Broad vs. specific
One of the biggest dilemmas for hotels is whether to have a broad or specific approach to training.
Williams’ Ten out of Ten programme trains students in food and beverage service, reception and guest services, events and marketing and housekeeping with property management. This approach can be perfect for creating well-rounded and flexible managers.
However with the growth of high-quality food offerings in hotels, led in part by celebrity chefs, many operators, including Barcelo Hotels, have chosen to launch a ‘chef academy’ to plug an obvious skills gap and ensure the best new chefs earn their keep behind a stove in a hotel kitchen.
Although Hilton Worldwide has recently launched a broad Apprenticeship Academy it too has seen success with a specific chef programme with 95 per cent of the trainees on the scheme gaining employment with the business.
Ben Bengougam is vice president of human resources for Europe at Hilton Worldwide and says the success of its schemes is based on the needs of the company and the nature of the changing workforce. Many with the most quantifiable success have been specific in their focus.
“We introduced a new food & beverage programmed called FAB to our UK hotels to help develop waiting staff to F&B supervisor positions, and in some of our UK divisions the scheme has helped fill 80 per cent of these roles.”
“We also introduced Junior Managers in Training to up-skill and retain individuals with the intention of fast tracking them to a junior management position within two years, which has proved very successful,” he says.
With 80 per cent of hires to director level and above coming internally, Hilton Worldwide’s training success clearly has self-benefits but other operators and smaller hotels can easily adopt its approach.
Future trends
After becoming the first hotel group in Europe to set up an integrated training centre in 1985, Accor has developed a reputation for strong training and will invest £5m in training in the UK between now and 2015.
Christine Lewis, training and development Manager for Accor UK & Ireland, says graduate schemes, apprenticeships, e-learning and so-called blended learning, using different teaching environments, are likely to be the big future trends for operators to be aware of.
“We will continue to use a “blended” approach to training combining both active sessions with digital learning in one centre, giving us an opportunity to re-enforce our service standards in a dedicated centre.”
“More and more learning takes place digitally through our e-learning initiatives as well as through traditional training methods. We must to be in line with the changing ways of communicating and reaching information.”
Bengougam agrees: “Many organisations, including Hilton Worldwide, are increasingly moving away from traditional, classroom-based learning methods to focus on experiential learning, which is often more participatory and engaging, and we see this trend continuing.”
The benefit of the growth in social media, video and e-learning in training environments can only benefit hotel companies and particularly small and independent operators who can easily replicate the successful schemes with the only criteria being internet access.
Broad vs. specificOne of the biggest dilemmas for hotels is whether to have a broad or specific approach to training.Williams’ Ten out of Ten programme trains students in food and beverage service, reception and guest services, events and marketing and housekeeping with property management. This approach can be perfect for creating well-rounded and flexible managers.However with the growth of high-quality food offerings in hotels, led in part by celebrity chefs, many operators, including Barcelo Hotels, have chosen to launch a ‘chef academy’ to plug an obvious skills gap and ensure the best new chefs earn their keep behind a stove in a hotel kitchen.Although Hilton Worldwide has recently launched a broad Apprenticeship Academy it too has seen success with a specific chef programme with 95 per cent of the trainees on the scheme gaining employment with the business.Ben Bengougam is vice president of human resources for Europe at Hilton Worldwide and says the success of its schemes is based on the needs of the company and the nature of the changing workforce. Many with the most quantifiable success have been specific in their focus.“We introduced a new food & beverage programmed called FAB to our UK hotels to help develop waiting staff to F&B supervisor positions, and in some of our UK divisions the scheme has helped fill 80 per cent of these roles.”“We also introduced Junior Managers in Training to up-skill and retain individuals with the intention of fast tracking them to a junior management position within two years, which has proved very successful,” he says.With 80 per cent of hires to director level and above coming internally, Hilton Worldwide’s training success clearly has self-benefits but other operators and smaller hotels can easily adopt its approach.Future trendsAfter becoming the first hotel group in Europe to set up an integrated training centre in 1985, Accor has developed a reputation for strong training and will invest £5m in training in the UK between now and 2015.Christine Lewis, training and development Manager for Accor UK & Ireland, says graduate schemes, apprenticeships, e-learning and so-called blended learning, using different teaching environments, are likely to be the big future trends for operators to be aware of.“We will continue to use a “blended” approach to training combining both active sessions with digital learning in one centre, giving us an opportunity to re-enforce our service standards in a dedicated centre.”“More and more learning takes place digitally through our e-learning initiatives as well as through traditional training methods. We must to be in line with the changing ways of communicating and reaching information.”Bengougam agrees: “Many organisations, including Hilton Worldwide, are increasingly moving away from traditional, classroom-based learning methods to focus on experiential learning, which is often more participatory and engaging, and we see this trend continuing.”The benefit of the growth in social media, video and e-learning in training environments can only benefit hotel companies and particularly small and independent operators who can easily replicate the successful schemes with the only criteria being internet access.
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