hotels have to offer something special. Coordination with NGO’s, creating social partnerships, reaching relocated refugees, and talking to students in TAFEs, schools and universities are all now ways to create interest in hospitality as a career.

To really know what employees, want, extensive surveys have been undertaken to see where the gaps are also ensuring staff are retained after the first critical 90 days. Monitoring new starters in the first 90 days is critical to ensure the job and employee are a good fit. Ongoing cost-of-living increases also impact those looking at a hospitality career, forcing Hotels to review pay rates to compete in the overall job market.

Guest expectations have also changed with digital check ins easing the pressure on Front Office, there is still the need of course for person-to-person skills in handling more discerning guest requests.

It was great to get a bit more of an understanding on the issues the industry is facing, and the plans Hotels are putting in place for the future.