where hospitality people meet
Is Hospitality A Dead End Job?!
Never did I think when applying to university that I would ever have to argue as to why hospitality is a dead end job! But I was proved wrong when it came to debate! Now I realise that hospitality often receives a great deal of bad press and even though I debated that it was a dead end job I whole-heartedly disagree with the statement! I personally found this debate challenging establishing reasons as to why hospitality is rubbish when I am studying a degree in it!
The reason for putting my debate as a discussion topic is to find out why individuals join the industry and more importantly why they strive to make it a better industry to work in. So I ask you;
What drives you? What is your passion and why day after day do you continually strive to make this industry better and better?
Ladies and gentlemen.....I give you the debate!
Before I begin putting forward a debate for why hospitality is a dead end job I thought it necessary to investigate actually what is a dead end job!
A dead end job can be defined as a job in which there is little or no chance of progressing and succeeding in to a higher paid position. Such work is often menial, badly paid and has long, unsociable hours.
Before I begin identifying specific reasons I want to give an overview of the main reasons for it being a menial employment role. These are only generic reasons and I will focus on three specific reasons a little later.
1. Understaffed
2. Poor training
3. Stressful
4. Badly paid
5. Unsocial
The reasons go on...........
The three main points that I will be discussing in this debate as to why hospitality and tourism is a dead end job are;
1. High levels of staff turnover.
Poor training.
Limited career progression
High Levels of Staff Turnover
High levels of staff turnover are not only occurring in the UK but also globally. Research has indicated that along with the UK, the likes of Australia, USA and Europe experience this issue on a continual basis.
Research has identified that staff turnover is highest amongst 20-29 year olds with only 31% choosing to remain employed within the industry after 2 years of employment. Further to this only 22% choose to remain in the industry after 5 years or more. Hilman identified that it is mainly
operational staff that cause this high level.
Organisational stability has been shown to have a high degree of correlation with low staff turnover. Indications are that employees are more likely to stay when there is a predictable work environment. Seasonal resorts have trouble in providing a continual high level of business and this has been experienced personally.
Clearly with such high levels of staff turnover there must be something wrong! Now many of you have experience within the industry and I am sure that you have all experienced how annoying it is to do a double shift or 2 or 3 or continually.
This high level of staff turnover leads to my second point – poor levels of staff training.
Staff Training
Poor staff training is directly linked to high levels of staff turnover and is supported by both research and academic literature.
In 2008, Poulston identified that poor training lead a poor level of service quality, which demeans an employee leading to disciplinary issues and finally to staff turnover. Poulston then goes on further stating that training which if offered is often ‘on the job’ and is a ‘show as you go’ method. This is a cheap substitute for effective on the job training and often leads towards a negative stigma of the industry.
In the current economy all businesses have been hit hard by the recession not only hospitality and tourism firms. With a current staff turnover rate of 31% in the industry, 51% of managers stated that they are planning to cut back on the level of training provided, with only 25% of managers investing more. In 2006 The US Bureau of Labour statistics found that staff turnover was over 25% higher than in all other industries in the USA.
Why would an individual want to work in an industry where it seems that only money and cost saving procedures matter. Chalkiti identified that managers need to work side by side with employees in this hard time, however it seems that this is not happening. Hales also commented stating that
managers are the only ones who are given an influence over their job looking at productivity and reducing costs. It seems as if employees are not valued!
So high levels of staff turnover and poor levels of staff training lead to my final point as to why the hospitality and tourism industry is a dead end job!
Limited Career Progression
Marbourne discovered that limited opportunity for development was a top 6 reason for dissatisfaction in the industry.
O’Mahony and Silitoes comment that in the current competitive and changing marketing environment the training and development of staff is fundamental to the evolution of a flexible, efficient workforce. A lack of training does not allow this competitive advantage to be gained resulting in dissatisfied staff.
Barron goes on further stating that superior talent management is increasingly recognised as the prime source of competitive sustainable advantage – the hospitality industry has always found it hard to
attract suitably, motivated, trained, and qualified employees. Reports of a poor image in the eyes of hospitality students coupled with high levels of staff turnover suggest that the industry will find it hard to recruit, train and maintain high calibre staff. In 2001 a study of UK and Dutch students was undertaken and it found that as few as 50% were planning to enter the industry once graduating.
Along with this point and the two mentioned previously, high levels of staff turnover and poor levels of training, limited career progression is perhaps the most important reason why hospitality is nothing
more than a dead end job!
Lets discuss............
Tags: career, employement, hospitality, jobs, progression, staff, training, turnover
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Ben McEwen on -
Hi Tom
You are a brave man! If you live to the end of the week I will be most impressed! Ha!
On a serious note - the hospitality and tourism industries have suffered at the hands of bad career press for a long time. In particular my chosen sector, Contract Catering continues to battle with the image bestowed upon it. Let's look at your points - yes we have a high turnover and it can be frustrating as a returning customer or long standing member of staff to see the workforce turn itself over every few months, but look at the plus side - we have a constant stream of fresh blood coming into our industry and when they leave where are they going? Are they going to another industry or staying within? Due to the nature of our business we are an easy target for the part time/casual/seasonal/student workforce - so our turnover is not always negative, sometimes its just a symptom of the operation. Also - it depends on the sector, just because bars and restaurants are turning their staff at over 60% it certainly isn't the case everywhere, if you look at some departments of hotels and the food and service management sector, turnover is at the other end of the scale.
Training! Well again its a bit of pot luck but it depends where you find yourself. There are some fantastic emplooyers within the industry who are investing heavily in their people - look at some of the work that learnpurple does and in particular the companies that they work with - all willing to train their workforces. It can be argued that there is little training or a heavy focus towards on the job training, but look at the type of roles people in our business do - we are an operational industry - we perform on the front line and in many positions its a great place to learn.
Finally - career progression! In any job in the world a career is what the indivudal makes it! If you refer to your first point of high staff turnover - surely that should provide great opportunities for people to progress for those willing to stay on? I think it really depends on whether the individual concerned wants a job or a career. We have some absolutely shining examples of individuals who have stormed up the ranks and carved fantastic careers for themselves across all sectors of the hospitality and tourism industries. Our industry provides some of the best options for self employment, fast career progression, flexible working, travel and ability to move between sectors.
Tom - great talking point and a well put together argument although I'm not sure how many members will be inclined to agree with you! Ha!
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Permalink Reply by Tom Shorney on -
Thanks Ben! I think that its always good to look on the other side of the coin so that you are able to see both sides of an argument. Now even though I wrote this debate arguing that the industry is a dead end job, I dont agree with it! After all why would I study a degree in it!
Having said this some of you might ask well what are his answers to the questions posed; What drives you? What is your passion and why day after day do you continually strive to make this industry better and better?
What drives me? Having worked in the industry since 16 years of age I have been able to see how integral hospitality firms have in the day to day life of so many people. Whether you are enjoying the hospitality or are working in it, it clearly affects everyone! The reason I am studying a degree in hospitality management is to further my knowledge and understanding of the current industry and then once graduated work to improve the industry further for both employees and customers.
What is my passion? Well, knowing that I want to work in the HR side of the industry and have a small amount of experience here my passion is improving the industry for the people who work in it. Now that might sound cheesy but its true.
Now the final question is a little tricky as I dont actually work in the industry full time but I can re-phrase it to ask why do it continue to study a degree in a field that receives a lot of bad press. Well, for starters I have a fantastic department at university that allows individual growth and development. But apart from that I want to work in a industry that is so diverse, working anywhere in the world, meeting different people everyday is possible and no working day will ever be the same!
With these reasons I can safely say that hospitality is no where near a dead end job!
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Permalink Reply by Remo Mongiat - FBII on -
Hi Tom,
Dead End Job……. Definitely not !!
I hope that I can encourage you to look at our Hospitality industry with different eyes.
In reflection over the many years in catering I can honestly say that I still enjoy the challenges and joys it brings everyday. Yes it can be very demanding, but also very rewarding. My career started in catering college and in a small hotel were I was trained in all departments. I chose to progress in restaurants and promoted myself from commis to chef de rang to headwaiter, sommelier,assistant manager, manager and general manager. And during all those years you continue to study and learn by attending courses for Health and Safety, Food Hygiene, WSET certificate, customer care etc. !
And as you advance your role becomes more important and you will be responsible for your team members progression. It is absolutely great to see someone becoming successful in our industry following the training you were able to give to that person. And looking back at all the friends I made along the way. I am still in touch with several colleagues from 30 years ago. One from my time at the Savoy, he lives in Grenoble, and another who was my manager at two restaurants, in St.James’s and Soho, has his own restaurant in Putney , and many more. Some of my colleagues went on to study and change career to work in HR, hotel management,operations managers in events, recruitment consultants, and so on. A good company will also assure that its staff will receive a good rate of pay, training and lots of other benefits, ie pension etc.
When a unit is understaffed it usually is the fault of management. But on a daily basis our industry is unpredictable at times and can catch you ‘off guard’ and hence staffing levels can suffer. The stress factor is not avoidable because we deal with the public and that is not easy at any time or in any other industry which deals with the public. A prime example is travel. Watch ‘Airport’ on TV and you’ll know what I am talking about. The issue regards unsocial hours can be viewed in many ways. Today you’ll find that almost all businesses operate on a seven day week basis. When I started in catering it was far more apparent that I always worked when the rest of my family was at home. Times change. I have just noted that a new Bank wants to launch branches which will be open every day. But also look at other professions we rely on to be 24/7 , examples are hospitals, the police, the firebrigade, transport etc. Of course many people choose a job where you work 9 to 5, Mon to Fri, and if they are happy – so be it. I love food and wine and it gives me great pleasure to be able to make peoples dining experience very memorable. And finally – catering is changing and progressing and we shall learn more as we continue to improve and appreciate the talent in our industry.
I hope you have found my comments helpful.
Be positive.
Remo
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Permalink Reply by Marcus Weedon on -
Hi Tom,
Wow, that is some thought provoking discussion, but i have to strongly disagree with your points.
No way is hospitality a dead end job, yes it has had bad press but so has many a job in many different industries, they all come with different stress factors, staff shortages (which is hard to believe when currently we have so many unemployed people in this country), all jobs have different hours of work, career progression is aplenty.
Any person looking to get in the industry knows it will be challenging and very hard work to go from being a Waiter to be Restaurant Manager, or a Commis Chef to being a Head Chef, this does not happen over night, but it is bloody great fun!!!
If you really think this is bad try being in the Army, though def not a dead end job, what you have highlighted about hospitality kind of signifies what it is like to be in our Army. You would not get paid very well to serve our country, though training is very good, you will not get much sleep, standard of living are better than what they used to be but still not great, career progression is very slow and turnover in the Army certainly suffers alot.
A real dead end job, i would say is being a dustbin man, road sweeper, park keeper, etc, these positions do not offer progression or a career, mind you dustbin men do pick things up as they go along.
Apart from the jokes, im very serious when i say that in my career in hospitality, there has been tough times due to lack of staff, stress through not being given the right training, many hours worked upto 60-70 hours, and yes badly paid, but i LOVE the industry, like any other person that works in the industry and so passioate about making a good name for hospitality and would rather highlight this than saying what is so bad about it.
Like Remo has stated food and wine is great and i used to get great pleasure of making a customers experience a special one whether i had just started or been working for 12 hours, even if it was the 7th day working in n a row, for £5 an hour, we all have to start somewhere.
Now i recruit people who have the same passion to not only give customers the same experience but to suceed in the industry, though i would like to say they certainly would not work this amount of hours.
To work in hospitality is NOT a dead end job but more of a hobby in which you can succeed in, progress and develope in , be challenged, enjoy, satisfy customers, be rewarded, get own job satisfaction, every day is different, have diversity, in the right company get great training,
Tom, like so many people im addicted to the industry and want to continue to promote how good it is to be working in it, how about writing an article about why you love the industry.
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Permalink Reply by Peter McGunnigle on -
Nice to see one of my classroom debate topics being aired in a public industry forum - Thanks Tom - I can direct next years student to here for some further material as Marcus has hit on tghe head, a lot of the very points that lie on the other side of the argument - If I had read this before I saw him down the corridor here at Brookes a couple of hours ago I would have thanked him for reinforcing these points whcoiih I hope you all drew out last week in your discussions here.
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Permalink Reply by Tom Shorney on
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Hi Peter,
All those points came out in the debate and I think that a debate topic such as this really does make you think about what a fantastic industry this is even if it does have its bad press at times!
Regards,
Tom
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Permalink Reply by Tom Shorney on
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Hi Remo,
Its great to see why you love working in the industry! I happen to beleive that it is a fantastic industry to work in and is no where near a dead end job. By providing the other side of an argument I hoped to find out why people love the industry and it seems to be working.
Thanks for responding and I hope that it encourages more people to give their views.
Regards,
Tom
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Permalink Reply by sandrine urvois on -
hi, I am afraid this is a great challenging thought ,and I do agree with it, the thing I can tell looking back, is that hospitality is a great way to learn about life, it is hard , very hard, and almost like the army it has rules and a lot of yes sir.
The thing everybody can gain from joining the hospitality trade is job security and this is not a small thing for a lot of people.
and it give you as well the capabilities to go above most people abilities.
PS;when people used to ask me if they should join the hospi industry I would always push them away, but when they joined I always help.
always sincerely
sandrine
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Permalink Reply by Jose Ruiz on -
Firstly, I would like to say that I find it tremendously interesting that this kind of debate is even taking place. Having a discussion in which you put forward one side of the argument (whether you believe it or not) and the other side plays the other can only result in a great discussion. Thank you for posting Tom.
Now:
I have several points to make and would like to say, at the outset, that this is being said by someone who 14 years ago was serving breakfast at the London Metropole hotel and now finds himself working as HR Manager for the one of London's best 5* hotels, The Berkeley. It seems, that there is career progression after all.
- Regarding staff turnover
Maybe the fact that our industry is very labour intensive should be factored in. Also the fact that our industry offers many low skilled jobs that attract a transient workforce, whether this is made up of students taking a summer job, or foreigners coming to the UK for a few months to learn the language. These low skilled jobs are also a great entry point for people into the labour market.
There are, of course, many employers out there which do not have the kind of turnover that you mention in your post. I am proud to say that staff turnover at the Berkeley, for instance, is less than half what you mentioned. This is, in part, due to the fact that we do invest heavily in training and development and also in providing career development opportunities to those employees who want them and are willing to demonstrate their commitment to excellence that we expect from our employees.
This brings me to the next point, regarding training:
Yes, some employers out there do not invest in training and we can spend hours talking about them, but we should also acknowledge that there are many which spend heavily on L&D initiatives and the many amazing L&D professionals, like my colleague Kirsty Low who works tiredlessly to ensure that Learning remains at the core of our business both from the top down and from the bottom up.
There are plenty of employers out there who invest heavily in their people, their development and their career and who truly understand that the success of a hospitality organisation comes through its people.
We cannot ignore, in my not so humble opinion, the fact, however, that many hospitality organisations, are now run by private equity firms instead of hoteliers; and, as many other aspects of our society, are run with a very short term view. The expectation is to realise a financial return on investment in the short term and then sell and move on. With this view in mind, of course, it is not necessarily a priority to spend money in training and development. Look at organisations like my first workplace: the Metropole hotel. In the 14 years I have been in the UK, it has changed hands from Metropole hotel, to Stakis, to Hilton. Look at how many times the Grosvenor house hotel (once a jewel in the hospitality crown) has changed hands too over the same period.
This is, however, a economic shift affecting not just hospitality but our society as a whole. It is the short termist view that is being encouraged.
With regards to career progression:
I can only hold myself as a walking example of career progression; and my career is atipical, having changed direction (always within hospitality) three times, from F&B to Front Office and then HR. Even when agencies, which will remain un-named, told me that I "did not have a hope in hell to get into HR without experience or qualifications" I had people like Jonathan Orr Ewing (now at the Carlton Club) willing to take a chance and offer me the career opportunity. Other people who have influenced my career and without whom I would not be where I am today include: Janine Schneider at the Metropole Hotel, Tony Murkett at the Sloane Club, Gernod Duenwald at the Montcalm Hotel, Michael Smith at Park Plaza hotels, Lizzie Bullen at the Berkeley, to name just a few. These people and many others have been champions of career progression and their commitment to people development, coupled with my very own hard work and passion for our industry have meant that my career has always moved forward.
I know that there are things in our industry that need addressing, one of which is how hospitality is still being perceived by some. But it is through discussing them openly (like in this forum and through initiatives like hotcatUK) that we will change them. Change needs to happen from the inside and this is us! There are plenty of organisations out there promoting our industry (the hospitality skills academy, people 1st and many others). It is, however, up to us (those working in industry) to ensure that the reality lives to the expectations created by these organisations.
Thanks again, Tom, for starting the dialogue. I sincerely hope that many others will take part.
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Permalink Reply by Tom Shorney on
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Thanks Jose, it is great to hear you side of the argument
Regards,
Tom
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Permalink Reply by Ioannis Pantelidis on -
Well it seems I come a little late into this argument but I shall add my two drachmas (Drahmas? whatever happened to them?)
Why do I bring up my long lost forgotten currency? because if we are to consider this debate we need to position the questions within the context of a country in relation to another.
A dead end job? No career progression?
Here is the case study of a young Greek chap full of passion willingness to learn (and back then he had lots of hair, don’t look at him now). This chap could barely get a waiters job in Greece without the right contacts... He had a degree from a great Swiss Hotel School and wanted to pursue a Masters, but after his 2 years in the army he had not a penny to his name... So he came to the UK. Within 2 weeks he had a job offer in London and within 3 years he was running an operation with an annual turnover of around 5mil! And trust me back then 5 mil was a lot of money for a 24 year old to be trusted with....
I wont tell you how back is back then but the point is that the industry has progressed greatly and there are more and more innovative businesses out there willing to nurture great talent. You may turn around and say YEA but look at you, you have turned out to be an academic (ok stop laughing now, we still count).... Well ok some may see it as a copout but I would like to think myself as an academic with only one leg in that marriage... I am a consultant and a hotelier /restauranteur first and foremost and even though my investments are mediocre (especially after the unfortunate double crunch in Greece), I was born with the soul of a Greek waiter/fisherman and I very much hope will die with the same soul intact.
you see Hospitality... is not a job its not a career, its a way of life!
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