The Great Retention

(I promise, worth the read)

The labor market continues to be as challenging as ever. According to Sterling Hospitality (our Background Check vendor) … job opportunities between December 2020 and December 2021 rose 130%!! However, in that same timeframe, employee hires only increased by 60%. Estimates show that as of 12/2021 there were 1.7million jobs open in the hospitality industry. While we all know that RRI West is experiencing all this firsthand… we do have the ability to combat “The Great Resignation”. (as it’s become known.)

But how do we combat this?

There is a slow, but ever important movement growing across the industry, of which RRI West can be a significant part of… and that is The Great Retention!

What is The Great Retention you may ask? This is a new mindset. A dedicated, coordinated, focused effort to do everything we can within our control to welcome, value, train and retain those that are working for us! Industry leaders predict that 2022 will be a key year for companies to show how much they value employees or risk losing them. Employees aren’t really leaving because they’re unsatisfied—maybe some are—but most are leaving because they want to see what’s out there at a time when it seems far less risky to try. So, what can we do to begin The Great Retention?

• Make employees feel comfortable, every.single.day. While you may be desperate and grateful that they actually showed up… you need to hide all of those “desperate emotions” and simply make your employees (especially new hires) feel like the most important person in the room on that day. Greet them, clear your calendar to spend time with them while completing a new hires’s onboarding, give new hires a property tour, surprise a long term employee by helping them do their job, bring donuts in, call your night auditor every once in a while to say hello, anything to make them feel like we are rolling out the red carpet for their shift!

• Be flexible. When recruiting, be open to schedule flexibility. 3 years ago – we had the power to say, “you must be able to work XXX”. In today’s world – we need to figure out how to use the employee’s schedule requirements for our benefit.

• Give new hires time to learn. They will not be perfect and this needs to be OK at the beginning. While this doesn’t mean they can skip changing the sheets on a checkout or not following safety and security protocols, retraining is just as important as training at the beginning. Be receptive to small mistakes, coach them as to the expectation and let them try again.

• Other key contributors to Retention:

  • Make Day 60 as Important as Day 1!

  • Optimize Your Benefits… Paid Time Off is a benefit many companies don’t offer!

  • Recognize Your Employees' Hard Work... Thank you still works wonders!

  • Make Professional Development a Top Priority… Have a stellar employee? What West Edge classes can they participate in to grow their skill set, either personally or professionally? Contact Training for help!

  • Communicate… employees want to be heard and know what’s going on with the business!

  • Encourage Teamwork and Collaboration

This effort takes time and it takes… well… effort. But the rewards can mean the difference; not only to you, the GM, but to the employee who feels valued and begins to wake up each day and say, “I can’t wait to get to work and see what happens today!”

Do you have a GREAT RETENTION TIP? We’d love to hear it! Email Stephanie or Tamara in the month of April and be featured in the next Gazette! You might even win a gift card for your submission! 😉

Are You Ready for the Calls

Warmer months are here, and construction is really gearing up in certain parts of the country.

What does this mean to us? A lot of phone inquiries – and hopefully business - will be coming our way!

Majority of the time, when a project is planned, a Project Manager or member of a crew, will start calling hotels and looking for the best rate. WE NEED TO BE PREPARED!

• Make sure your GSRs know your weekly rate, or best rate you want them to have for crews.

• If you prefer, they do not quote a rate, please make sure they are getting call back info for the customer and telling them they will have someone get back to them ASAP with best crew rates.

• Make sure they know how to identify these callers with “What brings you to the area”?

• Buzz words the caller may give mentioning “project”, “big job”, “several people”, “long term”, “cheapest” etc. (You don’t want them quoting weekly or low rates to just anyone)

• Have your GSR quote the best they can, if possible, and get their details to pass along to you/ADOS to secure. (Note: We want the GSR/GM to quote what they can so the caller has an idea of our rate and possibly book on the spot – your ADOS can take it from there in respect to securing VP, getting info to others, prospecting for other jobs, etc.).

• Be mindful that if the caller is just told “I will have someone call you back” we may lose them.

• They are shopping rates and want to book quick and know you want their business!

• Why give info to the ADOS? Your ADOS will call and be able to secure business for not only the customer who called, but will also explore other contacts who may be working on the project, any billing needs, other Project Managers for other jobs in the area or near another RRI West, making sure the hotels information is in the hands of other crew members who may have booked or about to book elsewhere, researching sub-contractors to the project for their potential room needs, get a flyer or info to the PM or their corporate office to share, etc.

Construction is HUGE business for us, and we want to secure all this potential base business as these projects get underway.

We appreciate the GSR and GM support – you are the first contact being made to these people calling us and your help is invaluable! Thank you!!!

NEW P&G Products & OSHA Compliance

As you begin to receive the new P&G product it is also important to remember to make sure we are OSHA compliant. P&G will provide you with SDS (Safety Data Sheets) on all new chemicals/products. Anytime new chemicals or products are being introduced and used on the property there must be an SDS for those products. We must train our staff on these new products, explain what the hazards are, how to properly use and how to handle chemicals as well as any Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) items required when handling product.

This is not a new process and again should have always been in place. Therefore, anytime new product is introduced a training log listing product must be completed with employee signature and what exposure risk had been reviewed.

You may be more familiar with the below log which employees are expected to sign. So, whether the new product is added on the log below or on the ones that P&G attached is fine, as long as training takes place, we have the SDS sheets, the training is signed off on.

OSHA Hazard Communication Log

For Front Desk/Housekeeping/Laundry click here.

For Maintenance click here.

What should I do with the old Ecolab logs?

Any training that relates to any OSHA data must be maintained for 5 years to show historical training. Ecolab logs must be maintained for this minimum. As long as all Ecolab product is removed from the hotel and no straggler product is stored anywhere then you may remove the SDS sheets on file for those chemicals.

The important factor to remember is that no product may be on property - even in a storage room - without having an SDS sheet on file for staff to reference the product. Take the time to review your SDS binder and make sure all are up to date, provide training and keep a log.

For additional information and training on P&G products, you may visit their site by clicking here.

Any questions, please email the Training@whgextstay.com.