Housekeeping seminar irons out critical issues

Neeti Mehra - Mumbai

Panelists at the first session of the Smart Housekeeping Seminar

The silent heroes of the hospitality industry had their day in the sun at the ‘Smart Housekeeping’ business seminar held at HospitalityWorld 2006. Stalwarts representing the housekeeping fraternity gathered together to address the issues confronting the Indian hospitality industry today. The boom in the industry has provided an impetus to growth, but invariably brought about challenges, which are adversely affecting this labour-intensive profession. Playing a critical role behind the scenes, housekeepers, unlike their glamorous front office counterparts, face a serious threat ranging from the negative perception of a housekeeper's role to the high attrition rates plaguing the profession.

Darshan Singh

The keynote speaker, Darshan Singh, consultant and industry veteran with nearly four decades of experience at the Oberoi Group as director - housekeeping, and as the general housekeeper with the Leela Group, said that the fundamental issue faced by housekeepers today is maintaining the quality and standards, which are the most important parts of the 'Hospitality experience'. "These provide primary basics of any sustainable competitive edge. In fact it is a great image builder for any organisation. The phrase 'the first impression is the last impression fits housekeeping services," she said. The service always being relegated to the backburner of the industry, she added effusively, "It is a great and a reassuring feeling that Indian Express has recognised the importance of 'Smart Housekeeping'. The recognition coming from other quarters is a great morale-booster for this department and highlights its significant contribution to the overall success of any organisation," she said.

Outsourcing housekeeping - In or out?

Outsourcing can be cost effective and take care of many manpower related issues, including filling the need-gap caused due to attrition of manpower and the unavailability of suitable personnel to fill the need. In the current scenario, there is a need for multi-functional personnel who are well versed not just with the housekeeping function. The need of the hour is to have a holistic knowledge and view of the products and the culture of the hotel and imbibe the two.

Anjum Sarwal, executive housekeeper, The Leela Group, Mumbai, feels that outsourcing would be apt for a newer organisation. "It is again not easy to introduce outsourcing in old established hotels, as hotel staff will have to be relocated, and the fine art of servicing the guests and the consistency is already ingrained in them. Manpower issues lead to union issues, but in new hotels it is an important area to look into. But then again, there can be inconsistency in services provided by contract labourers as they do not have a sense of belonging." But the general consensus at the seminar voiced the fact that outsourcing in the area of housekeeping is here to stay, though the issues with regard to safety, security and training need to be ironed out. Akshi Singh, executive housekeeper, Grand Hyatt, Mumbai, emphasised that her property does depend largely on outsourcing and it has made inroads in various segments in the area of housekeeping such as gardening, horticulture etc.

Training and service excellence

Also, with the advent of increasing mechanisation of service equipment, supervisors are placed in a unique position to train staff on optimum usage, which will go a long way to increase efficiency in operations, which is crucial to minimise wasteful expenditure. Speaking on training and service excellence, Avril Sule, senior instructor, accommodation operations, IHMCTAM, highlighted the fact that training institutes churn out trained personnel at the managerial and the supervisory level, but none at the operational level. This is due to the fact that institutes don't offer courses at the operational level because they don't find it profitable. This in turn is aggravated by the fact that students would not want to pay for training at the operational level. "It is a case of having leaders and no one to follow," she opines. "Hotel training takes on where education takes off. The problems faced by housekeepers are increasingly at an operation level. Today, jobs are machinery oriented and training is crucial to maintain high levels of performance and productivity standards. It also prevents losses such in finance, damage to property and damage to operators, and most critically damage to reputation."

Solutions available to housekeepers are manifold. She suggests work study - an analysis of the tasks, the equipment, and the time taken to do the job - as an important tool for determining the standard operating procedure. "This should be done by a person within the organisation and within the norms of it." Ergonomics, or the scientific discipline concerned with the understanding of interactions among humans to elements of a system is also necessary for the well-being of the housekeeping department because of the physically demanding profession it is. "There are many aspects to this. If employees are overloaded with work, they will be unable to do justice to it. Plus, it can adversely affect their health. The individual needs to be trained and equipped to handle the job he is required to do, and the standard operating manual and the operating procedure, made after work study should be an underlying document for the same."

The need of the hour is for companies that supply equipment to the hospitality industry to tie-up with management institutes so that the curriculum can be expanded beyond theory and mere technical inputs. She says, "Training has to be focussed on team building - it cannot work at cross purposes. That is important for people in a supervisory and management level. Finally, training in housekeeping is definitely a mindset. She concluded by saying, "A hotel may not choose to pay for training staff and save money, and end up losing money caused by the result of not providing training. One way or the other, it ultimately ends up paying for training."

Engineering and Housekeeping - marriage or divorce?

The role of engineering services was highlighted for the smooth running of hotels. The importance of engineering in the field of housekeeping cannot be negated, with its equal responsibility in running the show behind the scenes. Working in tandem, housekeepers rely on the engineering department for regular maintenance, upkeep and repair of furniture, equipment, etc, leading to lengthening the life and reduced costs. The housekeeping department channelises all related queries and observations to the engineering department, and in a way are the messengers for them. Rajan Mane, chief engineer, Rodas Hotel, pointed out that engineering is the heart and the main support of any industry, and the hospitality industry is no exception. "The job role of engineering covers the whole gamut right from support services to the hotel, to maintaining equipment - the primary role being the safety of the premises. The integration of housekeeping with engineering is vital. The engineering department follows up on complaints, helps maintain the life of products and saves costs with preventive maintenance schedules and energy conservation techniques and in the upkeep of the property." The relationship does not limit itself during the operational stage, but is crucial during the time of setting up the hotel. Pratap Reddy, projects incharge, Rodas Hotel, explains this by saying, "In project design and facility planning in hotels, the involvement of a housekeeper is necessary to optimise housekeeping design and careful selection in vendors will enable a tight reign on budgets also."

Training and manpower: Challenges and opportunities - are we ready?

Retaining and motivating manpower is crucial for the success of any organisation. This cliché rings true especially in the hospitality industry where housekeeping team members are involved in an unglamorous task which goes unnoticed. Lack of communication between the managerial and the grassroots level leaves employees frustrated and overworked. Unskilled and untrained employees can become a challenge; this coupled with massive attrition rates of its trained personnel due to lucrative options, not only within the hospitality industry but also BPOs, call centres, etc. Described as an extremely monotonous and a thankless job, even by veterans of the industry, it is in need of innovation and attention. In addition, it is not incentivised like other departments in the hotel such as F&B or as the front desk. The fact that many employees are banished to do the dreary housekeeping department for errors committed by them only adds fuel to the fire. Discussing the changing trends and challenges in this field were Margaret Zacharias, executive housekeeper, The Orchid Hotel, Mumbai; Avril Sule, head housekeeping, IHMCTAN; Leena Sengupta, executive housekeeper, JW Marriott, Mumbai; Saji Sebastian, from the AICI and Kanika Hasrat, manager, front office, JW Marriott, Mumbai, who was also the moderator of the discussion.

Acknowledging a change in the industry, the panelists agreed that the department was increasingly being brought under the microscope to bring about a change in training and development techniques to make employees more equipped to handle their jobs. Trained staff are motivated, helps in manpower retention and creates newer growth opportunity for their success. Invariably, housekeepers find themselves with innumerable challenges to cope with to retain this manpower.

The first step to bring about this change would be to earmark a training budget. Plus, creating a training unit and provide a training module would go a long way in guiding the staff in the working of the hotel. "This is of utmost importance if we are to retain and develop our team members, who have been contributing a lot of time and energy for the growth of the organisation. In addition to this, our role in bridging communication breakdown, maintaining hotel standards, ensuring staff development, operations with limited resource, and attracting good staff with attractive remuneration is a requisite in our job," says Leena.

Saji feels that this industry can learn a lot from its biggest poacher - the BPO industry. For this, the training has to be bifurcated into three parts - attitudinal, technicalities and lastly, SOP training - the first two aspects are usually grossly neglected in any training module and the latter is learnt on the job. "If we can combine these three then our battle is won. Also, soft-skill training is a necessity in this profession," he adds.

The path to bring about an attitudinal change includes mentoring and honing communication skills. Citing an example of the Orchid, Margaret says, "Different levels of elevation are followed in the housekeeping department and employees are honoured through a pillar grade system. Growth paths are carved out and the sky is the limit." Giving employees the respect they deserve is an integral factor. Whether the policy of calling all employees associates, irrespective of their designation, as done at the JW Marriott or referring to the profession as 'accommodation operations' alludes to the premise of dignity of labour. Plus, entertainment options to break the veritable monotony - whether outings, forums to exchange views and facilitate an exchange of dialogue, recognition of employees by their name - go a long way to job satisfaction. Team parties, appreciation, valuable suggestions are the order of the day and help to alleviate stress levels.

To bring about technical training, the panel agreed that with the increased utilisation of technology, the need for training the operators at the grassroot level was imperative. "This ingrains a feeling of importance in the individual, plus training makes him feel indispensable to the organisation," cites Avril. The necessity of equipment manufacturers to work in tandem with training institutes was highlighted as a key factor for technical training.

The responsibility of attracting talent to housekeeping extends to institutes also, with updations in curriculum required to make it more interesting so that the calibre of students attracted to this profession is up to the mark. But at the bottom line it is money that talks. To attract the right talent it is necessary to offer the salary of competitive industries. The investment a student makes in a housekeeping course is not justified with a low starting salary. There is a need to raise the pay structure and not restrict the entry of qualified and talented professionals with a low wage.