• Food & Beverage staffing continues to be the most challenging
• Maximum churn of staff was experienced in Tier-I cities
• The sector is expected to see more growth in Tier-II and Tier-III cities apart from Tier-I
As key hotel markets mature and business and leisure interests spread wider, the industry is witnessing a significant shift in the upcoming hotel supply, with approximately 43% of the planned pipeline concentrated in Tier-II & Tier-III markets. While staffing in these locations will require keenly focused efforts and commitment from the industry to train and upskill local talent, it also presents a huge opportunity to encourage and foster social and economic development by absorbing and honing talent across newer regions and markets. Findings from a joint survey conducted by JLL and The People Network have been combined into a report titled ‘The Evolving Face of Human Capital in the Hospitality Industry’ which estimates the direct manpower requirements for the hotel industry to be in the range of 100,000 – 150,000 professionals for hotels only; excluding the demand for ancillary and travel trade industries. The report also reveals the staffing gaps currently faced across departments in the industry with the maximum shortage found in the Food and Beverages vertical (53%), followed by Front Office (26%) and Housekeeping (21%).
Subsequent lockdowns over the last two years have resulted in the displacement of a significant portion of trained and skilled talent from the industry. In the attempt to stay afloat through the course of the pandemic, organizations have had to swiftly restructure and reorganize elements of their fixed costs to keep their businesses running which, largely, resulted in leaner staffing structures and combining of roles across departments. As the industry bounces back to its heydays with a robust pipeline in the works, the mounting dearth of skilled staff is the primary concern hoteliers are grappling with today.
Through this report, JLL and The People Network evaluate the sentiment across stakeholders and key decision-makers and outline the strategies that companies are employing to re-establish the sustained focus they have on staff retention and engagement.
“JLL is tracking a pipeline of approximately 52,000 keys in various stages of development to be realized over the next 3 – 4-year period. Tier -I cities have always dominated business investments over the last two decades as they provide world-class infrastructure, and connectivity and attract the best talent from all over India. The hotel industry also has the largest amount of inventory in Tier-I cities due to the same reasons with approximately 47% of the overall existing supply. Moving forward, the hotel markets are witnessing traction in Tier – 2 and Tier – 3 cities with 43% of the overall future supply entering these markets,” said Jaideep Dang, Managing Director, Hotels and Hospitality Group, India, JLL.
In the future, it will be important that the leaders in the hospitality space go the extra mile to regain the confidence of professionals across the cadre. Instilling a sense of pride and creating an environment of trust will be paramount in the upcoming few months.
Natwar Nagar, Founder, and CEO of The People Network, said, “The key differentiators would be agile leadership, enhanced technology, inclusive work culture, and constant state of innovation. This report further corroborates that the new foundation for HR would need to be one of broadened focus and extended impact.”
During this time, the success and failure of any organization will be determined by one singular and important factor i.e., Culture and quality of talent in-house. Furthermore, success in any business not only depends on the ability to attract, retain, and motivate superior talent but also on creating a robust compensation structure that needs to be competitive and equitable with other service sector jobs in the market. With a determined focus, all stakeholders in the larger eco-system comprising hospitality companies, hospitality educational institutes, various associations, and trade bodies will have to work in a more cohesive manner to demonstrate a collective spirit for reshaping the industry and scaling it to new heights.
Employees of this era will judge potential employers and their leaders with a microscopic lens and shall be ultimately guided by their emotional conscience and wisdom. We need to use technology and data not only to drive numbers but also to wisely build ground rules that will effectively change the internal dynamics of power and relations. Finally, the successful organizations of tomorrow will have to be in a constant state of evolution.
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