HR Management for Hotel Assignment

Task 1 Understand human resource management

Human resource management is designed in organisations with the motto to maximize performance of employees in accordance with the employer’s goals.HR oversees the management of the organisations focusing on the companies policies and its systems.HR indulge in many activities that includes staffing, recruitment, training, motivation, appraisal of the employees.HR is responsible for managing industrial relations concerning collective bargaining and laws of the government.

1.1 Analyse the role and purpose of human resource management in a selected service industry.

When we talk about hotels we are talking about a business that dealing with hospitality. These organisations serve the public and they employ numerous staff members to efficiently accomplish this task .The human resource needs to be efficiently managed in a hotel industry because dealing with the needs and wants of many people daily needs lot of specialisation in terms of hospitality, courtesy , and attitude. The hotel business has a variety of job requirements bell boy, housekeeping, reception, panel of chef etc. each with a specific skill set that needs to be efficiently managed.

Following are the role and purpose of HR management for a hotel business:

• Supporting: Human resource department has the role to oversee the most important asset of an organisation its human resource which gives it additional onus to oversee that competent employees are hired freeing the management from the duty of managing the work force and concentrating on business activities.
•  Recruitment and Training: The hotel business serves guests making it a need for the HR department to hire people with the right kind of attitude to serve guests with courtesy. Compensation and benefits administration: HR department needs to make sure that employees are well compensated as per the prescribed minimum wage of the government and in accordance with the pricing policies of other hotel business.
• Monitoring the division of labour: HR department needs to oversee that that does what and how.
• Morale and mentoring: A hotel business has to deal with the personal requirements of many people on a daily basis the role of the HR manager is to ensure that the morale of the people are well busted and not let down due to handling immense pressure. It should create an action plan to applaud employees for a job well done.
• Legalities: The HR department needs to have a knowledge of the employment practices of the hotel industry so that he safeguards the hotel from incurring extra costs by breaking law and unnecessary litigations that also stake the reputation.
• Strategic: the HR department has to strategically plan the demand and supply of labour and the process of personnel growth. It has to either plan for expansion of the employment or for downsizing as per the requirements.

1.2 A human resources plan based on an analysis of supply and demand for the selected service industry (UKCBC Hotel).

The UKCBC hotel is opening a 100 room full service facilities in West End London that will have coffee and bar facilities for internal and external guests. So for to open a multi facility hotel like UKCBC proper HR planning has to be done in order to channelize the human resource in the best possible manner.

 

Need of HRP in UKCBC Hotel

• Managing the human resource.
• Strategic planning of the HR needs for the UKCBC.

• Assessment for the international expansion strategy of UKCBC.

The HR team has to recruit people for the following:

• To handle the financial affairs
• To operate facility and planning management
• Human resource management
• Project managers
• Office development- operations
• Food and beverage
• Laundry services
• House keeping
• Systems
• Front desk

Developing the HR Plan

Forecasting Hiring Needs

The planning will tell us how Much HR strength and what skill set of personnel will be needed to smoothly run the full facility UKCBC hotel of 100 rooms and to manage bar and coffee services for both internal and external guests.

Step 1: Identify the needs and strategy of the business

• Competition: UKCBC might be in a pressure to gain competitive advantage of being new entrant by expanding and hiring large staff base for future expansion.
• Technology: Technological advancements have increased the workforce requirements in hotel industry.
• Increased customer demand: If in the busy season the number of customers in the hotel increases, it might cause more requirements to hire.
• Economics: Growth of the economy or lower interest rates cause increased spending, and increased business opportunities in Accordance to which the workforce of a particular industry changes.
• Workforce changes: resignations, terminations, leave of absences, death, change in employment status, and retirement changes the workforce requirements in the hotel industry.

Step 2: An analysis of the job

A job analysis is required to know the requirements of the workforce in terms of number, skills and experience.

This indicates how many people in total are needed to be recruited in the UKCBC hotel and what will be their desired skills.

Step3: Writing a job description

It is a descriptive and specific explanation to what the particular job expects from a prospect employee it screens the number of entrants in the initial phase. Say if you need receptionist for the hotel mention gender of the prospect employee if you have preference, age limit, education,   personal attributes you are seeking, job timings etc. So that you screen applicants as much as you can.

Step 4: Setting up an appropriate salary: this can be done by having the knowledge of the minimum wages in the industry and the wages paid in the other competitive hotels. Employers determine the average salary and the maximum they can pay for an employee beforehand.

Step 5: Determine the Hiring feasibility

This includes determining how much cost will be incurred for hiring what are the benefits of hiring and what are the risks associated with not hiring an employee. All these are essential factors that need to be kept in mind before you start your hiring process.

Labour Demand Forecasting

Labour demand forecasting is not crucial, hotel business do not want excessive employee pool that is in increased cost to the company nor does it want a deficiency in the workforce pool creating difficulty in catering to the customers’ needs.

• UKCBC has to keep its expansion, growth, technological advancement, absenteeism, turnover rates of the next 3-4 years before forecasting the supply and demand.

• Statistical and mathematical approaches to determine the needs, including indexation (forecasts determined in relation to one or more fixed organizational indices) or trend analysis (forecasts based on the study of past human resource growth). These are often complex and expensive – but a real need, especially for larger organizations.

Labour Supply Analysis

Once UKCBC has forecast what it’s future requirements are going to be then they can analyse how many employees will be needed for a possible stage of expansion that will be happening very soon or at the onset of the season where the hotel will have many guests, not only the number forecast is done by the HR team but also a forecast of the required skillsets of the employee is necessary to maintain a steady work flow balance.

Balancing the Supply and Demand

If UKCBC is short of employees to achieve the business objectives, effective recruitment strategies will need to be devised. Then it is to design jobs according to the requirements in the industry. It needs to keep analysing the demands and supplies of the workforce and recruit people accordingly. The demand and supply analysis has to be done keeping in mind possible expansion.

Task 2 Understand the effect of employee relations and employment law on service industries businesses

2.1 Assessment of the current state of employment relations in the selected service industry

Relationship between employers and employees relations is the employment relations and a healthy relationship is the key to success of a service industry. It determines the efficiency, motivation and the dedication of the employees.

Current state of employment in the hotel industry

Majority of the hotels around the globe are small scale business that do not have a human resource department but with the growth of the hospitality sector owing to growing technology the chains of big hotel brands as changed the traditional employment structure of this industry. Now, hotels are high performance enterprises that incorporate new practise of the human resource management they lay stress on employee motivation, training and has now emerged as a sector with high degree of professionalism. The recruitment process in hotel industry is very selective and demands people with the right kind of attitude that can serve customers with positivity and believes in the importance of customer care. Behavioural tests are although still uncommon in this sector as of now but implementing psychometric tests will be of much use. (Nickson, 2007).Hotel business does not want to lose their trained employees so they are indulging in extensive induction programmes to leesen employee turnover.

In the 19^th century people use to bargain individually for their own needs and pay with their employers this was an era of individual bargain

Then came the era of collective bargain where workers allow the union to negotiate on their behalves.

Flexibility, efficiency and fairness

The new era emphasises on the need of flexibility in creating employments with deregulation and economic growth. It was the opinion of the conservatives that UK owing to its policy of deregulation is in fact reduced employment in comparison of the rest of the Europe because they practice higher degree of regulation and have higher social costs. (Paul Edwards, Mark Gilman, Mark Hall, Ewart Keep, Caroline Lloyd and Keith Sisson, 1997)

Recognized employment practices

Employee involvement: Hotel business lacked employee participation but these days the kind of jobs created for the hotel business is such that people are indulging on the matters relating to their jobs and the decisions that impact them. (Ahmad, 2010)

Recognizing outstanding service – Hotel industry is practicing recognition to keep its work force motivated and in high spirits. For example; for one week every year, Hyatt representatives from around the world come together to celebrate Our People, this acknowledges and awards the employees who show great levels of customer service and dedication towards their job consistently. (Hotel Industry Magazine, 2014)

2.2 How employment laws effect the management of human resources in the Hotel Industry

The employment regulations act of 2004 has the provisions to recognize unions, about laws relating to industrial action, then it states about laws that gives rights to union trade members and the workers and the employees of any organization.

It says that all workforces are entitled to a minimum wage then it has many miscellaneous provisions for the implementation of legitimate practices in the work. Employment laws these laws ensure that every individual working for an organization is entitled to minimum legal rights breaching which the employer can be punished by a court of law. These regulations aim at making the work culture better and employer operating under the law and not curtailing the rights of their employees at their own discretion.

Employment contracts

Employment contract is an agreement between the employee and the employer that states the terms and conditions that the employer lays before the employee agreed by both the parties entering into the contract of employment. It can be written or implied or both.

Dismissal the laws of Industrial action prescribes that an employee cannot be terminates before prior notice is given to him, he has to be given a protected period which is the sum of the basic period + if the employee is entitled to any extension in addition to the basic period of his dismissal

The Article 7(B) of the industrial relational act states the basic notice period is of 12 weeks starting from the first day of protected industrial action.

7(c) article states that an extension period for the termination of the employment is a period equal to the number of days falling on or after the first day of the protected industrial action but it has to be before the end of the protected period.  (Legislation UK Government)

Maternity and Paternity rights

• Employees are liable to maternity and paternity pay and benefits
• Women who do not get maternity pay are liable for maternity allowance.
• Paid time off for antenatal care

UKCBC HR manager has to be much aware of these laws while framing the contract of employment and taking decisions so that no employment laws are infringed.

The Employment Regulation act gives a detailed outline of the legal provisions in regulating employment UKCBC HR manager needs to keep them in mind and determine what are the rights by law given to the employees and unions, and how can they terminate an employer and what is the legal course of action to provide benefits in case of maternity and paternity.

Task 3 Understanding the recruitment and selection process

Stress on improvement of service quality has laid further pressure in recruiting the right kind of people in the hotel industry.

Poor recruitment is a waste of time, money and training so UKCBC has to be very tactical in devising its recruitment procedure.

3.1 Discuss a job description and person specification for UKCBC.

Designation - Head Chef

Reports to:  Restaurant Manager

Job Purpose

The responsibility of the restaurant manager will be to guide and foresee coordinating all the activities in the kitchen.

Efficiency in team management and distributing tasks in the team and should know to work in the given deadline.

Preparation of the daily menus

Checking the satisfaction level of customers by daily rounds and asking the customers view.

Key Responsibilities

• To ensure that quality of production is maintained and it is maintained in a correct manner.
• Checks the quality of food and their services.
• Ability to manage team, train the staffs and motivate them and check their proper structuration.

• Ensures a good working atmosphere.
• Must have excellent management skills
• Coordinate and guide all the chefs of the hotel.

Requirements and Skills

• Cooking skills: should have own style of cooking and must be adaptive to different styles as well.
• Must be able to manage inventory and supplies in the kitchen.
• The ability to manage a team
• Team leadership
• Good relationship skills
• Organisation and thoroughness
• Teaching skills

Qualifications

• Technical School Certificate in cooking 3 / 4 years’ further education, Post-graduate qualification in cooking

• Significant previous experience of managing a team in a similar environment

• Must possess managerial skills as well

Designation – Team member Housekeeping

Reports to: Assistant Housekeeper

Job Purpose

• Changing the bed sheets and cleaning the bathroom and replenishing the bathroom with the necessities.
• Check the condition of the room and notify the Assistant Housekeeper of any damage or if something is not working well.
• Responsible for cleaning and tidying hotel bedrooms.

Key Responsibilities

• To be responsible for the linen and equipment supplied
• To ensure application of brand standards.

Entry Requirements

Skills

Should understand the need of tidiness and uniformity in his work

• Must be able to work well in teams
• respecting internal hotel procedures
• Discretion is a must

Qualifications

• No previous experience required

3.2 Comparison of the selection process of different service industries businesses

The selection procedure of two different service industries is completely different from each other as they have different HR needs

The Healthcare Industry-

This industry operates in working in teams so they lay stress in hiring people with team spirit UKCBC can imbibe this because hotel industry also functions with the co- ordination of the employees.

The healthcare industries HR seeks for selecting people who have positive and caring attitude that is much needed if you come for getting better UKCBC also serves people coming for business and leisure travel and in seek of high personal approach and staff anticipating the needs of the guests.

Insurance Sector

Insurance business requires lot of skill set, mathematical and analytical approach so they are very specific in their selection procedure right from the salesman to the top management because you need to tell people what they can get in case of death of their near and dear ones without hurting them emotionally. UKCBC can use this as an example and make specific criteria about personal specifications of all its staffing needs such as what qualifications and qualities are needed in the receptionist, chef etc.

Conclusion

Human Resource is one of the integral parts of any business. To have an efficient workforce the HR manager needs to be very cautious in taking strategic decisions. Proper planning to determine your workforce is required; we cannot undermine the importance of having skilled labour neither the value of having a motivated work force.  Staffing decisions needs to be keeping in mind what are the qualifications and personal attributes the company desires from a particular prospect employee. It is essential to train and focus in the development of your employees as trained employees increase the quality and product ability of the work they do.

References

acas e-newsletter. ((n.d)). Advisory booklet- Employee communications and consultation - The need for training. Retrieved 7 23, 2014, from acas : http://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=677
Ahmad, R. S. (2010). Human resource practices system differentiation: a hotel industry study. Australian Academic Press Pty. Ltd. .
Armstrong, Michael, 1992. Human Resource Management Strategies & Action. London. Kogan Page.
Hotel Industry Magazine. (2014). Hyatt Hotels Recognised As One Of The Best Workplaces In UK. Hotel Industry .