Eddy’s HR Mavericks Encyclopedia
The world's largest free encyclopedia of HR, with 700+ HR articles and podcasts.
Created by Eddy and our HR Mavericks community.
HR in the Hospitality Industry
The hospitality industry is full of unique challenges that it can be difficult to manage. Navigating the many different roles, the high turnover, tip credit laws, and industry regulations all contribute to a high-stress environment for HR. Read on for more information on tips on how to manage it!
What Is HR in the Hospitality Industry?
The hospitality industry (hotels, restaurants and bars, event planning, theme parks, tourism, and travel) has a reputation for high turnover. This is the result of several factors, but being an industry that is 100% customer-focused can be stressful for front-line employees. HR is able to support employee satisfaction and retention to reduce turnover and contribute to the industry goal of providing excellent service.
Why Is HR in the Hospitality Industry Important?
HR oversees the employee lifecycle, and in the hospitality industry, this is not without its challenges.
- Demand for talent. There is a lot of competition in the hospitality industry, and the human resources department oversees recruiting and onboarding efforts. This gives us the opportunity to build a talent pool of individuals for the company. We can help shape recruiting strategies, provide market insight, and maintain a network of potential candidates.
- Employee retention. HR is involved in onboarding, employee development, communication between management and front-line staff, job development, and more. We are a key influencer to company culture and can drive employee retention strategies across a company. Utilizing HR to drive employee satisfaction can set your business apart from competitors in the industry.
The Role of HR in the Hospitality Industry
As mentioned above, HR has a role in the entire employee life cycle.
Recruiting and Onboarding
Because of the turnover, it’s important to have a clear recruiting and onboarding process. This process should set the tone for your incoming employees and candidates. HR should constantly build a talent pool to pull from when openings become available. HR needs to write clear and detailed job descriptions and be clear about the necessary qualifications. Specific duties could include:
- Helping determine the company’s hiring needs
- Developing a hiring process
- Writing and posting job descriptions
- Communicating with candidates
- Overseeing the interview process
- Sending out offer and rejection letters
- Conducting pre-employment screening
- Sending out new hire paperwork and collecting signed documents
- Measuring turnover and retention rates
Employee Development
Whether it be training, promoting, demoting, or coaching, HR is instrumental. Strive for clear, well-communicated policies and processes relating to employee learning and development. This allows employees the opportunity to plan for their personal growth within the company. Specific duties could include:
- Determining the company’s training needs
- Training new employees on their roles and responsibilities
- Conducting 30, 60, and 90 day reviews to give a refresher on new hire training
- Helping company leaders (and other employees) improve their leadership skills
- Helping employees create an individual development plan
Administration
HR is responsible for understanding employment laws and ensuring compliance with them. In addition, there are regulations that may have a greater impact in the hospitality industry, like OSHA standards for workplace safety, understanding concerted activity (employees acting together as a group to accomplish something—typically better working conditions or higher wages), and union activity. Specific duties could include:
- Creating and updating company policies
- Collecting and storing personnel records
- Determining a system of tracking employee time and PTO
- Managing employee leaves of absence
- Selecting an HR software for the organization and making sure it’s updated
- Running payroll
- Administering employee benefits
Employee Satisfaction
From competitive pay and rewards—including benefits and employee incentives—to employee recognition and development, HR is the driving force behind employee satisfaction and retention. You should consider your unique employee base and choose options based on their interests and motivators. You can also choose to model common competitor practices. For example, it’s common for hospitality businesses to offer employees discounts on their services. You may survey your employees and learn that while they are interested in this, they'd prefer more team-building activities and options for healthcare. HR should take this feedback and create practices that bolster the employee experience. Specific duties could include:
- Working with company leadership to determine a competitive compensation strategy
- Planning and conducting team building activities
- Establishing an employee recognition program
- Holding workplace celebrations on holidays or other special occasions
- Promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion
- Emphasizing employee physical, mental, social, and emotional wellbeing
- Providing tools to help people manage work-related stress
Challenges of HR in the Hospitality Industry
There are particular challenges in the hospitality industry that HR must navigate.
Recruiting
The reputation of a company within the hospitality industry has a major impact on the customer base and candidate pool. It’s important to be aware of the reputation your company has so you can lean into that when building recruiting and retention strategies. For example, a poor reputation may severely limit your candidate pool and make recruiting more challenging. It's important to dig into the cause of this reputation and build recommendations for improving it into the overall recruiting strategy for the company. While recruiting can be a challenge, there are steps you can take to simplify some aspects. Engage your employees in the process. Get their feedback about what they like about working at your business, and include it in your recruiting strategy by either speaking to those points during your process or posting them with job ads or social media. There are also HR networks you can lean on for advice. You may find forums like this in SHRM, on LinkedIn, or through networking events. The HR Mavericks community is a great place to turn for help from other HR professionals. It includes a community Slack channel where you can ask questions, as well as plenty of opportunities to access HR resources like podcasts, panel discussions, articles, and more. Another option is to look at outsourcing. There are companies that specialize in the hospitality industry, but others can be helpful in this arena or with other challenges your business may be having. If you are considering outsourcing, make sure to know what your objectives are, do your research, and choose vendors accordingly. Technology can be an invaluable tool when it comes to recruiting. Many applicant tracking systems (ATS) exist for the sole purpose of helping companies attract, communicate with, and evaluate candidates. Learn how a good applicant tracking system can help with your recruiting efforts
The Rise of Remote Work
With the rise of remote work, many people have started to place a higher value on flexible work options. Having seen the perks of being able to work remotely, some job seekers are leaving industries where in-person work is required (like hospitality) in search of a profession where they don’t have to show up in person each day. An article from eHotelier describes the problem this way: “This flexibility is making employment less and less location dependent, and ... is also making it significantly more difficult to attract professional customer-facing team members.”In industries where remote work simply isn’t an option, it’s critical that businesses pour extra effort into offering attractive salaries/wages, great benefits, and a great work culture. Even if employees can’t work remotely, they’ll appreciate the other perks your company offers and—hopefully—stick around.
Work-Life Balance
Due to the nature of the industry, there is typically a need for employees to work long hours during nights, weekends, and holidays. Additionally, because of the churn of high turnover, employees are frequently tasked with working extra shifts or lose flexibility in scheduling. Since the open hours are non-negotiable, it may help companies to find creative ways to build flexible work options for employees. For instance, if full-time workers need more time off, you could consider allowing them to split time between more part-time associates/those looking for fewer and more flexible hours. You could also offer cross-training to employees. Employees who understand and are able to perform multiple job functions may have an easier time finding flexibility in their schedules. This can also help with burnout, as clarified below.
Burnout
Navigating the demands of work schedules, coping with being understaffed, and dealing with the stress of being customer-facing can lead to burnout over time. HR must learn how to navigate this and find ways to acknowledge and reward employees with opportunities to wind down, build resilience, and be recognized for their contributions. As previously stated, there may not be many options as it relates to working hours and the need for coverage during all hours of the day, weekends, and holidays as part of fulfilling the business needs. That said, there may be some things you can do to curb burnout. One, listed above, is cross-training. This allows employees to take a break from the monotony of their current or regular role to learn something new without having to slow down business operations. This gives employees the opportunity for job enrichment and can help manage burnout. Also, it always helps to share heartfelt appreciation and try to ease your employees’ lives where you can. This may look different in each line of business, but showing gratitude and giving employees breaks goes a long way when fighting burnout.
When to Hire an HR Professional for Your Business
Many experts agree that by the time a company reaches 50 employees, it should probably have in-house HR. However, the decision about when to hire an HR professional depends on a company’s unique situation. For example, if your business is growing quickly, it’s a good idea to hire an HR pro sooner rather than later. If, on the other hand, your organization is still small and not planning to expand rapidly, it might be better to look at other options, such as outsourcing your HR or using a professional employer organization (PEO). When you’re ready to hire an HR professional, consider starting with an HR generalist. Generalists have broad knowledge across all areas of HR, so they’ll be able to seamlessly take over human resources functions. If you’re not sure what to put in the job description, these sample job descriptions from Indeed can give you some ideas. Use the specific responsibilities discussed in this article to craft an effective job description that will help you hire the right person.
How Eddy Can Help Simplify Your HR Processes
Eddy is an all-in-one HR software that helps small businesses handle their day-to-day HR functions. With digitally signed documents and custom task lists, onboarding new employees is a breeze. From there, it’s easy for HR to organize information in an employee directory, keep track of hours, review PTO requests, run payroll, find talent to fill open roles, and more. See how Eddy can help simplify your HR processes
Topics
Colleen E. Frislid, SPHR, SHRM-SCP
Colleen manages a team of HR consultants that work with a variety of industries, specializing in the fields of human resources, strategic planning, and human capital management. Colleen applies expert knowledge, industry experience, and relentless energy to solving companies’ issues. She is a member of the Society for Human Resource Management as well as women in leadership groups. She is PHR, SPHR, and SHRM-SCP certified. She has an awesome pet cat, Attila and, when she's not working she loves to travel, enjoy the great outdoors, and volunteer with different local charities.
Frequently asked questions
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Eddy’s HR Mavericks Encyclopedia
HR in the Hospitality Industry
The hospitality industry is full of unique challenges that it can be difficult to manage. Navigating the many different roles, the high turnover, tip credit laws, and industry regulations all contribute to a high-stress environment for HR. Read on for more information on tips on how to manage it!
What Is HR in the Hospitality Industry?
The hospitality industry (hotels, restaurants and bars, event planning, theme parks, tourism, and travel) has a reputation for high turnover. This is the result of several factors, but being an industry that is 100% customer-focused can be stressful for front-line employees. HR is able to support employee satisfaction and retention to reduce turnover and contribute to the industry goal of providing excellent service.
Why Is HR in the Hospitality Industry Important?
HR oversees the employee lifecycle, and in the hospitality industry, this is not without its challenges.
- Demand for talent. There is a lot of competition in the hospitality industry, and the human resources department oversees recruiting and onboarding efforts. This gives us the opportunity to build a talent pool of individuals for the company. We can help shape recruiting strategies, provide market insight, and maintain a network of potential candidates.
- Employee retention. HR is involved in onboarding, employee development, communication between management and front-line staff, job development, and more. We are a key influencer to company culture and can drive employee retention strategies across a company. Utilizing HR to drive employee satisfaction can set your business apart from competitors in the industry.
The Role of HR in the Hospitality Industry
As mentioned above, HR has a role in the entire employee life cycle.
Recruiting and Onboarding
Because of the turnover, it’s important to have a clear recruiting and onboarding process. This process should set the tone for your incoming employees and candidates. HR should constantly build a talent pool to pull from when openings become available. HR needs to write clear and detailed job descriptions and be clear about the necessary qualifications. Specific duties could include:
- Helping determine the company’s hiring needs
- Developing a hiring process
- Writing and posting job descriptions
- Communicating with candidates
- Overseeing the interview process
- Sending out offer and rejection letters
- Conducting pre-employment screening
- Sending out new hire paperwork and collecting signed documents
- Measuring turnover and retention rates
Employee Development
Whether it be training, promoting, demoting, or coaching, HR is instrumental. Strive for clear, well-communicated policies and processes relating to employee learning and development. This allows employees the opportunity to plan for their personal growth within the company. Specific duties could include:
- Determining the company’s training needs
- Training new employees on their roles and responsibilities
- Conducting 30, 60, and 90 day reviews to give a refresher on new hire training
- Helping company leaders (and other employees) improve their leadership skills
- Helping employees create an individual development plan
Administration
HR is responsible for understanding employment laws and ensuring compliance with them. In addition, there are regulations that may have a greater impact in the hospitality industry, like OSHA standards for workplace safety, understanding concerted activity (employees acting together as a group to accomplish something—typically better working conditions or higher wages), and union activity. Specific duties could include:
- Creating and updating company policies
- Collecting and storing personnel records
- Determining a system of tracking employee time and PTO
- Managing employee leaves of absence
- Selecting an HR software for the organization and making sure it’s updated
- Running payroll
- Administering employee benefits
Employee Satisfaction
From competitive pay and rewards—including benefits and employee incentives—to employee recognition and development, HR is the driving force behind employee satisfaction and retention. You should consider your unique employee base and choose options based on their interests and motivators. You can also choose to model common competitor practices. For example, it’s common for hospitality businesses to offer employees discounts on their services. You may survey your employees and learn that while they are interested in this, they'd prefer more team-building activities and options for healthcare. HR should take this feedback and create practices that bolster the employee experience. Specific duties could include:
- Working with company leadership to determine a competitive compensation strategy
- Planning and conducting team building activities
- Establishing an employee recognition program
- Holding workplace celebrations on holidays or other special occasions
- Promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion
- Emphasizing employee physical, mental, social, and emotional wellbeing
- Providing tools to help people manage work-related stress
Challenges of HR in the Hospitality Industry
There are particular challenges in the hospitality industry that HR must navigate.
Recruiting
The reputation of a company within the hospitality industry has a major impact on the customer base and candidate pool. It’s important to be aware of the reputation your company has so you can lean into that when building recruiting and retention strategies. For example, a poor reputation may severely limit your candidate pool and make recruiting more challenging. It's important to dig into the cause of this reputation and build recommendations for improving it into the overall recruiting strategy for the company. While recruiting can be a challenge, there are steps you can take to simplify some aspects. Engage your employees in the process. Get their feedback about what they like about working at your business, and include it in your recruiting strategy by either speaking to those points during your process or posting them with job ads or social media. There are also HR networks you can lean on for advice. You may find forums like this in SHRM, on LinkedIn, or through networking events. The HR Mavericks community is a great place to turn for help from other HR professionals. It includes a community Slack channel where you can ask questions, as well as plenty of opportunities to access HR resources like podcasts, panel discussions, articles, and more. Another option is to look at outsourcing. There are companies that specialize in the hospitality industry, but others can be helpful in this arena or with other challenges your business may be having. If you are considering outsourcing, make sure to know what your objectives are, do your research, and choose vendors accordingly. Technology can be an invaluable tool when it comes to recruiting. Many applicant tracking systems (ATS) exist for the sole purpose of helping companies attract, communicate with, and evaluate candidates. Learn how a good applicant tracking system can help with your recruiting efforts
The Rise of Remote Work
With the rise of remote work, many people have started to place a higher value on flexible work options. Having seen the perks of being able to work remotely, some job seekers are leaving industries where in-person work is required (like hospitality) in search of a profession where they don’t have to show up in person each day. An article from eHotelier describes the problem this way: “This flexibility is making employment less and less location dependent, and ... is also making it significantly more difficult to attract professional customer-facing team members.”In industries where remote work simply isn’t an option, it’s critical that businesses pour extra effort into offering attractive salaries/wages, great benefits, and a great work culture. Even if employees can’t work remotely, they’ll appreciate the other perks your company offers and—hopefully—stick around.
Work-Life Balance
Due to the nature of the industry, there is typically a need for employees to work long hours during nights, weekends, and holidays. Additionally, because of the churn of high turnover, employees are frequently tasked with working extra shifts or lose flexibility in scheduling. Since the open hours are non-negotiable, it may help companies to find creative ways to build flexible work options for employees. For instance, if full-time workers need more time off, you could consider allowing them to split time between more part-time associates/those looking for fewer and more flexible hours. You could also offer cross-training to employees. Employees who understand and are able to perform multiple job functions may have an easier time finding flexibility in their schedules. This can also help with burnout, as clarified below.
Burnout
Navigating the demands of work schedules, coping with being understaffed, and dealing with the stress of being customer-facing can lead to burnout over time. HR must learn how to navigate this and find ways to acknowledge and reward employees with opportunities to wind down, build resilience, and be recognized for their contributions. As previously stated, there may not be many options as it relates to working hours and the need for coverage during all hours of the day, weekends, and holidays as part of fulfilling the business needs. That said, there may be some things you can do to curb burnout. One, listed above, is cross-training. This allows employees to take a break from the monotony of their current or regular role to learn something new without having to slow down business operations. This gives employees the opportunity for job enrichment and can help manage burnout. Also, it always helps to share heartfelt appreciation and try to ease your employees’ lives where you can. This may look different in each line of business, but showing gratitude and giving employees breaks goes a long way when fighting burnout.
When to Hire an HR Professional for Your Business
Many experts agree that by the time a company reaches 50 employees, it should probably have in-house HR. However, the decision about when to hire an HR professional depends on a company’s unique situation. For example, if your business is growing quickly, it’s a good idea to hire an HR pro sooner rather than later. If, on the other hand, your organization is still small and not planning to expand rapidly, it might be better to look at other options, such as outsourcing your HR or using a professional employer organization (PEO). When you’re ready to hire an HR professional, consider starting with an HR generalist. Generalists have broad knowledge across all areas of HR, so they’ll be able to seamlessly take over human resources functions. If you’re not sure what to put in the job description, these sample job descriptions from Indeed can give you some ideas. Use the specific responsibilities discussed in this article to craft an effective job description that will help you hire the right person.
How Eddy Can Help Simplify Your HR Processes
Eddy is an all-in-one HR software that helps small businesses handle their day-to-day HR functions. With digitally signed documents and custom task lists, onboarding new employees is a breeze. From there, it’s easy for HR to organize information in an employee directory, keep track of hours, review PTO requests, run payroll, find talent to fill open roles, and more. See how Eddy can help simplify your HR processes
Topics
Colleen E. Frislid, SPHR, SHRM-SCP
Colleen manages a team of HR consultants that work with a variety of industries, specializing in the fields of human resources, strategic planning, and human capital management. Colleen applies expert knowledge, industry experience, and relentless energy to solving companies’ issues. She is a member of the Society for Human Resource Management as well as women in leadership groups. She is PHR, SPHR, and SHRM-SCP certified. She has an awesome pet cat, Attila and, when she's not working she loves to travel, enjoy the great outdoors, and volunteer with different local charities.
Frequently asked questions
Other Related Terms
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