Can western staff solve region's service issues?

Training or recruiting westerners: which is the solution to slack service?

Middle East F&B operators must assess their staff recruitment and training practices if they are to raise customer service standards in the region, say industry professionals — but in what way?

The Aviation Club in Dubai’s general manager, Gerard Kearney , agreed service standards in the region had been neglected, but said the economic slowdown was an opportunity to put things right with focused training.

“The rush of development here has caused employers to take on just anyone and then not having time to train them,” he asserted, speaking at last month’s Hotel Show.

“The result is we’ve got people running restaurants here who were never even commis waiters. Customers are saying they won’t put up with this anymore, and they are right,” he continued.

“I think the slowdown will force us all to take account of this and we will actually have the time to conduct the right training.”

But ccording to Zuma Dubai human resources manager Ruben Tieken, the F&B industry could benefit from sourcing staff from new markets.

“We have a high percentage of what we’d call ‘westerners’ working with us — so Europeans, Australians, those types of nationalities — and that’s because they’re just a little bit more verbal, they’re easier to empower and they will happily take on and deal with responsibilities and problem-solve when necessary,” he explained.

“I’m relatively new to the Middle East, but from my experience so far I think often staff members are too invisible. [Zuma’s]concept is that our staff members’ attitudes and communication skills are part of the package we offer here. That’s why we went to South Africa for much of our recruitment — and looking at our guests’ feedback, it’s working really well,”  continued Tieken.

“I think at the end of the day I’d rather have a verbal, present staff member serving my food and drink rather than it just appearing suddenly in front of me; I believe the service should be part of the attraction of the whole dining-out experience.”

Halima Anderson, head of non-governmental business unit for Ethos Consultancy, agreed that recruiting westerners could easily become an industry trend, as pressure to improve customer service increases.

“I’d like to say that I believe employers will just work with the workforce already here and train people up who may not have enough existing experience or knowledge to offer quality customer service,” she said.

“But from a business standpoint, I can easily see that not happening.

“People may well start looking into recruiting more from western markets to get the experienced staff they want.

“Of course that’s not to say westerners don’t make mistakes, because they do,” she added.

“But take for example Ruth’s Chris Steak House: I personally find the service there great. Is that because they’re an American company, I understand the staff accents and so on? Perhaps.”

But Anderson pointed out that there would be significant “down points” for companies recruiting from western markets.

“After all, you can’t just pay westerners the typical minimum salary,” she noted.