A groundbreaking overtime savings plan and a career-building seasonal leave of absence program typify new solutions for leveling up hotel workforce retention, development and satisfaction.
It’s a truism for the hospitality industry but it’s worth repeating: If you want happy and loyal customers, that journey begins and ends with happy, loyal team members.
Whether you’re an owner, operator or manager of a hotel, aligning to that modus operandi pays off. There are stats galore to support that. Some connect an engaged and satisfied workforce with greater profitability. Others show that a sense of belonging at work equates to significantly greater workforce productivity, a 50% drop in turnover risk and a 75% reduction in sick days. And greater consistency in the workforce means greater consistency for our customers. When we reduce turnover and increase tenure, we can do great things.
Make your hotel a ‘Great Place to Work’
Rather than dropping more statistics on the truth we all know because of the nature of our business, let’s spend more time thinking and talking about not just how we get there, but how we stay there.
Some of the largest hotel chains – Hilton, Hyatt and Marriott – all partner with the leading workplace culture authority, Great Place to Work, as does Encore.
The program includes a deeply researched paradigm for understanding the workforce experience and an annual team member survey that scores an organization against those insights. To earn certification, companies must surpass benchmarks in workforce satisfaction and then commit to action plans to improve for the next year based on insights from the survey.
This investment in the program is an investment in your team member experience and therefore your customer experience. It’s a great foundation for ensuring your company culture is a place that attracts and retains top talent.
But where do we go from there?
Tackle the tough issues; bridging seasonal wage, tenure gaps
For Encore, we are four years into our journey of building back better than before, including joining Great Place to Work and earning a certification in 2022-2023 and 2023-2024. It includes an incremental $200-plus-million investment in just two years for things including expanded benefits, training, programs and internal technology to improve the team member experience and the customer experience.
...as many as 77% of Americans are stressed about their money situations...The more we can do as employers to reduce stress for our team members, the more focused they can be on the job. Happy team members make happy customers.”
Kellie Russell
Our action plans and innovations are based on feedback from the Great Place to Work survey and listening to our team members worldwide. One of the things we heard loud and clear centered on the challenges caused by the seasonality of our industry. Seasonal fluctuations have always been difficult for the industry and, until now, leaders had always thought much of that was outside of our control.
This year, Encore will be the first company in the United States to offer an overtime savings program that enables team members to pre-select a portion of their overtime wages to be saved for off-season, when the hours may not be as available. This innovation empowers people to create a savings cushion and encourages financial well-being and money management. For many, when they are paid and can save their extra earned funds immediately, it makes it easy to save and plan for the seasonality of our industry. This ability to plan is just as important as how much they are paid.
To encourage participation, Encore is also providing a matching incentive. Why does this matter?
According to recent news, as many as 77% of Americans are stressed about their money situations and more than 50% of Americans cannot pay for a $1,000 emergency expense out of pocket. The more we can do as employers to reduce stress for our team members, the more focused they can be on the job. Happy team members make happy customers.
We have also launched another financial wellness program called Seasonal Leave of Absence, which provides flexibility to team members to take a short break during the off season to pursue other jobs, education or their passions while they maintain active status so they can pick up shifts if desired and return to work easily as business volumes pickup. Encore pays 100% of their insurance benefits and they can continue to earn PTO, apply for unemployment and return with no interruption to their tenure.
For Encore, these initiatives are just two more ways of showing our teams that we sincerely listen to their challenges and are invested in their well-being, as well as their career development. When we succeed in demonstrating to our team members that we care about them and their unique circumstances, they will pay it forward to our event planner customers.
Kellie Russell is vice president, human resources North America at Encore.
The views and opinions expressed in this content do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Hotel Investment Today or Northstar Travel Group and its affiliated companies.