THE REAL ROLE OF HR IN HOSPITALITY

This year a venerable body of human resources professionals re-launched with a new moniker. Does this make the role of the profession any clearer? Jane Sunley, President of HR in Hospitality, thinks it’s great news for talent.

What’s in a name?

Quite a lot, it seems. If you’re an up-to-date, vibrant and successful organisation, you need a name that captures who and what you are. In as few syllables as possible. The ‘Hotel Catering Personnel and Training Association (HCPTA)’ hardly trips off the tongue and we knew we needed something more contemporary and energetic.

Besides, people tend to describe the profession as HR (human resources) rather than P & D (personnel & development) these days. HR in Hospitality is simple, easy to remember and describes exactly what we are about.

A responsive re-launch

The HCPTA was formed in May 1975 as an amalgamation between the Hotel & Catering Personnel Managers Association and The Hotel & Catering Training Association, both founded in the sixties. Both organisations were originally formed in response to the increase in UK employment legislation affecting the hospitality industry.

The re-launch as HR in Hospitality marks a more streamlined service and we’re exactly the forum HR professionals and other interested parties in the hospitality industry need to come together. In addition to the obvious benefits of networking, HR in Hospitality provides information and support in a variety of ways. For example, one of our aims is to facilitate members’ professional development through a programme of speakers on relevant topics. Another is to assist members newly appointed to the HR function. We liaise closely with trade bodies, government departments, trade and professional organisations and education and training. We want to be considered the leading forum and voice for HR in the hospitality industry and I believe we’re getting there. On 17th September, we held our first and very successful HR in Hospitality Awards for Excellence at Claridge’s Hotel.

We definitely want to expand our reach beyond London. Now through the refocusing of our activities together with the support of our partner, caterer.com, the UKs largest hospitality job board, we’ll be able to implement an expansion programme. Good news travels fast and HR in Hospitality is very good news!

Professionalism and leadership

Hospitality employs some remarkable talent. Every day people in this industry are faced with a unique balance of challenges. Day in, day out they use their skills, knowledge and other personal attributes to give people great experiences. Hospitality HR professionals are the ones who are responsible for attracting, engaging, developing and retaining this talent – it’s a major responsibility and also a privilege.

HR in Hospitality is about bringing out the best in our HR professionals. In my view, the truly great and successful HR practitioners have a very diverse range of skills and attributes.

They’re able to see the big picture but also have the ability to look at the detail, balancing concept, structure and planning with being practical and seeing things through. They have the skills and experience that makes them expert negotiators and excellent listeners. They are accountants, marketers, interpreters of the law, strategists, masters of team dynamics, operations managers, leaders and, occasionally, peace envoys. They are emotionally intelligent, bright, organised and able to communicate with clarity. They work hard, are dedicated and get things done. They balance empathy with nerves of steel.

I can always tell a great HR practitioner by the position and profile they hold within their company – they are key board players. A good example would be David Fairhurst, Senior Vice President and Chief People Officer at McDonald’s Restaurants Northern Europe, who was recently voted, for the second year running, HR's most influential practitioner across all UK industries.

Another who immediately springs to mind is Sean Wheeler, Group Director of People Development at Malmaison and Hotel du Vin. Amongst his many accolades, he was the winner of the CIPD Talent Management for Business Benefit Award. (Editor’s note: Leader agrees! We featured Sean in our second issue.)

Well run businesses always train

A recent study showed that 25% of hospitality businesses in the UK are doing more training in these challenging times. In my experience, such companies seem to be weathering the recession better than others. Is it a coincidence or just indicative of the fact that they have well run businesses all-around and wouldn’t consider dropping such an important part of their business activity?

In the UK, management and leadership development were casualties of the recessionary nineties. Businesses never really caught up again, with consequences across the board. Now we know that management and leadership are even more critical in the noughties because standards need to be higher, service offers are ever more diverse, competition is tougher, employees have higher expectations, and things move faster.

In a recession where competition is tougher, unless you go into ‘suicide pricing’, the only real differentiator is service. It’s the people who know what they’re doing who make a great impression on the customer. Everyone in this climate should be investing in ‘sales through service’ type training. There is always an increase in sales from this (usually by 10 - 20%) so why would anyone not be training in a recession?

Companies should make the most of their own resources by getting people to cross-train, buddy up, run mentoring schemes and so forth. This has the added benefit of bonding teams, improving motivation and engendering the ‘feel good factor’ critical in challenging times.

Transformation and development

For me, talent development is all about ‘Transformation’ and this is the over-riding purpose of learnpurple, my talent management consultancy. It’s what led me to HR in Hospitality in search of like-minded people. It’s about transforming organisations so that their people can grow towards their potential. For the individual, it’s probably planned or accidental development that enhances that person’s attitude, skills, knowledge and prospects. Development is everyone’s responsibility – not just someone’s line manager or the HR department.

Research shows that when looking for a new role, one of the key criteria for applicants is development opportunities. Unless businesses have really good, well structured development options then the best applicants simply won’t be interested in them. And employers won’t be able to assure them otherwise because they’ll be asking their friends and consulting internet forums before they even come to the interview.

The hospitality industry, and all HR professionals, must look at how they attract, harness and retain, full stop. Bright and young or otherwise, there is much to be done when it comes to employee engagement and retention. Some of this is about communication and understanding the talent at our fingertips, but it’s also about development, succession planning, and, most of all, I believe, leadership – at all levels.

Jane Sunley, President of HR in Hospitality and Managing Director of learnpurple, is a Fellow of the Institute of Hospitality and a member of the Talent Foundation. To find out more about HR in Hospitality, visit www.hrinhospitality.co.uk. You can contact Jane at Jane@learnpurple.com and access a free employee survey to help organisations measure how well they are doing at engaging their people at www.learnpurple.com/purple-revolution.