Show of strength

Traditional customer service practices will no longer be relevant in a post-downturn environment.

Many companies have attached a new importance to incentive schemes as a way of motivating staff. Though these schemes can be effective, says Berkeley, they will be all but useless if the company hasn’t first address the fear factor. “There are companies with incentives programmes of one sort or another, but if I fear losing my job, I don’t care what incentive you throw in front of me, I’m still not going to make that decision.”

Director of public relations for the Ritz Carlton in Doha Lauren Fryer agrees. The company’s incentive and reward scheme is an extension of the empowerment strategy it already has in place to provide guests with unrivalled customer service. “All our ladies and gentlemen are empowered to make decisions regarding our guests without seeking managerial approval,” she says.

“We encourage them to take ownership and responsibility of guest opportunities and problems, so that no matter who they are, what level they are, or what department they work in, they all have the ability to engage with the guest, provide an exceptional guest experience and help resolve problems if they have them.”

As the downturn continues, the most important point of difference between leisure and hospitality facilities will be the value they give to their people, says general manager of Shangri La Barr Al Jissah Resort and Spa in Muscat Arbind Shrestha. To put this ideology into practice, the property has elevated human resources from an administrative function within the hotel, to a department with real decision-making powers. “We are focusing on making HR a strategic partner, rather than a department that recruits and maintains records,” he says. “We are realigning everything that we do in HR with our future strategy.”

Berkeley agrees that giving HR a more critical role in a company’s operations will put it in a stronger position once the economy improves. “HR is a classic area where there’s a big withdrawal of accountability and authority going on; where there’s a real need to change working practices. Visibility at that level has rarely been allowed at the top table.”

Empowering the human resources department now, before the economy improves, will be crucial in making sure that a company is prepared to deal with increase in business when it comes, he continues. “What you’re going to find is that operational performance will improve by 10, 15 or 20%, but the number of people the company has will have a lot more on their plates, so organisations need to start thinking about how they’re going to manage those internal resources.

“Most companies in this environment over cut the number of people they need, and then have problems with rehiring, so they won’t be fully equipped to increase market share, customer loyalty or client responsiveness.”

As the economy does improve, new management trends will emerge, particularly in the leisure and hospitality industries, says Shrestha. Whereas companies simply used to poach staff when times were good, the onus now will be on training and retaining existing employees.

“It costs four times more to acquire a new employee than to maintain an existing one, so the approach of buying people with money is not going to work. There will now be a focus on maintaining employee engagement, motivation and loyalty; on career development and productivity-driven employment.”

The downturn will also alter the transient nature of the Middle East’s work environment, and encourage the leisure and hospitality industry to adopt more mature practices akin to its counterparts in more developed markets. “People are staying longer,” explains Berkeley. “Average stays are moving from two to four years, to four to six years. The consequences of that are that organisations will have to look at historical base pay, allowances, insurance, bonuses, and the elements of reward that will allow people to share in the organisation’s success over a period of time.”

Though not all properties and facilities will adopt such measures, Shrestha says, those which do will be leading the industry in the near future. “Leaders will definitely adopt a more mature position, and will focus on making employees more loyal. Employees should get feedback, and can also provide feedback to management.

“There will always be those types of companies that have a knee-jerk reaction and want to copy the competition, but those companies will not last long.”

For those enterprising businesses that have already started thinking about a post-downturn business model, opportunities to forge new ground and cement a market-leading position in the industry abound.

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