The recruitment, training and retention of staff in today’s highly mobile workplace has been identified by medium sized Australian businesses as a key factor in meeting future challenges.
A new report by Bankwest shows that medium sized businesses consider the effective management of staff members, implementation of motivational strategies and the bridging of the generational gap as critical in weathering potential turbulence.
The findings are based on a sample group of 85 respondents including those in C-suite and senior management positions in companies across a range of industries with an annual turnover of at least $1 million.
The report is the first in Bankwest’s Future of Business series. It finds that 41.2 per cent of mid-sized outfits identified the recruitment of quality staff as the major factor in mitigating future challenges. A further 36.5 per cent identified staff retention as the most important factor. Other key factors identified included changing pricing strategies and the diversification of products and services.
Respondents also said that setting a good example for employees and instilling a sense of common vision and purpose was a more effective motivator for staff than the provision of monetary incentives.
Business must also focus on addressing the generational gap when dealing with their employees. More than 70 per cent of respondents said different motivational tactics were required for junior and senior employees. Career progression opportunities were seen to effectively motivate junior staff. Cash bonuses were seen to be effective motivators for senior staff.
COO of Sydney-based Metro Hospitality Group, George Bedwani, told Dynamic Business that it was important to come up with innovative ways to train-up and retain staff in today’s more mobile society. He said the retention of good staff was essential to running a successful business in the hospitality and tourism sector.
The Metro Hospitality Group runs 14 hotels across Australia and three pubs. Mr Bedwani said he now employed different strategies to retain younger staff and excite them about the industry than in previous years.
“Young people today, they used to stay in the business for quite a long time. We had perhaps two or three changes in their career,” he said. “(But) we have to change our thinking on how to hire people. We have to dangle the carrot to people in a different way.
“The majority of young people, 18 to 23, they work six months and take their money and go overseas. What we try to do is to try and let them go for a month or two but let them come back to our industry.”
On the training front, Mr Bedwani said it was important to give staff an overall feel for the industry and instill them with confidence.
“Even if they want to be a waiter or a receptionist or whatever, we slot them for two or three days in all the departments, night manager, reservation, food and beverage, so they have a knowledge of the whole operation,” he said.
“This gives the person an overview of our industry. It gives confidence to the person and a benefit in the long run. For the first week or more you will be shadowed. A person will teach you. You won’t connect with a guest without a teacher or a shadow and after a week we let the person go by themselves… That gives you confidence.”
Mr Bedwani said these measures were becoming increasingly important in trying to keep staff on for longer.
“If you’ve got stable staff it costs you less money because to recruit staff is very expensive. It creates less hassle and the guests like to see the same face when they come back.”
