Can Career Mobility Be a New Solution to Lodging Workforce Development?
Do people consider the lodging industry a good place to build a long-term career? In response to the lodging industry’s ongoing concern about workforce development, a team of researchers from the University of South Carolina’s Hospitality and Tourism Management faculty recently completed an AHLA-funded project to develop an effective tool to aid in the industry’s workforce development and management.
The tool is called a Career Mobility Checklist. It contains 21 factors that can be used to concisely audit how a lodging organization does in promoting employees’ career mobility, which has significant implications for employees’ organizational loyalty and the organization’s workforce management. Companies can also construct an index from the Checklist to monitor their performance over time and inform workforce development strategies.
The research report provides an extensive analysis of the lodging industry’s status quo in workforce management from the standpoint of employees. The analysis focuses on employee career mobility as a crucial factor for attracting and retaining talent. This comprehensive investigation emphasizes the importance of understanding and improving the industry’s practices in employee career mobility as an effective workforce management strategy. Several key findings and recommendations highlight the industry’s current performance and areas for improvement by offering a detailed analysis into mobility factors and their impact on employee satisfaction and retention.
It identifies 21 employee career mobility factors that are essential for talent retention and acquisition within the lodging industry. These factors are validated with experts and survey data and include factors related to organizational opportunities, individual and interpersonal preferences, and relative industry contributions. The analysis reveals that lodging employees rated job security, salary raises over time, salary competitiveness compared to other industries, fairness and transparency in policies and decisions, and benefit packages as the most important factors. However, the industry’s performance on these factors is rated significantly lower than their perceived importance. The gap is wide, needing industrywide tackling for successful workforce management.
The Career Mobility Checklist
The research team provides the ground-breaking, research-based career mobility checklist for the lodging industry. There is no standard for measuring the industry’s performance on fostering employee career growth opportunities. The team initially identified 70 potential mobility items from the management literature, and eight experts verified that these items could reduce to 21 without losing much information. A random sample of 470 lodging employees rated the importance and performance of each mobility item, followed by another survey in which 522 potential employees confirmed the fit of the 21 items for evaluating perceived employee career mobility. The Checklist includes:
Starting salary level
Salary raises over time
Promotion opportunities within the company
Job rotation and job modification opportunities
Performance review and feedback
Training for upskilling and professional development
Flexible working options (e.g., working in the office or from home)
Company image and reputation
Organizational culture
Employee performance recognition
Respect for diversity, equity, and inclusion
Fairness and transparency in policies and decisions
Job security
Professional networking opportunities
Overall industry image and reputation
Salary competitiveness compared to other industries
Disparities in Perception
Current lodging employees consistently rated their employers’ performance lower than the importance they placed on the 21 career mobility factors. More than half the mobility factors received 80 percent or higher in importance scores, while fewer than one-third of the factors scored the same for actual performance. These relatively low performance mobility factors indicate an existing need to close the gap for effective resource allocation, as well as the need for closer monitoring of how well lodging organizations respond to their employees’ desire for career mobility.
Another notable finding is the disparity in how lodging employees at different levels of their position rated the importance and performance of the mobility factors. Managerial staff tended to rate the industry’s performance more favorably than office and entry-level staff, which indicates that there would be a difference in expectations and experiences across job levels. An inclusive approach to career mobility management may be necessary to embrace the perspectives of all employees equally. Addressing these disparities is crucial for creating a more cohesive and supportive employment conditions that are geared to employee loyalty and effective workforce management.
The lodging industry scores highly on several factors such as performance review and feedback, starting salary levels, leadership development opportunities, and company image and reputation. These high-performing factors are critical for attracting and retaining talent because they contribute to a positive work environment and career growth opportunities.
Nevertheless, the lodging industry needs to improve its performance in areas like job rotation, job modification opportunities, empowerment, professional networking opportunities, and organizational culture because current lodging employees rated them low. Although these areas are relatively less important to potential employees when considering a career in the lodging industry, low performance on these factors may undermine the industry’s effort to retain current employees.
Employee Loyalty and Well-Being
Career mobility through promotion opportunities within the company is strongly correlated with employee loyalty and intention to stay. The more the lodging company offers career mobility opportunities to its employees, the more likely its employees are to stay with the company. The correlation is encouraging, ranging from 44 to 52 percent depending upon job levels. Other factors like training for upskilling, starting salary level, and salary raises over time also play significant roles in talent retention. Enhancing the industry’s performance in these areas could lead to higher employee satisfaction and lower turnover rates and reduce the costs associated with employee turnover.
The lodging industry offers a moderate level of occupational pride, industry fit, and occupational image to potential employees. However, there is room for improvement in aligning the industry’s offerings regarding career mobility with the employee’s personal values and career goals. It is important for the industry to create a work environment that resonates with employees’ personal and professional aspirations, as employees’ career mobility perceptions are statistically linked to not only their loyalty intention but also their perceptions of social mobility and personal well-being. Aligning the industry’s image with potential employees’ values will also attract a more diverse and committed workforce.
Recommendations for Improvement on the Industry’s Career Mobility Practices
1. Enhance Leadership Development
Providing employees with more leadership development opportunities can help close the gap between managerial and entry-level staff perceptions of the level of career mobility offered by the industry, fostering a more cohesive and inclusive organizational culture. This can be achieved by implementing ideas like targeted training programs and mentorship opportunities that focus on developing leadership skills across all levels of the organization.
2. Improve Job Rotation and Modification
The lodging industry is traditionally not adept at offering job rotation and modification opportunities. Increasing such opportunities can not only enhance current employee satisfaction and career growth but also make the industry more appealing to potential employees. By offering employees the chance to experience different roles and responsibilities, the industry can build a more dynamic and flexible workforce equipped with transferable skills and benefit from retaining better-prepared future leaders developed within the industry.
3. Foster Empowerment and Networking
Empowering employees and supporting their professional networking can lead to a more positive organizational culture and employee engagement. When employees feel a sense of internal support and self-engagement, they become more loyal to the organization. The industry can achieve this through initiatives that promote inclusion, collaboration, and knowledge sharing among employees. Offering opportunities for professional development and networking will certainly build strong employee morale.
4. Align Industry Image With Employee Values
Monitoring changes in career aspirations and aligning the industry’s image with potential employees’ personal values and career goals can attract a more diverse and talented workforce, eventually improving employee satisfaction and retention. This will also promote the industry’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, promoting the positive aspects of working in the lodging industry to both current and potential lodging employees.
5. Focus on Training and Upskilling
Investing in training programs that focus on upskilling and professional development can retain talent and improve employees’ organizational loyalty. Such retraining is crucial, particularly now and in the next few years, because the rapid technological applications to the service delivery process require everyone to adjust to new working conditions and changing guest preferences. Industrywide investment in retraining for upskilling will make the industry more competitive overall. By continuously investing in human capital improvement and employee career aspirations, the industry can foster a culture of continuous learning that will eventually benefit the organization and industry.
6. Monitor and Benchmark Your Performance
One creative use of the career checklist is its periodic application to measure how the lodging organization adapts to the changing demands in career mobility by both current and potential employees. The checklist may be used in quarterly or bi-annual surveys to audit how current employees perceive the performance of the lodging organization. Similar surveys are applicable to new and potential employees to gauge how attractive the organization is for talent acquisition purposes. By doing so, a continuous monitoring of career mobility performance will inform effective workforce development over time. In addition, application of the checklist across many lodging organizations will provide an excellent opportunity to benchmark career mobility performance against peers within the industry, resulting in industrywide improvement in workforce development practices.
Conclusion
The lodging industry has made remarkable strides in supporting employees’ career mobility and well-being, but there is still room for further improvement. The lodging industry needs to focus on the recommended areas to advance its workforce development outcomes and become a leader in employee career mobility and success. This report serves as a foundation for ongoing discussions and improvements in the lodging industry’s workforce management practices, aiming to create a more inclusive and supportive work environment for all employees.
The findings and recommendations outlined are crucial for lodging organizations in building a workplace where employees have a good chance to achieve their dynamic career aspirations. By addressing the identified gaps and leveraging high-performing mobility factors, the lodging industry can elevate its image to both current and potential employees. Closing these gaps will contribute ultimately to developing a more committed and resilient workforce. This career mobility approach to workforce development will not only benefit the industry as a whole but also nurture the personal and professional growth of its employees over time.
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Can Career Mobility Be a New Solution to Lodging Workforce Development?
Can Career Mobility Be a New Solution to Lodging Workforce Development?
Do people consider the lodging industry a good place to build a long-term career? In response to the lodging industry’s ongoing concern about workforce development, a team of researchers from the University of South Carolina’s Hospitality and Tourism Management faculty recently completed an AHLA-funded project to develop an effective tool to aid in the industry’s workforce development and management.
The tool is called a Career Mobility Checklist. It contains 21 factors that can be used to concisely audit how a lodging organization does in promoting employees’ career mobility, which has significant implications for employees’ organizational loyalty and the organization’s workforce management. Companies can also construct an index from the Checklist to monitor their performance over time and inform workforce development strategies.
The research report provides an extensive analysis of the lodging industry’s status quo in workforce management from the standpoint of employees. The analysis focuses on employee career mobility as a crucial factor for attracting and retaining talent. This comprehensive investigation emphasizes the importance of understanding and improving the industry’s practices in employee career mobility as an effective workforce management strategy. Several key findings and recommendations highlight the industry’s current performance and areas for improvement by offering a detailed analysis into mobility factors and their impact on employee satisfaction and retention.
It identifies 21 employee career mobility factors that are essential for talent retention and acquisition within the lodging industry. These factors are validated with experts and survey data and include factors related to organizational opportunities, individual and interpersonal preferences, and relative industry contributions. The analysis reveals that lodging employees rated job security, salary raises over time, salary competitiveness compared to other industries, fairness and transparency in policies and decisions, and benefit packages as the most important factors. However, the industry’s performance on these factors is rated significantly lower than their perceived importance. The gap is wide, needing industrywide tackling for successful workforce management.
The Career Mobility Checklist
The research team provides the ground-breaking, research-based career mobility checklist for the lodging industry. There is no standard for measuring the industry’s performance on fostering employee career growth opportunities. The team initially identified 70 potential mobility items from the management literature, and eight experts verified that these items could reduce to 21 without losing much information. A random sample of 470 lodging employees rated the importance and performance of each mobility item, followed by another survey in which 522 potential employees confirmed the fit of the 21 items for evaluating perceived employee career mobility. The Checklist includes:
Disparities in Perception
Current lodging employees consistently rated their employers’ performance lower than the importance they placed on the 21 career mobility factors. More than half the mobility factors received 80 percent or higher in importance scores, while fewer than one-third of the factors scored the same for actual performance. These relatively low performance mobility factors indicate an existing need to close the gap for effective resource allocation, as well as the need for closer monitoring of how well lodging organizations respond to their employees’ desire for career mobility.
Another notable finding is the disparity in how lodging employees at different levels of their position rated the importance and performance of the mobility factors. Managerial staff tended to rate the industry’s performance more favorably than office and entry-level staff, which indicates that there would be a difference in expectations and experiences across job levels. An inclusive approach to career mobility management may be necessary to embrace the perspectives of all employees equally. Addressing these disparities is crucial for creating a more cohesive and supportive employment conditions that are geared to employee loyalty and effective workforce management.
The lodging industry scores highly on several factors such as performance review and feedback, starting salary levels, leadership development opportunities, and company image and reputation. These high-performing factors are critical for attracting and retaining talent because they contribute to a positive work environment and career growth opportunities.
Nevertheless, the lodging industry needs to improve its performance in areas like job rotation, job modification opportunities, empowerment, professional networking opportunities, and organizational culture because current lodging employees rated them low. Although these areas are relatively less important to potential employees when considering a career in the lodging industry, low performance on these factors may undermine the industry’s effort to retain current employees.
Employee Loyalty and Well-Being
Career mobility through promotion opportunities within the company is strongly correlated with employee loyalty and intention to stay. The more the lodging company offers career mobility opportunities to its employees, the more likely its employees are to stay with the company. The correlation is encouraging, ranging from 44 to 52 percent depending upon job levels. Other factors like training for upskilling, starting salary level, and salary raises over time also play significant roles in talent retention. Enhancing the industry’s performance in these areas could lead to higher employee satisfaction and lower turnover rates and reduce the costs associated with employee turnover.
The lodging industry offers a moderate level of occupational pride, industry fit, and occupational image to potential employees. However, there is room for improvement in aligning the industry’s offerings regarding career mobility with the employee’s personal values and career goals. It is important for the industry to create a work environment that resonates with employees’ personal and professional aspirations, as employees’ career mobility perceptions are statistically linked to not only their loyalty intention but also their perceptions of social mobility and personal well-being. Aligning the industry’s image with potential employees’ values will also attract a more diverse and committed workforce.
Recommendations for Improvement on the Industry’s Career Mobility Practices
1. Enhance Leadership Development
Providing employees with more leadership development opportunities can help close the gap between managerial and entry-level staff perceptions of the level of career mobility offered by the industry, fostering a more cohesive and inclusive organizational culture. This can be achieved by implementing ideas like targeted training programs and mentorship opportunities that focus on developing leadership skills across all levels of the organization.
2. Improve Job Rotation and Modification
The lodging industry is traditionally not adept at offering job rotation and modification opportunities. Increasing such opportunities can not only enhance current employee satisfaction and career growth but also make the industry more appealing to potential employees. By offering employees the chance to experience different roles and responsibilities, the industry can build a more dynamic and flexible workforce equipped with transferable skills and benefit from retaining better-prepared future leaders developed within the industry.
3. Foster Empowerment and Networking
Empowering employees and supporting their professional networking can lead to a more positive organizational culture and employee engagement. When employees feel a sense of internal support and self-engagement, they become more loyal to the organization. The industry can achieve this through initiatives that promote inclusion, collaboration, and knowledge sharing among employees. Offering opportunities for professional development and networking will certainly build strong employee morale.
4. Align Industry Image With Employee Values
Monitoring changes in career aspirations and aligning the industry’s image with potential employees’ personal values and career goals can attract a more diverse and talented workforce, eventually improving employee satisfaction and retention. This will also promote the industry’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, promoting the positive aspects of working in the lodging industry to both current and potential lodging employees.
5. Focus on Training and Upskilling
Investing in training programs that focus on upskilling and professional development can retain talent and improve employees’ organizational loyalty. Such retraining is crucial, particularly now and in the next few years, because the rapid technological applications to the service delivery process require everyone to adjust to new working conditions and changing guest preferences. Industrywide investment in retraining for upskilling will make the industry more competitive overall. By continuously investing in human capital improvement and employee career aspirations, the industry can foster a culture of continuous learning that will eventually benefit the organization and industry.
6. Monitor and Benchmark Your Performance
One creative use of the career checklist is its periodic application to measure how the lodging organization adapts to the changing demands in career mobility by both current and potential employees. The checklist may be used in quarterly or bi-annual surveys to audit how current employees perceive the performance of the lodging organization. Similar surveys are applicable to new and potential employees to gauge how attractive the organization is for talent acquisition purposes. By doing so, a continuous monitoring of career mobility performance will inform effective workforce development over time. In addition, application of the checklist across many lodging organizations will provide an excellent opportunity to benchmark career mobility performance against peers within the industry, resulting in industrywide improvement in workforce development practices.
Conclusion
The lodging industry has made remarkable strides in supporting employees’ career mobility and well-being, but there is still room for further improvement. The lodging industry needs to focus on the recommended areas to advance its workforce development outcomes and become a leader in employee career mobility and success. This report serves as a foundation for ongoing discussions and improvements in the lodging industry’s workforce management practices, aiming to create a more inclusive and supportive work environment for all employees.
The findings and recommendations outlined are crucial for lodging organizations in building a workplace where employees have a good chance to achieve their dynamic career aspirations. By addressing the identified gaps and leveraging high-performing mobility factors, the lodging industry can elevate its image to both current and potential employees. Closing these gaps will contribute ultimately to developing a more committed and resilient workforce. This career mobility approach to workforce development will not only benefit the industry as a whole but also nurture the personal and professional growth of its employees over time.
Reprinted from the Hotel Business Review with permission from www.HotelExecutive.com.
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