A new spotlight has been turned on the need for sexual harassment prevention training for hotel staff. This comes after last month’s arrest of the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) former president, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, following allegations of his sexual assault of a housekeeper in a $3,000-a-night penthouse suite at the Sofitel Hotel in Manhattan.

A member of our Corporate Compliance and Workplace Effectiveness design team recently discovered the following Economist article about the introduction of Panic Buttons for hotel staff and “the sad regularity with which female hotel workers suffer unwanted attentions.”

Click to Access the Economist Article

Here at the Venza Group, we consider this as evidence that the legal compliance courses we’re developing for the hospitality industry in coordination with our partners at the law firm of Arnall Golden Gregory (AGG) will make a valuable impact, especially our Sexual Harassment Prevention for Hoteliers module.

A few thoughts on the major trends or issues facing the hospitality industry in the next 2 – 3 years are:

“Just-in-Time” Training

Information “at-your-fingertips” is what people expect now more than ever. So, when it comes to exciting trends in training, think mobile apps, lobby kiosks and interactive TV.

The Heads In Beds Approach

Hotels will continue to find ways to put “heads in beds” via group blocks, last minute auctions and web deals.

Recession-Proof Your Hotel

The “Great Recession” may have ended officially in June of 2009, many economists speak of a recovery that continues to be sluggish. “Optimization” and “Sustainability” may be buzz words that have a longer shelf life than previously thought (or hoped).

Change Management (“Training 2.0”)

Managing change, whether due to new technologies (i.e. new software releases) or business conditions (i.e. high employee turnover), requires an infrastructure that is both anticipatory as well as nimble so that an organization can effectively react to unforeseen conditions without going into a reactive tailspin.

Technology-Based Learning

More and more hoteliers are moving to eLearning. Great start. Note: there are exciting additional options available in the world of tech-based learning beyond just eLearning.

Changing of the Guard

If the vast majority of hotel executives are baby-boomers, what happens when this generation retires?  What will the next generation bring to the table? And are they ready?

Hotel Learning Strategies

With so much focus on Next-Generation PMS, who is Next-Gen’ing employee training?

A recent study indicated that 80% of organizations do not have an enterprise-wide plan for learning in place.  Most planning activities, to the extent that they occur at all, were found to be fragmented across different business units.  In addition, more than 75% do not believe that learning roles and responsibilities are optimally aligned within the organization.  Finally, 70% do not correlate employee productivity to learning.  Most measure little beyond the basics such as course enrollments, completions, and learner satisfaction rates. 

In order for Learning and Development departments to be taken seriously going forward, this situation must change.  There's no question that training really does add considerable value, but like advertising, it can be dificult to track the results (how do you quantify "Improved Organizational Performance"?).  However, without metrics, it is difficult to make a business case to justify additional investment - especially in times like these when everything is being scrutinized.

When it comes to Learning Analytics, here are some things that can be measured fairly easily:

-  Reduced or reassigned head count
-  Travel and accommodation cost reduction
-  Reduced training time and cost
-  Reduced printing and distribution cost
-  Improved employee retention and satisfaction
-  Enhanced customer satisfaction
-  Easier tracking and measurement of legal compliance
-  Increased revenue associated with enabling product to market faster

Whichever of these you choose to track, it's critical that senior management is made aware of the correlation between learning, and the positive results achieved.

Did you know that recent studies indicate 70-80% of all adult learning is done on an as-needed basis as opposed to being in a classroom setting?  That's especially true in a fast-paced, constantly-changing environment like hospitality or retail.  Everyone needs formalized training when starting a new job, learning a new system, or being introduced to new policies or procedures.  However, when an associate is standing in front of a customer, and they aren't sure how to proceed, it isn't the time or place to pull-out a paper manual, or fire-up an eLearning course.  This is where Just-in-Time (JIT) Training comes in.  These are enhanced help screens that can be accessed on-the-fly with minimal customer impact.  At the Venza Group, we call them "eGuides".  They can be developed very inexpensively, yet have a tremendous return on investment.

As you formulate an overall Technology-Based Training strategy going forward, consider having a mix of eGuides along with traditional eLearning courseware - especially for those job functions or system processes that are particularly problematic for associates (e.g. handling loyalty cards, etc.).

Having translated courseware into 8 different languages and counting, one of the things we've observed over time is that converting the text is a relatively small part of the overall challenge. In fact, there are a number of automated translation programs that can do this in a matter of minutes. However, that's where the real fun begins. The converted text needs to be reviewed by a native speaker to make sure that the sentences still make sense. In addition, it's essential to have someone with hospitality/retail industry experience and cultural knowledge involved. That's because the way that business is conducted in Russia or China, for instance, is far different than the way that it's done in the US. Consequently, a number of things that we take for granted make no sense elsewhere - especially in Eastern countries.

Many have tried to short-cut the process by relying too heavily on automation, or using a partner that has no industry experience and/or cultural sensitivity. Beware...when entering a new geography, you often just but one chance to get it right.