Holiday cheer may be causing temporary economic amnesia.

Despite a flagging recovery, the hospitality industry is expected to fare well this holiday season.  Employed Americans will be dining out and purchasing restaurant gift cards, hotel revenues are on the rise for the 2011 holiday season and the National Retail Federation still predicts a holiday spending increase of 2.8%, which is slightly higher than the 10-year average.

The bottom line?  While it may be a little too early to start decking the halls, it’s definitely time to ramp-up your seasonal hiring.  Use this list of tips to find the best hospitality employees and get the most from them during your busy season:

Find the Best

Bring back your superstars. Start by contacting your best holiday workers from last year.  If you used a staffing service last season, you can even request specific temporary employees again.  Because they’ve already proven themselves on the job, and understand your company and its workflow processes, these workers are the smartest choice.

Consider a variety of sources. If you will be recruiting on your own, cast a wide net to develop your applicant pool.  Sources of potential seasonal employees include job fairs, classified ads, online job sites, social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) and referrals from current employees.

Partner with a staffing service. Because they maintain databases of highly skilled candidates who are ready to work, a staffing service like Penguin can quickly supply the temporary hospitality professionals you need to adequately staff your restaurant, hotel, club or resort.  As an added benefit, a staffing firm handles all the recruiting, interviewing and background checks you require, so you can stay focused on your most important priorities.  To get the best results, invite the staffing representative to your work location, to tour your site and develop a first-hand picture of your exact staff requirements.

Offer competitive pay. Make sure you attract top performers by paying at or above competitors’ rates.  During your busy season, you need high quality supplemental staff who can learn quickly, perform consistently and provide a great customer experience – so it’s worth it to pay a little more for the right people.

Manage for Success

Start off on the right foot. The seasonal rush can be hard and stressful on everyone – especially workers who are new to your company.  Get everyone on your staff (direct, seasonal and/or temporary employees) together for a pre-rush kick-off to let them know how much they are appreciated.  Use this opportunity to orient and introduce new employees, wrapping up with a formal tour and review of company policies.

Provide adequate training. Although it’s time-consuming, be sure to give seasonal employees the training they need to succeed.  They may only be working for you for a short time, but their performance is no less important to your company’s success.  After an initial orientation, pair each supplemental worker with a permanent employee for practical training and support during the learning curve.  Ultimately, well-trained workers will be more independent, productive and less likely to make costly mistakes.

Closely monitor initial performance. During your busy season, you shouldn’t tolerate – and can’t afford – mediocre performance.  If a seasonal worker isn’t living up to your standards, replace him.  Staffing services provide a distinct advantage in this respect, because most offer replacement guarantees on their temporary workers.  If the assigned employee does not perform as expected within an initial time period, the staffing service will provide a replacement, free of charge.

Consider completion bonuses. Dealing with high turnover during a critical time can disrupt workflow, waste valuable time and potentially cost you customers.  Encourage seasonal hospitality workers to stay for the duration of your busy season by offering a cash incentive or gift card for completion.

Show seasonal workers that they’re a valued part of your team. Click here for ideas to help you reward and motivate seasonal hospitality employees.

Plan for Seasonal Staffing Success – This Year and Next

The holiday season is already ramping up, and Penguin Staffing is ready to answer your call.  We deliver the banquet and kitchen employees, hotel front desk and other hospitality professionals our clients need to thrive during their busiest time of year.

Successful hospitality seasonal staffing requires careful planning, so learn what you can from this year.  As you progress through the next few months, take notes on what works and what doesn’t.  Keep records of what types and how much supplemental staff you require, so you can refer to this information next year.  Mark your 2012 calendar with dates to begin recruiting early and/or meet with Penguin to plan your seasonal staffing.

The National Conference of State Legislature’s (NCSL) website indicates that changes in credit screening legislation are occurring from coast to coast.  Seven states now limit employers’ use of credit information in employment: California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Oregon and Washington.  To date, 58 bills in 28 states, including Georgia and the District of Columbia, were introduced or pending in the 2011 legislative session.

Hospitality employers use credit reports as a screening tool for a number of reasons:

• They believe it allows them to predict future behavior based on a candidate’s financial history.
• They are trying to prevent employee theft and assess the applicant’s trustworthiness.
• They want to reduce legal liability and negligent hiring.

But checking a job applicant’s credit is not without its potential drawbacks:

• An applicant who has been unemployed for a long period of time may have no choice but to incur inordinate amounts of debt and fall behind in paying bills.  If the candidate has been out of work for months, that doesn’t necessarily mean he should be disqualified for employment.
• Credit reports fail to provide context.  For example, if debt problems are the result of expensive medical procedures, a low credit score may not indicate anything about future job performance.
• Credit reports are not perfect.  Ambiguous, dated, inaccurate and/or redundant data create the potential for credit score errors.  While these errors are generally minor, employers should be aware that they exist.
• Credit reports may not be relevant for the job in question.  Unless the person you’re hiring will have access to sensitive financial information, make financial decisions or handle money, a candidate’s credit report may be of little significance.

Eliminate Credit Check Liability with Penguin Staff

Given the rapid changes in credit screening legislation, checking applicants’ credit can be risky business.  To reduce your liability, trust Penguin Staffing to find and screen the right banquet and kitchen employees, hotel front desk or other hospitality professionals for your organization.  We combine our industry experience with a comprehensive screening process to ensure you receive only the most highly-qualified and trained professionals for your hospitality positions.

Starting a new hospitality job?  Congratulations!

As you know, entering any new work situation means dealing with a set of unknowns – about the work environment and pace, about the personalities of co-workers and supervisors, and about how well you will fit in.  To thrive , you must do more than merely perform your job duties well.  You need to learn how to navigate the sometimes tricky waters of a new culture.

Use this list of suggestions to fit in on the job from day one – and ensure your success:

• Observe. From the moment you walk in the door, pay attention to others – how they interact, dress, maintain their workspaces, etc.  By simply observing, you can learn a lot about how the company operates on a daily basis.  Find out who the most successful team members are and take your cues from them.
• Be flexible. Be open to changing the ways you approach tasks, communicate with others and structure your work day.  The company probably has well-established ways of getting things done and expects you to conform to their standards.
• Be courteous and respectful. One of the best ways to win over new co-workers and supervisors is by using good business etiquette.  Treat everyone with respect by being considerate of others’ workloads and meeting your commitments on time.  If you are working in close quarters or open spaces with others:  use a quiet tone when speaking; keep your cell phone off or on vibrate; keep socializing to a minimum.  Remember that everyone has work to do, including you.
• Dress for success. Your clothes influence the way your manager and co-workers perceive you.  While on the job, avoid fashions that are too trendy, revealing or casual.  Make a good impression by dressing appropriately for your position, or one notch above.
• Beware of office politics. Office politics are part of the interactive process of working together toward individual, team and company goals.  While on a short-term assignment, the best choice is to steer clear of these dynamics.  If you’re on a long-term assignment, or have accepted a direct position, however, you need to learn to cope with them.  Learn how to compliment and not criticize; disagree without being disrespectful; stay above gossip by not spreading rumors.  Establish a reputation as a hard working, positive employee who is not a part of the rumor mill, and you’ll be off to a good start.

Find a Great Fit with Penguin Staff

If you’re looking for a hospitality job or temporary assignment in the Atlanta, GA or Herndon, VA areas, we invite you meet in-person with one of Penguin’s staffing professionals.   Together, we can discuss what type of hospitality job works best for you, the environment you like, your strengths and your salary requirements.

As a leader in hospitality staffing, Penguin knows that a good fit means more than matching skills.  To find the right opportunity for you, we will carefully match your career goals, experience and strengths with the hospitality organization’s culture and the requirements of the job.

Contact Penguin today to find your next hospitality job!

Anyone up for a $4 Snickers?

The Wall Street Journal reports that pedestrian items like M&Ms and Diet Coke are going by the wayside in hotel minibars and being replaced by specialty and local items.  According to the article, several factors are spurring the latest “minibar makeover”:

• hotels are dissatisfied by lackluster sales (theft and billing problems eat into minibar income);
• managers are fed up with arguing over disputed charges;
• minibars have to be replenished daily and unsold items expire;
• consumers sometimes think that hotels are trying to gouge them.

In an attempt to convince guests to spring for expensive treats, hotels are making a variety of changes.  Some are trading standard items like potato chips and candy for unique local snacks or other items you can’t get at the nearest gas station.  Examples include ham-flavored Chilean almonds, locally brewed beer and specialty chocolates from upscale chocolatiers.  Omni Hotels & Resorts is even testing a gluten-free pretzel in its minibars.

Simply upgrading offerings, however, isn’t enough to tempt some guests.  Business travelers, in particular, are becoming fed-up with what they consider gouging – although hotels like the Hilton claim that minibars are actually loss-leaders.  So to further entice guests, hoteliers are using “suggestive selling” and breaking goodies out of the minibar altogether.  After all, it may be harder to resist a candy bar if it’s staring at you from the TV stand.

Hoteliers are also using technology to cut costs, reduce disputed charges and keep better track of sales and product expiration dates.  Automated minibars, equipped with sensors that detect (and immediately charge a guest’s bill) when an item has been removed, are now available.  Although the technology is not perfect, hotels and minibar manufacturers say these high-tech minibars can significantly cut labor costs.

Still other hotels have taken their minibar makeovers to the extreme.  Some have pulled booze completely from their minibars; some have completely eliminated stocked minibars – leaving only empty refrigerators for guests to use; and others have taken the opposite tack – throwing in free minibar goodies.

Have you overhauled your hotel minibars?  What changes have you made, and why?  Please leave your comments below.

Penguin Staff – Your Hospitality and Banquet Services Partner

When you need temporary banquet and kitchen employees, hotel front desk or other hospitality professionals, call on Penguin. We provide immediate access to screened, interviewed and trained employees for your on-call, temporary or direct staffing needs.  Partner with Penguin today.