Farnek, a UAE-based facilities management company, has won contracts worth more than AED72 million ($19.6 million) this year for its hospitality division, as major companies have increased their outsourcing of staff.
Farnek mobilised over 450 staff for international hotel brands such as Emaar, Millennium, Sheraton, Movenpick, Sofitel, Hilton, Kempinski and others this year. The bulk of the demand has been for housekeeping, stewarding, security, specialised cleaning and maintenance.
Outsourcing staff is more cost-effective than hiring full-time employees. Industry professionals estimate that hotels can reduce operating costs by more than 30 per cent by outsourcing. However, for many hotel managers, outsourcing is still confined to stewarding roles.
Younger workers are reluctant to take up full-time positions in hospitality because of low salaries, long and often unsociable hours, repetitive duties and the lack of fast-track career advancement.
Even though the UAE is close to the large talent markets of MENA, South and South East Asia, and workers can find much better-paying jobs than back home, the exponential growth of tourism is still putting an added strain on hotel human resource departments.
Tamer Bishay, Director of Business Development, Farnek, commented: “Training is a key issue. It takes a considerable amount of time and effort to ensure that employees are trained to comply with operational standards.
“Then comes the issue of retention. Invariably, it takes longer to recruit staff than it does for them to leave a hotel’s service, leaving potential gaps in service delivery during high-demand periods.
“Cost efficiency is not the only reason that hotels have embraced the concept of outsourcing, but also because of experience. Many of our outsourced staff have worked in a number of different hotels. They are already well-trained, fully qualified, can be contracted for specific demand periods, or over a longer term, which provides an effective and immediate solution.”
Established in the UAE in 1980, Farnek is a Swiss-owned independent facilities management company. It has a skilled workforce of more than 9,000 employees, and delivers professional Facilities Management and security services across various sectors.
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