Human Resource Department 

Hospitality industry constitutes of many major and minor departments who work together towards the same goal, i.e. to generate revenue directly or indirectly. The job of the Human resource department is to create a harmony between these departments to make the service process and more efficient. To survive in the competitive environment, human resource management is considered as an important aspect of the industry. Without human resource, it is very difficult to operate the activities in an effective manner.

In any hotel, there are many employees who work in their respective departments hence there is a dire need to look and control them so that they carry out their tasks efficiently and at the same time Human resource department makes sure that the employee gets something back as well.

Human resource is a bridge between the departments and the top management of the hotel. In the hospitality industry, it is analyzed that the main focus is on the customers and on the quality. The staff is in direct contact with the customers and also it is seen that it plays a great role in attaining the objectives of the hotel. The quality that is offered to the customers not only involves the skills of the staff but also the attitude is taken into consideration at the time of availing the services.

 The human resource department is also termed as employee relation department in the organization. Human resource department considers the essential role in conducting the operations of the hotel in an efficient manner. It also performs functions like employee training, recruitment and also helps to solve the disputes of the staff. It also takes into consideration various issues related with people in an organization. The human resource department considers the method of recruiting the best candidate in the organization and also assists in meeting the training requirements of existing staff. 

Hotel Hierarchy  

Every organization considers the hierarchy structure to conduct the day to day operations.  The tasks are divided and also the job is specified for each department and the authority is delegated to the departments. It is evaluated that effective job specifications enhance the productivity and efficiency of the work. Every hotel classifies the staff in different ways. The hierarchy can be elaborated in following way. The top management is the food and beverage manager and the front of house manager is divided into two subparts:

• Food and beverage manager: The food and beverage department is liable for all the dining rooms, bars, and kitchen and cleans up services. The food and beverage manager gives direction and instructions to the restaurant manager and head chef. In this, the department is also divided into two parts: Kitchen and Restaurant. The kitchen department is liable for preparing the food like beverages, main course. The head chef gives considers that the apprentices are handled with proper care and also the correct directions are given to them so that they can conduct their operations in an effective manner. Next is restaurant manager who gives suggestions and directions to the captain. Then the captain focuses on the food and beverage attendants, that they are conducting their work in a proper way or not.
• Front of house manager: The front of house manager handles the customer service that consists of front desk services, laundry, and telephone and housekeeping service. A front office is a place where the guests are greeted and they register themselves and take a room. It is considered as an important department, as the customers are in touch every time. The receptionist conducts the operations under the front house manager. Under the head receptionist, the guest service associates perform the activities. The control is taken by the head and also the correct direction is given to carry the activities in an efficient way. The housekeeping takes care of the housekeeping associates that help the industry to enhance the satisfaction level of the customers. The best services are offered to the consumers. 

Human resource planning 

Human resource planning is the main aspect of the human resource department. Its main job is to forecast the organization’s future needs with respect to the employees the organization will need. To fulfill the rights of the candidate for the role the human resource department follows either recruitment or selection process. Human resource planning is important for following:

Future employee needs for the organization

To employ highly talented staff

Plan ahead and cope up with the changes

Work towards the expansion of the company. 

Human resource planning process (Rahman bin Idris & Eldridge 1998): 

• Environmental scanning: this is the first step towards human resource planning process which involves scanning and analyzing the current market trends and finding the external forces that may have an effect on the process. This process requires the human resource department to make a consistent pattern. All the changes which are happening in the in different streams like technological, sociocultural, economic are monitored and also how they may impact on the human resource strategies. This helps the human resource department in planning the strategies keeping in mind the external forces. 

• Interpreting the strategic objectives: The Changes in the organization may result in the change, in demand and skill of the employees. This might be affected by the quality and quantity of the employees the organization currently has or the external market of the organization. The role of this analysis is to define the skill set required in the employees to implement the organizational strategies in order to attain a sustainable success. 

• Auditing the internal human resource

 This analysis is similar to keeping an inventory. Two analyses are made namely micro and macro. Micro analysis reports the number of employees, their skills, level of productivity, the potential of productivity, attitude etc. whereas macro analysis records the organizational philosophy, organizational structure, quality of work life, absenteeism, the effectiveness of the personnel system, climate and work environment. This helps the firm to set a bottom-line of the capabilities of the human resource in a firm which could be available for future organizational requirements. 

The factors that influence the human resource planning are divided into two segments, internal or external (Norhidayah, Kasim & Shamsudin 2012). 

Internal factors

• Organization strategy: These are the strategies that the organization follows in terms to the employee management. These are the strategies that the firm puts together to generate revenue and grow. 

• Organizational changes: when a firm first starts to operate the primary task is to try and stay afloat and reach the breakeven point as soon as possible. However, as the organization starts to grow it has to make some changes; these are called the organizational changes. 

• Organizational culture: the organizational culture is influenced by two major factors, the location of the firm and the workforce. Emphasis on training the workforce can help majorly in attaining a desired culture in the organization. Organizational culture is a system that gives emphasis on the shared assumptions, values and beliefs. The shared values give influence on the people in the company and also various things are taken into consideration that how they dress, act and conduct their activities. (Rameezdeen and Gunarathna, 2003). 

• Leadership and experience: leadership and experience play a major role when it comes to human resource management. Leaders motivate the employees which in term determine the attitude of the employee. Leaders should emphasize on the tasks and the understanding between the employees and their reporting managers by bridging the communication gap between the two (Panthi et al., 2008). 

• Empowerment: empowerment is the way of encouraging the desire of learning amongst employees and thinking of new and more efficient ways of doing things. Employees can be empowered by helping them learn new skills which will help them finish their task more efficiently. 

• Nature of work: Human resource planning helps in attaining the right candidate for the job by assessing their skills with the nature of work. The work should be assigned by considering the right person for the right job. 

External factors

• Legislation: Government laws and regulations in terms of the labor laws have a major effect on human resource planning. Human resource department has to keep updating their policies with regards to the change in government laws. The laws and regulations are important that should be taken into consideration by every organization. The regulations give influence on the process of the human resource department. It consists of training, recruitment, compensation. The company should take into consideration that the operations are conducted under the rules and regulations of the organization. The regulations of the company give focus on conducting the day to day activities in an effective manner (Sung and Choi, 2014). 

• Economic changes: change in the economy means a change in the firm’s expenditure which directly affects the human resource planning. Also, it is the important external influence that takes into consideration the current economy. It gives impact on the talented candidate and also affects the ability to hire the candidate. The human resource planning should be planned by considering the economic downturn. Economic changes affect the operations or the activities of the organization (Breaugh, 2017). 

• Technology changes: technology changes with time and this is an important factor as a change in technology could help in reducing the prices and cost saving. If the industry adopts latest technology, then it can be easy to attain the goals and objectives and also to finish the work on time. It is considered as a revolutionary way to operate the activities the industry. It is seen that updated technology gives enhancement in the profitability and also the human resource of the organization feel comfortable to conduct the day to day operations (Benavides-Velasco,  Quintana-García and Marchante-Lara, 2014). 

• Demographic changes: demographics help in determining the baseline of the employee profile. The change in the profile of the workforce in terms of age, literacy, gender participation and technical input can pose implications in human resource planning. It is analyzed that the old generation’s takes retirement and new generation enters the industry to conduct the operations of the business. The human resource department should give focus on appointing the new set of candidates. They should hire the candidates by considering the experience, qualification and also the pay should be according to the qualities that are possessed by an individual. At the time of human resource planning, it is essential that effective working environment should be provided so that the workforce can conduct their work in a proper manner (Wilson, 2014). 

In order to get the perfect candidate for the position, human resource department has to analyze the position available. This process is called job analysis.

Following are the steps which are required to carry out job analysis as mentioned by (Chang & Kleiner 2002). 

• Job analysis: it is a systematic process which helps the management in making decisions. The purpose of the job analysis is to provide information about the job which in turn helps the human resource department to look for employees with skills to execute those tasks. 

The main process of job analysis can be divided into following: 

• Identification and isolation the components of a job:

This step involves determining all the components of a job by finding out the tasks which are required to be done. Some jobs may have many tasks and sub tasks; in this case, the author suggests that these tasks can be grouped into task taxonomies when the tasks have sufficient similarities. This helps in simplification of the analysis. 

• Examining how the tasks can be performed:

This step involves finding out the skills required to do a task, the order in which the skills have to be implemented and to identify if the task is isolated or if it’s a team process, etc. 

• Identifying the main areas of responsibility:

This step involves in finding out the main duties which are involved in doing a task and also if it’s regular or occasional. Then scaling the duties on the basis of their difficulty, how frequently they are happening and the importance of those duties to fulfill the job as a whole.  

The information collected from job analysis can further help in evaluating the job. This process is called job evaluation. 

According to (Chang & Kleiner 2002) the main purpose of carrying out job analysis is that it provides information for job evaluation.

According to the author (Chang & Kleiner 2002) following are 4 different ways in which the job evaluation can be done. 

The Ranking System

The Point System

Factor Comparison

Combination Systems 

The job evaluation system that we will be using for out hotel would be combination system. The reason for using combination systems is that the advantages of all the systems can be combined and the disadvantages of the systems can be removed.

The combination system involves five major steps. Firstly all the factors are selected and defined. The major 5 factors are authority, knowledge, skills, responsibility and working conditions. Then the jobs are selected and priced according to the market rate if there is any market rate available and each benchmark job is ranked under each of the five factors. This process includes both the jobs which were priced and which were not. After the jobs have been ranked, points are assigned to each degree to each factor in accordance to the standard system. The weight of each factor is a function of number of degrees assigned in the ranking process. Next step is to define each degree. The final process includes evaluation of all the jobs by comparison against each other on the basis of degree definition and job versus job ranking system. 

Once the jobs have been evaluated next step is to look for right candidates to fill up these positions. 

Recruitment process 

According to (Dickinson & Ineson 1993) recruitment is simply a process of searching for the right people for the job out of which the right candidates can be selected for the job. Recruitment is conducted so that effective candidates can be selected for the job.

According to the author (Carroll et al. 1999) factors that affect recruitment are follows: 

Internal factors

• Recruitment Policy: The recruitment policy of the industry affects the recruitment process. The policy gives focus on the objectives and also provides a framework that helps in implementing the recruitment program. It consists of an organizational system that should be developed for implementing the programs related to recruitment and also for filling the vacant position in the organization. The factors that affect the recruitment policy are organizational objectives, sources of recruitment, recruitment costs (Purce, 2014).
• Human resource planning, government policies that are related to reservations. If the human resource planning is done in an effective manner then it will assist in covering the gaps in the organization. It also assists in determining the candidates, so that the job can be offered in a proper manner (McPhail, Patiar, Herington, Creed and Davidson, 2015).
• Size of the firm: The size of the industry gives direct impact on the recruitment process. If the organization is trying to enhance the operations and also to expand the business, then the focus should be given to employees for the organization. If more employees are appointed then the operations can be operated in an effective manner and also the success can be attained by the organization.
• Cost: The process of recruitment also incurs the cost of the employer. So the organization tries to recruit the candidates with the source that is reasonable. The industry should give focus on the considering the recruitment process that does not incur a huge cost.
• Growth &Expansion: By employing more employees in the organization it can easy to conduct the day to day activities of the organization. For expanding the activities it is essential for the organization to consider effective strategies so that the goals and objectives can be attained (Kavanagh and Johnson, 2017). 

External factors

• Supply &Demand: In the recruitment process, the availability of the workforce is an essential aspect. It is evaluated that if the organization has a more demand of the employees and it is very difficult to employ the appropriate candidate then the company will depend on the internal sources by giving them effective training and development programs.
• Unemployment: It is considered as an essential factor that gives influence in the availability of the candidates. It is analyzed that when the company is not recruiting the new candidates, there is an oversupply of the qualified labor. Then the qualified labor is included in the unemployment rate (Storey, 2014).
• Labor: At the time of recruitment, if the organization evaluates that there is the surplus of manpower in the market, then the organization consider the informal attempt of recruiting the employees. The company tells about the job opening through the notice board or by announcing in the meeting. It will help to attract and induce more applicants to apply for the job (Dhar, 2015).
• A market where a hotel is located: Location also plays a great role at the time of recruiting the candidate. If the industry is set up in a good location then it will attract more applicants towards the company.
• Political-social environment: There are various government regulations that give direct impact on the process of recruitment. The trade union plays a significant role in recruiting the candidates who are efficient towards the work. The management put restrictions that only the individual who is considered as the best performer should be selected (Sparrow, Brewster and Chung, 2016).
• Image of the firm: Image of the firm is an important aspect that gives influence on the process of recruitment of the industry. If the organization has a positive image in the market, then it will directly impact appropriate candidates towards the organization and also it will retain more candidates. The organization can enhance the goodwill in the market by taking into consideration effective public relations and also by offering services like building roads, hospitals can give success to the organization. If the effective strategies are adopted by the organization, then it will help the organization to attain the profitability and also assist in making appropriate decisions that are beneficial for the organization. It is essential that the organization should have a positive image in the mind of the people so that the negative impact cannot be given on the activities of the organization (Paillé, Chen, Boiral and Jin, 2014).

According to the author (Carroll et al. 1999) the recruitment process includes five steps which are inter related, which are planning, strategy development, searching, screening and evaluation and control. The main task of human resource department is to make the recruitment process an ideal one and to attract a large number of qualified candidates which can accept to work with the hotel when they are offered the position. 

Selection process

According to (Bernroider & Koch 2001) selection is a process of picking specific candidates from a large number of applicants that have a specific skill set desired for the job. Unlike recruitment, the Selection process is a long process which includes many rounds and is usually used for hiring managerial positions. However, it depends on the factors like the size of the organization and the company policies. 

For our hotel, we have used recruitment process for hiring executive level employees and selection process for supervisor and managerial level employees. 

Training and development 

Training and development is the part of human resource department which helps employees in learning specific skills, knowledge, and abilities. Training employees play a major role in the success of the hotel. Training helps to enhance the knowledge and skill of the employees who are working in the organization. By training the employees feel satisfied and also the efficiency is increased. When effective training is given to the employees of the organization, then it is evaluated that productivity and success of the organization is attained (Marchington, Wilkinson, Donnelly and Kynighou, 2016).The main role in the hospitality industry is to serve the customers whether it is related with food or other services. The importance of training and development can’t be ignored because it is analyzed that the job gives main focus on the satisfaction level of the customers. Training can be expensive but it is considered as an important element for the organization. 

Types of training methods:

On the job

Off the job

On the job training:  on the job training is a form of training where employee learns new skills while working (learning by doing). On the job training is the most efficient form of training and requires proper planning, structuring, and supervision for it to be successful. It is method by which the employees ensure that they will get the learning content when they will go. To enhance the knowledge the company should show them effective videos that will give direct impact on the working operations. In this form of training the technology is used to track the progress and also to enhance the learning strategy that gives encouragement to the employees to learn something new (Bamberger, Biron and Meshoulam, 2014).

Off the job training: Off the job training provides a wider learning and gives more clarity to the employees. In this form of training such an environment is created where an employee can learn and the mistakes made while learning is not costly. The training is conducted in a location that is specifically designed for training. The place can be near the workplace or away from the workplace. The employee goes for taking training, so that the knowledge can be increased of the employees who are working in the organization (Beardwell and Thompson, 2014).

There are three different types of off the job training namely: independent, external and in-house.

In our hotel, we have planned to keep 2 training sessions per fortnight so that every department (food and beverage service, housekeeping, food production and front office) gets the chance to learn new skills every month.

Employee benefits 

Health insurance for the employee and family.

Sick leave: The sick leaves are given to the employees who are working in the organization. It is considered as an extra benefit for the employees. It is considered as a paid leave.

Maternity leave: This is the benefit that is availed by the female employees. The period is decided according to the organization. So, in this period the amount is given to the employees.

Paid leaves: This is considered as an employee benefit in which the employee can easily take leave.

Over time penalty pay rate: This is the benefit which is given to the employee who work extra in the day. The wages are given according to the extra work done (Aswathappa, 2013).

Competitive salary package: Employees are motivated by money, and the employers give focus to consider the best employees who don’t take extra profits. When the employer selects the specific employee, then there is a good chance that they will negotiate a competitive salary package.

Discounts on rooms and food and beverage outlets: The Company offers various discounts vouchers to the employees like food and beverage vouchers that enhance the motivation level of the employees to work efficiently towards the work. The employees can easily avail the discounts at the time of visiting. This is the benefit that is offered by the organization to its employees (Armstrong and Taylor, 2014.).

Employee welfare

Employee safety and health issue: as employees are the assets of our hotel. The safety procedures like HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point) will be implemented to ensure the wellbeing of the employee.

Performance appraisals: employees will be rewarded for extra efforts and exceptional work ethics. This helps in motivating employees and improves productivity.

Day care center: this is an added service for the employee welfare. 

Employee Retention 

Employee retention is an integral part of the organization. As attracting new skilled employees are one of the major tasks of the Human Resource Department but at the same time, it is the priority of the Human resource department to retain the employees who have worked with the hotel.

As explained by (“Putting people first” 2011) if an employee quits the organization there are many cost factors that follow like setting up interviews, hiring, training. At the same time losing an employee may also impact the performance of the firm as there might be a reduction in the output. 

As suggested by (Kundu & Lata 2017) following are few retention strategies that will be implemented: 

Career path: providing essential training time to time helps the employee in attaining new skills which in turn helps them in moving upwards in the hierarchy. This is beneficial for the hotel as the HR department does not have to hire a new employee which reduces the cost factor. Also, it helps in motivating the employee and creating employee loyalty.

Recognition: acknowledging the employee for their extra efforts helps in motivation. We will set up an employee of the month where employees that have shown dedication will be rewarded. Regardless of the department, they work in. also, we will put “team member of the season” where each member will be encouraged to vote for the member they think have put in extra efforts and the winner and runner-up will be rewarded with vouchers.

Remunerations: employees will be offered with competitive salary packages, this keeps the employee motivated and create a sense that the hotel values them. The human resource will do constant market analysis and the employees will be given bonuses.

Exit interviews: in an occasion where the employee wants to leave the organization. An interview will be held with the HR manager to ask them about why they want to leave, what made them leave and what would be their feedback for improvements.

References:

• “Putting people first” 2011, vol. 25, no. 1, pp. 25-27.
• Bernroider, E & Koch, S 2001, “ERP selection process in midsize and large organizations”, in , Business Process Management Journal, vol. 7, no. 3, pp. 251-257.
• Carroll, M, Marchington, M, Earnshaw, J & Taylor, S 1999, “Recruitment in small firms”, in , Employee Relations, vol. 21, no. 3, pp. 236-250.
• Chang, I & Kleiner, B 2002, “How to conduct job analysis effectively”, in , Management Research News, vol. 25, no. 3, pp. 73-81.
• Kundu, S & Lata, K 2017, “Effects of supportive work environment on employee retention”, in , International Journal of Organizational Analysis, vol. 25, no. 4, pp. 703-722.
• Norhidayah, Kasim, N & Shamsudin, A 2012, “Framework of human resource planning (HRP) influencing factors for local workforce supply in Malaysian construction industry”, in , Journal of Technology Management in China, vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 177-197.
• Panthi, K., Farooqui, R.U. and Ahmed, S.M. (2008), “An investigation of the leadership style of construction managers in South Florida”, Journal of Construction Management and Economic, Vol. 11, pp. 455-565.
• Rahman bin Idris, A & Eldridge, D 1998, “Reconceptualising human resource planning in response to institutional change”, in , International Journal of Manpower, vol. 19, no. 5, pp. 343-357.
• Rameezdeen, R. and Gunarathna, N. (2003), “Organizational culture in construction: an employee perspective”, The Australian Journal of Construction Economics and Building, Vol. 3, pp. 292-300.

References 

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Aswathappa, K., 2013. Human resource management: Text and cases. Tata McGraw-Hill Education.

Bamberger, P.A., Biron, M. and Meshoulam, I., 2014. Human resource strategy: Formulation, implementation, and impact. Routledge.

Beardwell, J. and Thompson, A., 2014. Human resource management: a contemporary approach. Pearson Education.

Benavides-Velasco, C.A., Quintana-García, C. and Marchante-Lara, M., 2014. Total quality management, corporate social responsibility and performance in the hotel industry. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 41, pp.77-87.

Breaugh, J.A., 2017. to Recruitment. The Wiley Blackwell Handbook of the Psychology of Recruitment, Selection and Employee Retention, p.12.

Dhar, R.L., 2015. Service quality and the training of employees: The mediating role of organizational commitment. Tourism Management, 46, pp.419-430.

Kavanagh, M.J. and Johnson, R.D. eds., 2017. Human resource information systems: Basics, applications, and future directions. Sage Publications.

Marchington, M., Wilkinson, A., Donnelly, R. and Kynighou, A., 2016. Human resource management at work. Kogan Page Publishers.

McPhail, R., Patiar, A., Herington, C., Creed, P. and Davidson, M., 2015. Development and initial validation of a hospitality employees’ job satisfaction index: Evidence from Australia. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 27(8), pp.1814-1838.

Paillé, P., Chen, Y., Boiral, O. and Jin, J., 2014. The impact of human resource management on environmental performance: An employee-level study. Journal of Business Ethics, 121(3), pp.451-466.

Purce, J., 2014. The impact of corporate strategy on human resource management. New Perspectives on Human Resource Management (Routledge Revivals), 67.

Sparrow, P., Brewster, C. and Chung, C., 2016. Globalizing human resource management. Routledge.

Storey, J., 2014. New Perspectives on Human Resource Management (Routledge Revivals). Routledge.

Sung, S.Y. and Choi, J.N., 2014. Do organizations spend wisely on employees? Effects of training and development investments on learning and innovation in organizations. Journal of organizational behavior, 35(3), pp.393-412.

Wilson, J.P., 2014. International human resource development: Learning, education and training for individuals and organisations. Development and Learning in Organizations, 28(2).