TRAINING & DEVELOPMENT

In spite of potential challenges, a similar percentage of hoteliers said they are completely happy to remain in their current roles (18.3% this year, compared to 18.6% last year). However, 35.9% said they are actively looking for new opportunities in the market.

Close to half of this year’s respondents (40.8%) have been with their current employer for between 1-3 years, and 18.7% have been in their jobs for less than year. 18.4% have been there for between 3-5 years, while 22.1% have been with their current employer for six years or more. Last year, 17.4% were in this category, which shows that retention is taking place.

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Speaking to Hotelier, The Ritz-Carlton Doha director of sales and marketing Joseph Hagopian admitted that in general, the Ritz-Carlton hotels have gone through a few phases of staff turnover, due to a combination of things.

Hagopian said: “Some people have worked a long time in one property and are just ready to move on: this is normal, but we also have some staff 15 years in the same company. Doha offers a lot to employees; it’s family oriented, once staff start a family here it is comfortable — authenticity and culture here is felt by the staff.

“Investments in Qatar are maintaining the appeal and authenticity of the destinations — it helps keep staff — Ritz staff are the envy of the industry. As a company, our job is to keep our staff by treating them very well. It’s a compliment when other companies look to us and try to take our employees away. There are currently 54 nationalities working in Ritz-Carlton — they really enjoy life with Ritz-Carton and also Doha.”

So what motivates employees to stay? Training and development is the obvious answer, in addition to, of course, salary. Nowadays it’s not enough to have money thrown at people with no scope for development and career progression, which is currently one of the biggest concerns facing the industry.

In reaction to this issue, Rocco Forte Hotels brand manager Irene Forte is launching an upskilling and career progression app this month. Called ‘Map My Future’, the app was created when the UK government launched a competition for people to create an idea to improve skills and the lack of retention and career progression in hospitality.

Speaking to Hotelier, she said: “The app is effectively a career progression app, an upskilling tool. It has learning on the go, it shows a career map with all the routes you can take within your industry so people can set goals and work towards that goal.”

She continued: “It’s also a communication tool. In hospitality, most people are on the floor and it’s difficult to communicate with all the people at once, so there’s a messaging service and newsfeed; it brings everything we’ve been working on with training and development into one place.”

Top ten companies hoteliers would like to work for

1. Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts (46.2%)
2. Marriott International (38.3%)
3. Jumeirah Group (31.6%)
4. Ritz-Carlton (25.7%)
5. Starwood Hotels and Resorts (25.3%)
6. Hilton Worldwide (24.1%)
7. Fairmont Raffles Hotels International (21.3%)
8. Emaar Hospitality Group (19.4%)
9. Hyatt Hotels (19%)
10. InterContinental Hotels Group (19%)