Staffing

Challenges

* Lack of skilled employees

1. It is agreed among all the parties consulted that there are many human resource challenges facing China hotel’s industry. The participants pointed out that there is a shortage of human resources and therefore it is very difficult to recruit qualified personnel to fill vacancies. This is due to the rapid increase in the number of hotel properties in China and the related rise in demand for employees.

2. In the 1990s, many young people with a good education background in China believed that hotels provided a good working environment and higher than average salaries. It was comparatively easy for hotels to recruit high calibre staff with a positive attitude to service during that period. But now, the hotel industry’s social position has been undermined by negative publicity and the globalization of emerging industries such as IT and banking. The current reality is that young people with good educational qualifications will tend to consider working for those industries which offer better paid positions and benefits. It is also apparent that the current young generation sees hotel work as a gateway to a job in a “higher status” industry rather than as a life-time career commitment.

3. Most graduates are dissatisfied with pay, supervision, working conditions, training and the team environment (among others). Further, experience shows that degree holders rapidly move on – typically within several weeks of being appointed to a hotel role. Graduates feel undermined by their supervisors (who are unlikely to be skilled, on-the-job trainers or experienced in motivating their team) and claim that they cannot readily see a career path from hotel operations through to managerial roles.

4. With an addition of 12,326 new hotel rooms set to open in Hong Kong between 2007 and 2009, the employment market in the hotel industry is envisaged to remain extremely buoyant such that career opportunities with good prospects are...