In hospitality, it’s a different story

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cruise lines. So, to counter attrition, the company hires aggressively and has increased its bench strength.” The attrition rate in Marriott India is about 32% against 35% in the whole industry.

According to experts, the hospitality industry is facing an acute shortage of trained manpower as talent flows freely across the business spectrum. Strategies for retention, therefore, need to be regenerated to acknowledge talent. At the same time, the industry suffers from a negative perception worldwide owing to its notoriety for long hours at work, and night and weekend shifts. It is also perceived as a low-skill, low-tech and low-wage job.

This perception, however, has been made to stand on its head by the findings of an Assocham study study in 2007. The findings showed that hospitality is also among the urban youth’s new choices for building a career. That’s because the hospitality industry offers greater job security and more moderate and regulated working conditions than BPOs. The trend would go a long way towards ensuring future talent supply, said the study.

Apart from attrition, recruiting employees is another challenge for the company. “Recruitment has become a major challenge with catering college graduates having many more options than only hotels, but it is manageable,” Singh adds.

Marriott India follows an aggressive selection system for hiring associates. The system requires every associate to undergo an online test (that has 42 behavioral questions). If selected, a line manager conducts a personal interview of the associates. This is followed by a second round of interview with the department head. The general manager does the final scrutiny and interview. Once selected, each associate has to go through a three-day induction training called ‘In the Beginning’ — a common programme for the group worldwide.

The company provides about 40 hours of training to each associate per year and spends about $50 on each annually at the managers’ level and above.

Describing the competition as healthy, Singh says, “Marriott will soon be the first hotel chain in India to have a five-day week.” On building employee morale, Singh says, “As associates are a very important part of our business, Marriott, from May 17 to 21, celebrates an ‘associate appreciation week’ worldwide. During this period, managers appreciate and reward associates and plans parties and celebrations for their families.”