Hoteliers might be tempted to cut back on training when times are tough, but as Lee Jamieson explains, the time is ripe to get your workforce in shape
As the Middle East’s hospitality industry evolves, so too does its training needs.
In fact, many of the everyday terms used by hoteliers to describe their fast-changing industry are reflected in the work of the training providers: the need for exclusivity and diversification has translated into more bespoke training programmes; the talent war has sparked career management programmes; and concerns surrounding return on investment in the current economic climate has resulted in careful cost analyses of programme delivery.
Alongside growth in the Middle East’s hospitality industry, there has been a correlative growth in the number of training providers and available courses.
Training providers have therefore become as competitive as hoteliers in diversifying their products, offering value for money and tailoring their services around the specific needs of individual clients.
“There are a significant number of clients requiring bespoke rather than off-the-shelf training,” says Emirates Academy of Hospitality Management director of consulting and training Shaun Harper.
“The major advantage is that this type of training can fully meet their individual needs and can lead to a higher return on the investment of the training costs when compared with the more generalised programmes,” explains Harper.
In the current financial climate, companies are more focused on the bottom line than ever before and this is having a greater influence over the types of training programmes delivered. Harper reports that courses focusing on generating revenue and reducing costs are now in higher demand.
Traditionally, the value of training has been difficult to measure in monetary terms because most of the payback is in areas such as customer satisfaction. However, as the industry becomes more competitive, the need to attach a financial value to skills and training has become a major factor in determining the need for implementing new courses.
“One of our clients did an internal survey of the cost of poor communication,” says Dynamic Learning managing director Jayne Morrison.
“We were not involved in this, but we were called in because of the results. According to their estimate, poor communication was costing them more than AED 1 million (US $272,326) each month in wasted time, repeated training, loss of business and managers ‘doing it themselves’ because it was easier.
“In the current financial climate, who can ignore such hidden costs?
“Right now, these factors are more, rather than less, important in order to save costs, to manage core business efficiently and impact the bottom line,” says Morrison.
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