Diagnose the Problem
The pain. Last-minute hiring, schedule chaos, and overwhelmed supervisors all point to one root cause: the absence of a shared, timely picture of demand, labor, and skills. Data resides in different systems (forecasting, scheduling, timekeeping), with inconsistent naming, and managers rebuild the truth in spreadsheets—after the moment to act has passed.
The business hit. Service becomes inconsistent, NPS dips, repeat bookings soften, overtime spikes, and supervisors burn out. You pay twice: first in payroll inefficiency, then in lost guest loyalty.
The thesis. If performance isn’t easy to see, it’s hard to improve. Make the right signals obvious, frequent, and comparable week to week.
Fix the system, not the symptoms.
- Standardize language. Establish a standard taxonomy for roles, departments, skills/levels, and rate codes; publish it and hold everyone accountable to it.
- Connect the essentials. Bring together PMS (pace/occ/ADR/arrivals), POS (dayparts), M&E calendars, and timekeeping/payroll into a single, easily accessible location.
- Show the same view every week. Use role-based reports with consistent tiles (productivity, overtime risk, schedule lock, and housekeeping minutes) to ensure trends are comparable.
- Decide on a cadence. Run a 20-minute weekly review on staffing and scheduling: one owner per red metric, one action, one expected impact by next week.
What changes. Managers stop guessing. Hiring becomes proactive, rosters stabilize, overtime shrinks, and supervisors spend time coaching—rather than compiling—because everyone is working from the same, consistent picture.
Attract Better People
Create an irresistible one-page EVP
What’s in it: clear pay bands, Level 1–4 growth paths (with pay steps), 14-day schedule norms (lock, swap rules, guaranteed days off), learning budget (€/FTE/year), and perks (meals, transport, housing where relevant).
Turn it into emotion: produce three visual job posts (Front Desk, Housekeeping, F&B) and three 30–45s day-in-life clips showing teamwork, tools, and real growth moments (first upsell win, cross-training badge, guest thank-you).
Manager pitch (60 seconds):
“Here’s how we pay, how you grow, how we schedule so life works, and how we coach. If you give us your best, we’ll invest in your next level—on a timeline you can see.”
Build collaboration that feeds your applicant flow
Think community, not campaigns—create steady, two-way touchpoints that make people want to work with you.
Partner & community menu
- Schools & training centers: co-create 2-hour micro-modules; invite students to shadow shifts.
- Local employers with seasonal slack: swap shoulder-season shifts (e.g., retail → hotel weekends).
- Alumni & proud ex-staff: quarterly “homecoming shift” + coffee; spotlight their stories.
- Community orgs & newcomers: language-friendly info sessions; buddy system for the first 30 days.
- Hospitality meetups: host a monthly 45-minute “Service Skills Lab.”
- Returnships & second-chance hiring: short, supported re-entry programs with coaching.
Moments & content ideas
- “Try-a-task” open hours: 90 minutes, 3 micro-tasks, instant feedback.
- Parents & career-switchers night: “How scheduling actually works here.”
- Growth wall: photos with “I moved from X to Y in 6 months.”
- Mini-wins series: 20-second reels of everyday pride moments.
Referral culture (lightweight, loud)
- Simple reward (split at 30/90 days).
- Monthly shout-outs and a “Referrer of the Month” board.
- One-click referral link employees can share anywhere.
Make applying feel like saying hello
- Two-minute application: name, contact, preferred department, and one practical question (e.g., weekend availability).
- Instant acknowledgement: automated “thanks + 3 screening questions” by email or WhatsApp.
- 48-hour human touch: a short call or voice note with next steps and a friendly face.
- Same-day trials: invite promising candidates to the next “try-a-task” session.
An easy system to track recruiting and retention
Give managers one simple weekly view:
- Recruiting stages: New → Contacted → Trial/Interview → Offer → Hired.
- Source of applicants: school, referral, walk-in, meetup, social, agency.
- Time to first contact & offer acceptance (trend lines, not noise).
- 90-day retention by source (are collaborations bringing people who stay?).
- Promotions & cross-training badges earned (celebrate momentum in team meetings).
Run a 20-minute weekly huddle: review the view, note any stage drop-offs or aging roles, choose one action item with a designated owner, and then close by celebrating a small success story.
Keep and Grow People — Make Work Feel Fair, Predictable, and Worth It
Give people a week they can plan.
No one thrives on guesswork. Build schedules based on the demand you know is coming (rooms, arrivals, M&E, and F&B dayparts) and publish rosters with a 14-day lock. Exceptions are rare and explained. Use simple demand bands (low/med/, high) with minimum–maximum hours per department, so supervisors aren’t pleading for bodies or sending people home. Close the week by reviewing what drifted—and reset the bands so next week is kinder.
Turn jobs into careers.
Map a visible Level 1–4 ladder and a cross-training matrix so every teammate sees the next rung and how to earn it. Keep 10-minute pre-shift huddles—one practical SOP a day (an upsell line, a late-checkout script, a recovery move). When someone earns a badge or certification, celebrate it in a way that guests and peers can see. Multi-skilled staff get first pick of premium shifts—growth that shows up on the payslip.
Give time back to the guest (and to pride).
Trade paper and retyping for clean, mobile checklists and living SOPs. Stop rebuilding the same report; schedule the send and move on. Maintain a single knowledge base that includes policies, scripts, and local recommendations, ensuring they are up-to-date and easily searchable. The win isn’t fewer clicks; it’s more eye contact at the desk, more rooms turned with care, more moments worth remembering.
Aim for calm, measurable progress.
- Overtime: below 2% hotel-wide (and <5% in any department).
- Cross-training coverage: share at Level ≥2 up 10pp per quarter.
- Housekeeping minutes per occupied room: within ±10% of standard (by room type; stayover vs checkout).
Conclusion — An EVP Is a Promise You Keep Every Day
Start with an EVP, but don’t frame it and forget it. It’s a promise: fair pay you can explain, schedules people can plan, growth that shows up on the payslip, and coaching that happens in minutes—not memos. Keeping that promise is daily work: publishing rosters on time, running the 10-minute huddle, celebrating new badges, returning calls within 48 hours, and clearing away admin so people can serve guests with pride.
Do this long enough and the flywheel turns: better days → better service → better reviews → a queue of applicants who already believe in you. When something slips—as it will—treat it as a signal, not a failure, and adjust next week’s plan. The hotels that win the talent game don’t shout louder; they deliver steadily on what they told their people from day one. Make that your habit. The comfort you want—fewer fires, steadier service, happier teams—arrives as the by-product of promises kept.