Harris takes it one step further when he reports that the "acquisition of transferable skills" has a powerful appeal to the "entrepreneurial aspirations of hospitality employees." Hence, Harris points out on page 73, "turnover is actively encouraged" by some leaders in the hospitality industry, along with ambitious workers, because this high turnover practice helps to "…create future managers for the industry." Moreover, turnover can be seen as a positive dynamic because "new ideas" are thus brought into the workplace -- as a way to "prevent stagnation in creativity" -- although in reality HR managers are often loathe to see highly energized, talented staff leave the fold for more money elsewhere (Harris, 73).
One group of employees that HR managers do not wish to see depart are the "knowledge workers" -- management employees -- because the loss of these employees "can incur considerable financial cost" related to the investment of time and money that went into recruiting, hiring and developing those employees (73). Looking at Harris's arguments from a practical standpoint, he is correct that some turnover is a good thing because it (in some cases) brings fresh, creative talent into a venue, talent that has experience in the hospitality and can bring existing staff members up a notch in terms of sophistication. However, turnover can also work the other way; a new hire can bring baggage with him or her and poison the atmosphere for otherwise competent, contented employees.
The job duties and responsibilities that an HR manager is accountable for in a hospitality context are certainly made more difficult and in some cases highly stressful because so many employees come and go. Professor Salih Kusluvan of the Nevsehir University Faculty of Tourism in Turkey points to International Labor Organization (ILO) statistics that show the turnover rate for "operational employees" is 51.7% in the United States (Kusluvan, 2003, p. 5). The author asserts that the turnover in hospitality venues is highest among operational level employees (which, as pointed out earlier, hurts hotels the most in terms of hiring and training new staff), and the lowest grades of employees. Those in the middle apparently stay longer in one place, if the ILO data is correct.
The turnover rate in the UK is about 42% and in Asia it is lower, about 30% per year, the author explains on page 5. Reading Kusluvan's narrative, one could come to believe that turnover is just part of the work culture in the hospitality industry. No big deal at all, he implies, is the fact that the average job tenure in the United States hospitality industry is about one and a half years (6). In the United Kingdom the typical job tenure for hospitality workers is 18 months to two years; this is true "even among the best practice employers," Kusluvan continues (6). What are the factors in the hospitality industry (whether in the U.S. Or UK) that lead to these situations involving very short terms of employment? Kusluvan lists several key reasons: a) seasonal tourism fluctuations; b) unforeseen "social, economic and political disruptions"; c) internal opportunities within individual hotels for expansion; d) "poor working conditions and human resource practices (i.e. poor compensation and benefits, long working hours)"; e) the industry does not always convey an attractive image; f) employment opportunities in other industries that lure people away from hospitality; g) "lack of career structure"; and h) the "intrinsically transient nature of part of the workforce" (Kusluvan, 6).
On page 11 the author offers another reason for the turnover rate in hospitality, and that is the fact that "trade union membership in the tourism and hospitality industry has historically been low." In the past few years union membership in the UK dropped from 6 to 3%, and in the U.S. only about 14% of hospitality workers are unionized (or were, as of 2003). When a person is in a union, he or she is more apt to stay in one position because as a rule the union assures more stable benefits and security as well.
The hospitality industry turnover rate in the Middle Eastern nation of Jordan has, like other areas of the world been quite high, so a survey was conducted in the journal Research and Practice in Human Resource Management (Altarawneh, et al., 2010, p. 46). Two hundred and fifty hotel employees in Jordan took the survey, which was a self-administered structured questionnaire. The salient question asked in the survey was: "To what extent are organisational Human Resource (HR) practices in the HTL sector congruent with the expectations of employees?" (Altarawneh, 72). Once the data was analyzed, it was learned that over half of the participants "intended to leave their hotel...
Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
Get Started Now