Just a quote update:
As of today, November 2, 2011, it is now legal to pay servers in resturants 75 cents less than the general minimum wage. By May 1st, employers will be able to pay servers $1.25 less than minimum wage.
Tuesday, November 01, 2011
Monday, October 17, 2011
Hard to Watch Hotels Trudge
Our hotel operators in Canada need some love.
According to STR, in year-over-year measurements for the week ending October 8th, 2011, the Canadian hotel industry’s occupancy fell 0.1 percent to 69.6 percent, its average daily rate was down 0.7 percent to CAD$127.92, and its revenue per available room decreased 0.8 percent to CAD$89.07.
Talk about injury to injury. It's hard to watch the painful trudging of hotels trying to get ahead of this thug of an economic downturn the last few years, especially since they're the first hit and last to recover.
It's safe to say PEI's trudging has lead them into cardiac arrest with double-digit RevPAR decreases: 21.7 percent to CAD$46.46 and with the closest neighbour having to drive across the long bridge, I'm not sure they're going to make it. Besides, NS is stilled miffed at having to share a phone prefix with the slouches. BC is having palpatations with a -17.8 to CAD$79.21. Nothing a medical marijuana card won't fix. The best performer continues to be Alberta, with RevPAR rising 9.1% to CAD$89.19. Congrats! Oil really does makes the world go round.
Anyone who can, should show their nearest hotel some love this Christmas season: why not book a staff meeting there this Christmas? Or book it for a family Christmas get-together and save Mom all the work? Or just take a weekend away in your own Province and stay in a hotel new to you and explore?
At the very least, stop and give the GM a hug. Anything to stop the trudging, please!
According to STR, in year-over-year measurements for the week ending October 8th, 2011, the Canadian hotel industry’s occupancy fell 0.1 percent to 69.6 percent, its average daily rate was down 0.7 percent to CAD$127.92, and its revenue per available room decreased 0.8 percent to CAD$89.07.
Talk about injury to injury. It's hard to watch the painful trudging of hotels trying to get ahead of this thug of an economic downturn the last few years, especially since they're the first hit and last to recover.
It's safe to say PEI's trudging has lead them into cardiac arrest with double-digit RevPAR decreases: 21.7 percent to CAD$46.46 and with the closest neighbour having to drive across the long bridge, I'm not sure they're going to make it. Besides, NS is stilled miffed at having to share a phone prefix with the slouches. BC is having palpatations with a -17.8 to CAD$79.21. Nothing a medical marijuana card won't fix. The best performer continues to be Alberta, with RevPAR rising 9.1% to CAD$89.19. Congrats! Oil really does makes the world go round.
Anyone who can, should show their nearest hotel some love this Christmas season: why not book a staff meeting there this Christmas? Or book it for a family Christmas get-together and save Mom all the work? Or just take a weekend away in your own Province and stay in a hotel new to you and explore?
At the very least, stop and give the GM a hug. Anything to stop the trudging, please!
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Fast Casual is NOT Fast Food
In proper preparation for the Fast Casual Executive Summit coming up in Chicago this month, fastcasual.com has put together a list of the top 10 fast casual restaurants in the US based on 2010 sales.
But first, let's be clear about how they define fast casual: the price is approximately 15.00 or less per cheque AND the decor is modern and upscale AND the service does not include wait staff AND, finally, the food is fresh and made to order. That narrows down the list but I think to be clearer, it needs to be stated that fast casual promises a higher quality food and atmosphere than fast food. Fast casual is NOT our traditional idea of fast food.
A couple of the Top 10 are already familiar here in Canada: Five Guys and Chipotle Miexcan Grill. What's noteworthy is that of the Top 10, three are Mexican restaurants. Surely demographics have an impact on this stat and therefore it makes me wonder would Mexican fare be so prominant in a Canadian Top 10 Fast Casual? Would Asian food? Chipotle, by the way, was one of the first fast casual restaurants on the scene and McDonald's had a majority share in Chipotle until 2006!
If you're wondering if fast casual is simply a fad that will pass, or a quick spash in the pan (pun intended), think again. Fast casual has had a huge impact on the food industry and growing. It appeals to people's interest for a more healthy option, it's quick for a busier and busier lives, and it offers varied food choices. The numbers speak for themselves as shown in the chart below.
It's little wonder that fast food operations are looking to upscale their decors and offer healthier options or that casual dining operations are looking to move towards "smaller footprint" stores with a smaller menu. It will be interesting to see what our restaurant scene looks like even as little as two years from now with the big impact of fast casual operations.
But first, let's be clear about how they define fast casual: the price is approximately 15.00 or less per cheque AND the decor is modern and upscale AND the service does not include wait staff AND, finally, the food is fresh and made to order. That narrows down the list but I think to be clearer, it needs to be stated that fast casual promises a higher quality food and atmosphere than fast food. Fast casual is NOT our traditional idea of fast food.
A couple of the Top 10 are already familiar here in Canada: Five Guys and Chipotle Miexcan Grill. What's noteworthy is that of the Top 10, three are Mexican restaurants. Surely demographics have an impact on this stat and therefore it makes me wonder would Mexican fare be so prominant in a Canadian Top 10 Fast Casual? Would Asian food? Chipotle, by the way, was one of the first fast casual restaurants on the scene and McDonald's had a majority share in Chipotle until 2006!
If you're wondering if fast casual is simply a fad that will pass, or a quick spash in the pan (pun intended), think again. Fast casual has had a huge impact on the food industry and growing. It appeals to people's interest for a more healthy option, it's quick for a busier and busier lives, and it offers varied food choices. The numbers speak for themselves as shown in the chart below.
It's little wonder that fast food operations are looking to upscale their decors and offer healthier options or that casual dining operations are looking to move towards "smaller footprint" stores with a smaller menu. It will be interesting to see what our restaurant scene looks like even as little as two years from now with the big impact of fast casual operations.
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Restaurant Trend Toward Breakfast
Many restaurant organizations in Canada looking for new ways to increase their bottom line have discovered breakfast and hope it will save the day.
While many skip the most important meal of the day, restaurants seek to capitalize on the approximate 1 in 5 people that eat breakfast both at home and at restaurants. According to NPD's most recent report, for the majority of Americans who do eat breakfast, 14% said they typically eat breakfast at restaurants. The report surveyed 27,179 participants.
When approaching the breakfast market, restaurants should be mindful of the study's detailed finding that suggest that of consumers 18 - 34 years old, 28% of men and 18% of women skip breakfast, while 18% of men 35 - 54 years old and 13% of women in that age group go without a morning meal. And apparently, we do get wiser as we age, at least when it comes to eating: older consumers are the least likely to skip breakfast, with 11% of men 55 and older and 10% of women in that age group going without.
While many skip the most important meal of the day, restaurants seek to capitalize on the approximate 1 in 5 people that eat breakfast both at home and at restaurants. According to NPD's most recent report, for the majority of Americans who do eat breakfast, 14% said they typically eat breakfast at restaurants. The report surveyed 27,179 participants.
When approaching the breakfast market, restaurants should be mindful of the study's detailed finding that suggest that of consumers 18 - 34 years old, 28% of men and 18% of women skip breakfast, while 18% of men 35 - 54 years old and 13% of women in that age group go without a morning meal. And apparently, we do get wiser as we age, at least when it comes to eating: older consumers are the least likely to skip breakfast, with 11% of men 55 and older and 10% of women in that age group going without.
Monday, October 10, 2011
What's Your Restaurants' Yelp Rating?
We all by now are aware that social media online plays a major role in restaurant and hotel - any hospitality service - financial gains. Smaller, independent operators in Canada don't always have the resources of corporate restaurants or corporate hotels to create savvy online buzz. Enter Yelp.ca to the rescue.
According to a recent Harvard Business School study by Michael Luca,just and additional one star rating for a restaurant, for instance, garners a revenue bump of 5% to 9%. Luca's research of government data reported revenues of Seattle restaurants between 2003 and 2009, as well as Seattle restaurant reviews on Yelp.
The findings suggest that as Yelp's penetration of the market increased, so too did independent restaurants' share of the market. "The introduction of Yelp then begins to shift revenue away from chains and toward independent restaurants," Luca concluded, adding that this "suggests that online consumer reviews substitute for more traditional forms of reputation." Hooray for the little guys out there running a small QSR or casual dining restaurant in tough markets or boutique hotels looking for greater exposure!
According to a recent Harvard Business School study by Michael Luca,just and additional one star rating for a restaurant, for instance, garners a revenue bump of 5% to 9%. Luca's research of government data reported revenues of Seattle restaurants between 2003 and 2009, as well as Seattle restaurant reviews on Yelp.
The findings suggest that as Yelp's penetration of the market increased, so too did independent restaurants' share of the market. "The introduction of Yelp then begins to shift revenue away from chains and toward independent restaurants," Luca concluded, adding that this "suggests that online consumer reviews substitute for more traditional forms of reputation." Hooray for the little guys out there running a small QSR or casual dining restaurant in tough markets or boutique hotels looking for greater exposure!
Thursday, October 06, 2011
Ikea Strongarming McD's?
In the latest Foodservice Digest a startling revelation regarding QSR leaders in Germany; Ikea beats out McDonald's and Burger King there for service quality. Amazing. Not that the food at Ikea here in Coquitlam, BC isn't fantastic AND cheap, but I wouldn't have expected this trend. Will the craze hit here? Read on for the full article....
How Did Ikea Beat Out McDonalds for Germany's Most Popular Fast Food?
THEATLANTIC.COM 10/05
German newspaper Die Welt reports that in a study by the German Institute for Service Quality, Ikea comes ahead of McDonald's in the fast food realm. In the resulting ranking of points (1 - 100), Mövenpick Marché is at the top, with 78.7 points. In 2nd comes Ikea at 77.6, and then McDonald's at 72.8 and Burger King at 70.0.
Why is a furniture store doing food so well? According to another story by the Deutsche Press-Agentur, breakfast at furniture stores is all the rage. "Whoever wants to breakfast in the furniture store must often hurry if he wants to get a seat at all--[it's] now a nationwide phenomenon," notes the agency.
Ikea has competition, too: "Other furniture companies like Dodenhof, Kraft, and Höffner also attract with breakfast offerings."
How Did Ikea Beat Out McDonalds for Germany's Most Popular Fast Food?
THEATLANTIC.COM 10/05
German newspaper Die Welt reports that in a study by the German Institute for Service Quality, Ikea comes ahead of McDonald's in the fast food realm. In the resulting ranking of points (1 - 100), Mövenpick Marché is at the top, with 78.7 points. In 2nd comes Ikea at 77.6, and then McDonald's at 72.8 and Burger King at 70.0.
Why is a furniture store doing food so well? According to another story by the Deutsche Press-Agentur, breakfast at furniture stores is all the rage. "Whoever wants to breakfast in the furniture store must often hurry if he wants to get a seat at all--[it's] now a nationwide phenomenon," notes the agency.
Ikea has competition, too: "Other furniture companies like Dodenhof, Kraft, and Höffner also attract with breakfast offerings."
Tuesday, October 04, 2011
Work Prductivity and Exercise Link
If you exercise, you'll be happy to hear your level of work productivity can go up as a result. Read on, another interesting topic for candidate discussion in that next interview? As we all know, hospitality professionals often have positions that require physical stamina....
Exercise and Productivity Link Confirmed
New Australian research has discovered that employees who walk 10,000 steps a day, and work out in the gym three times a week can give their employer up to $2,500 in added productivity per year compared to non-active colleagues.
A clinical trial run by the Body-Brain Performance Institute, in association with Swinburne University’s Brain Sciences Institute, monitored 40 employees from Melbourne software company SAP earlier this year.
The trial, which ran from April to June, found a direct link between physical fitness and work participation, with productivity increases calculated at $2,500 per year per employee.
Monitored over an 8-week period, the employees were divided into two groups and given pedometers. One group was instructed to walk 10,000 steps a day and head to the gym for three resistance training sessions per week, and the other asked to walk the daily average for an office worker, just 2,000-3,000 steps.
Professor Paul Taylor, who led the research, said “The research showed that there is a very clear link between physical fitness and brain function, and reduced stress levels at work.” He added that there was a marked improvement in the employees’ mood and cognition from the exercise group, with the exercising group showing a 4% increase in overall brain function.
Elements of brain function, including the ability to plan, remember, make decisions, stay alert, as well as stress and anger levels were measured using new neuropsychological tests developed by the Swinburne institute.
Taylor said the findings confirmed previous studies which showed vigorous exercise significantly increases happiness, productivity and cognition, and employers should be harnessing the advantages of exercise more in the workplace.
Professor Taylor has conducted Neuroscience of Leadership workshops with various company leadership teams, which focus on maintaining a healthy work-life balance, good nutrition, stress optimisation, rest and regular exercise, all leading to an improvement in individual and team performance.
[Source: www.hcamag.com]
Exercise and Productivity Link Confirmed
New Australian research has discovered that employees who walk 10,000 steps a day, and work out in the gym three times a week can give their employer up to $2,500 in added productivity per year compared to non-active colleagues.
A clinical trial run by the Body-Brain Performance Institute, in association with Swinburne University’s Brain Sciences Institute, monitored 40 employees from Melbourne software company SAP earlier this year.
The trial, which ran from April to June, found a direct link between physical fitness and work participation, with productivity increases calculated at $2,500 per year per employee.
Monitored over an 8-week period, the employees were divided into two groups and given pedometers. One group was instructed to walk 10,000 steps a day and head to the gym for three resistance training sessions per week, and the other asked to walk the daily average for an office worker, just 2,000-3,000 steps.
Professor Paul Taylor, who led the research, said “The research showed that there is a very clear link between physical fitness and brain function, and reduced stress levels at work.” He added that there was a marked improvement in the employees’ mood and cognition from the exercise group, with the exercising group showing a 4% increase in overall brain function.
Elements of brain function, including the ability to plan, remember, make decisions, stay alert, as well as stress and anger levels were measured using new neuropsychological tests developed by the Swinburne institute.
Taylor said the findings confirmed previous studies which showed vigorous exercise significantly increases happiness, productivity and cognition, and employers should be harnessing the advantages of exercise more in the workplace.
Professor Taylor has conducted Neuroscience of Leadership workshops with various company leadership teams, which focus on maintaining a healthy work-life balance, good nutrition, stress optimisation, rest and regular exercise, all leading to an improvement in individual and team performance.
[Source: www.hcamag.com]
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Brazilians Touring Canada
Where are our tourist dollars coming from these days with the economic difficulties felt across the globe? As hospitality providers, we perhaps can look to the global economies to determine future tourism spending in Canada. Of the three growing economies of China, India and Brazil, the latter is worth a closer look right now. These countries are rising to be major world players economically and politically, and Brazil made an impact on our tourism picture in Canada last year.
According to the Canadian Tourism commission report for the last quarter of 2010, "The Brazil market showed the way forward for CTC’s Emerging/Transition markets (Brazil, China, India, Japan, Mexico and South Korea), posting seriously strong growth in spending (+32%) and overnighters (+26%), leading to an average spend per trip of $1,719." That's a very significant bump, especially when compared to the activity of the UK; our largest overseas travel market, where overnight spending went down 10%.
Who are these people from Brazil traveling to Canada and what type of tourists do they make here?
You might think people in Brazil speak Spanish, but Brazil is the largest Portuguese speaking country in the world! To give you an idea of climate, it's situated in South America and mostly tropical, being called, "land of the palm trees".
The traditional, everyday meal consists mosty of rice and beans with beef and salad. Its common to mix it with cassava flour. Fried potatoes, fried cassava, fried banana, fried meat and fried cheese are very often eaten in lunch and served in most typical restaurants. The national beverage is coffee and cachaça is Brazil's native liquor. Cachaça is distilled from sugar cane and is the main ingredient in the national cocktail, Caipirinha.
Brazilians tend to be generous and very friendly, even to strangers. The people there embrace art, theatre, music, literature, and poetry as an extension of their diverse and beautiful culture.
A few highlights on Brazilian tourists, but to learn more, visit this website!
According to the Canadian Tourism commission report for the last quarter of 2010, "The Brazil market showed the way forward for CTC’s Emerging/Transition markets (Brazil, China, India, Japan, Mexico and South Korea), posting seriously strong growth in spending (+32%) and overnighters (+26%), leading to an average spend per trip of $1,719." That's a very significant bump, especially when compared to the activity of the UK; our largest overseas travel market, where overnight spending went down 10%.
Who are these people from Brazil traveling to Canada and what type of tourists do they make here?
You might think people in Brazil speak Spanish, but Brazil is the largest Portuguese speaking country in the world! To give you an idea of climate, it's situated in South America and mostly tropical, being called, "land of the palm trees".
The traditional, everyday meal consists mosty of rice and beans with beef and salad. Its common to mix it with cassava flour. Fried potatoes, fried cassava, fried banana, fried meat and fried cheese are very often eaten in lunch and served in most typical restaurants. The national beverage is coffee and cachaça is Brazil's native liquor. Cachaça is distilled from sugar cane and is the main ingredient in the national cocktail, Caipirinha.
Brazilians tend to be generous and very friendly, even to strangers. The people there embrace art, theatre, music, literature, and poetry as an extension of their diverse and beautiful culture.
A few highlights on Brazilian tourists, but to learn more, visit this website!
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Hotel Stats - Some Good News
The Hotel News Now has posted stats for the week ending July second from their parent company; STR. BC and Alberta seem to be faring the best leading in RevPAR, a rise of 9.2 and 8.8 respectively over last year. And, they both shared top spots for ADR increases as well. Seems the Westcoast is the place to be if you're operating a hotel in Canada, according to STR. On the other coast, Newfoundland took the biggest hit with their Rev PAR falling 15.8% and their ADR decreased 6.5%! Tough go in Newfoundland.
Read on for the full report....
"The Canadian hotel industry reported mixed results in the three key performance metrics for the week of 26 June-2 July 2011, according to data from STR.
In year-over-year measurements, the Canadian hotel industry ended the week with a 5.0-percent increase in occupancy to 69.2 percent, a 0.5-percent decrease in average daily rate to CAD$130.29 and a 4.5-percent rise in revenue per available room to CAD$90.19.
Among the provinces, Alberta reported the largest occupancy increase, rising 9.2 percent to 64.2 percent, followed by British Columbia (+8.8 percent to 71.5 percent) and Manitoba (+8.3 percent to 66.2 percent). Newfoundland fell 9.9 percent to 78.0 percent, reporting the largest decrease in that metric.
British Columbia rose 4.1 percent in ADR to CAD$143.11, reporting the largest increase in that metric, followed by Alberta with a 3.4-percent increase to CAD$139.41. Prince Edward Island (-6.6 percent to CAD$118.30) and Newfoundland (-6.5 percent to CAD$136.30) reported the largest ADR decreases.
Two provinces achieved RevPAR increases of more than 10 percent: British Columbia (+13.3 percent to CAD$102.30) and Alberta (+13.0 percent to CAD$89.54). Newfoundland reported the only double-digit RevPAR decrease, falling 15.8 percent to CAD$106.33."
Read on for the full report....
"The Canadian hotel industry reported mixed results in the three key performance metrics for the week of 26 June-2 July 2011, according to data from STR.
In year-over-year measurements, the Canadian hotel industry ended the week with a 5.0-percent increase in occupancy to 69.2 percent, a 0.5-percent decrease in average daily rate to CAD$130.29 and a 4.5-percent rise in revenue per available room to CAD$90.19.
Among the provinces, Alberta reported the largest occupancy increase, rising 9.2 percent to 64.2 percent, followed by British Columbia (+8.8 percent to 71.5 percent) and Manitoba (+8.3 percent to 66.2 percent). Newfoundland fell 9.9 percent to 78.0 percent, reporting the largest decrease in that metric.
British Columbia rose 4.1 percent in ADR to CAD$143.11, reporting the largest increase in that metric, followed by Alberta with a 3.4-percent increase to CAD$139.41. Prince Edward Island (-6.6 percent to CAD$118.30) and Newfoundland (-6.5 percent to CAD$136.30) reported the largest ADR decreases.
Two provinces achieved RevPAR increases of more than 10 percent: British Columbia (+13.3 percent to CAD$102.30) and Alberta (+13.0 percent to CAD$89.54). Newfoundland reported the only double-digit RevPAR decrease, falling 15.8 percent to CAD$106.33."
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Canadian Tourism Year in Review 2010
We're still not out of the woods but some improvements are seen in our tourism sector.... check out the Canadian Tourism's review of 2010 Tourism by US Leisure Sector below (our biggest market)and visit the link for complete statistics. Note that the age group of 55+ is our biggest market. I expect we'll see even more from that age group as the infamous baby boomers are just now starting to retire this year. That means downsizing the home is coming and leisure trips will go up. At least they're one group that will have the disposable money to spend so let's attract them!!!
US Leisure
• In 2010, the US had a more sluggish than expected economic recovery, with GDP growth of 2.9%. By the end of the year, economists reported weaker than expected consumer spending, along with declines in construction spending, durable goods orders and home building sales, a reflection of the lingering effects of the 2008-2009 recession. This cooler economic environment impacted both US leisure and business travel in 2010, with slower than expected growth compared with the previous year.
• US leisure travel represents Canada’s largest inbound travel market, accounting for 63% of all
inbound travellers in 2010. US leisure travel to Canada outperformed business travel in 2010, with a moderate increase of 0.9% over 2009.
• While leisure travel to Canada declined in the first two quarters of 2010, the last two quarters saw increases of 2.8% in Q3 and 4.0% in Q4.
• Total spending by US leisure travellers of one or more nights improved in 2010, up 2.8% overall, with the average nightly spend increasing 3.4% to $116.
• This year saw an 8.6% increase in the number of overnight US leisure travellers in who were 55 years of age or older. This age demographic represents the largest segment among US leisure visitors to Canada, accounting for 46.7% of all overnight US leisure
visitors to Canada in 2010. • Experiencing nature became more popular in this market with visiting aquariums/botanical gardens and zoos (+7.9%) and visiting nature parks (+7.2%) both
climbing in 2010.
• In 2010, Québec (+4.2%), British Columbia (+2.0%), Alberta (+1.7%) saw increases in province visits in 2010, while Ontario (-2.1%) experienced a decline. US Meetings Conventions and Incentive Travel (MC&IT)
• US overnight MC&IT travel is Canada’s second largest inbound market after US overnight leisure travel.
• In 2010, 1.7 million US MC&IT overnight travellers visited Canada, a moderate 0.2% decline over the previous year. Of those travellers, 65.8% were male and 64.1% were 45 years of age or older.
• Total spending by this market increased by 3.0% reaching, $1.4 billion, with the average spend per business trip increasing 3.2% to $815.
• The volume of business travellers to Canada saw a staggered recovery in 2010, improving in the 2nd and 4th quarters of 2010, helping to offset the reduced growth in the 1st and 3rd quarters.
• US MC&IT travel to Alberta (-4.9%) and Ontario (-4.0%) slowed in 2010, while Québec (+5.8%) and British Columbia (0.6%) had an increased number of province visits.
• This year, there was a 17.9% increase in interest in attending cultural events among US MC&IT travellers, followed by increases in visiting museums and art galleries (+10.9%) and visiting historic sites (+9.4%) compared with the top activities of 2009.
Source: Canadian Tourism, Tourism Snapshot 2010
US Leisure
• In 2010, the US had a more sluggish than expected economic recovery, with GDP growth of 2.9%. By the end of the year, economists reported weaker than expected consumer spending, along with declines in construction spending, durable goods orders and home building sales, a reflection of the lingering effects of the 2008-2009 recession. This cooler economic environment impacted both US leisure and business travel in 2010, with slower than expected growth compared with the previous year.
• US leisure travel represents Canada’s largest inbound travel market, accounting for 63% of all
inbound travellers in 2010. US leisure travel to Canada outperformed business travel in 2010, with a moderate increase of 0.9% over 2009.
• While leisure travel to Canada declined in the first two quarters of 2010, the last two quarters saw increases of 2.8% in Q3 and 4.0% in Q4.
• Total spending by US leisure travellers of one or more nights improved in 2010, up 2.8% overall, with the average nightly spend increasing 3.4% to $116.
• This year saw an 8.6% increase in the number of overnight US leisure travellers in who were 55 years of age or older. This age demographic represents the largest segment among US leisure visitors to Canada, accounting for 46.7% of all overnight US leisure
visitors to Canada in 2010. • Experiencing nature became more popular in this market with visiting aquariums/botanical gardens and zoos (+7.9%) and visiting nature parks (+7.2%) both
climbing in 2010.
• In 2010, Québec (+4.2%), British Columbia (+2.0%), Alberta (+1.7%) saw increases in province visits in 2010, while Ontario (-2.1%) experienced a decline. US Meetings Conventions and Incentive Travel (MC&IT)
• US overnight MC&IT travel is Canada’s second largest inbound market after US overnight leisure travel.
• In 2010, 1.7 million US MC&IT overnight travellers visited Canada, a moderate 0.2% decline over the previous year. Of those travellers, 65.8% were male and 64.1% were 45 years of age or older.
• Total spending by this market increased by 3.0% reaching, $1.4 billion, with the average spend per business trip increasing 3.2% to $815.
• The volume of business travellers to Canada saw a staggered recovery in 2010, improving in the 2nd and 4th quarters of 2010, helping to offset the reduced growth in the 1st and 3rd quarters.
• US MC&IT travel to Alberta (-4.9%) and Ontario (-4.0%) slowed in 2010, while Québec (+5.8%) and British Columbia (0.6%) had an increased number of province visits.
• This year, there was a 17.9% increase in interest in attending cultural events among US MC&IT travellers, followed by increases in visiting museums and art galleries (+10.9%) and visiting historic sites (+9.4%) compared with the top activities of 2009.
Source: Canadian Tourism, Tourism Snapshot 2010
Monday, June 20, 2011
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Are Your Highschool Days Earning You More?
Were you nerdy enough in highschool to be on the debate club, chess club or school paper? Well, if so, your payback to the jocks and cool kids is that you now likely earn quite a bit more. According to a new study by an economics professor at Cleveland State University, you're probably bringing home a significantly higher pay cheque than kids who were literally too cool for school.
Extracurricular activities are certainly great for developing social skills, but who could know that there's a financial benefit later in life as the study suggests. The study followed 5,000 Americans who were involved in after-school projects, teams and clubs. As adults, they ended up earning salaries 11.8 per cent higher than people who didn't take part in extra activities. The study also discovered that these people are more likely to end up in supervisory roles in their careers, probably because students who engage in extracurricular activities learn to manage tasks and people, in an organized setting.
When you look at hiring new managers for your hotel or restaurant, or want to see who's viable for moving up the ladder, make sure to ask them what activities they were involved in during highschool.
Extracurricular activities are certainly great for developing social skills, but who could know that there's a financial benefit later in life as the study suggests. The study followed 5,000 Americans who were involved in after-school projects, teams and clubs. As adults, they ended up earning salaries 11.8 per cent higher than people who didn't take part in extra activities. The study also discovered that these people are more likely to end up in supervisory roles in their careers, probably because students who engage in extracurricular activities learn to manage tasks and people, in an organized setting.
When you look at hiring new managers for your hotel or restaurant, or want to see who's viable for moving up the ladder, make sure to ask them what activities they were involved in during highschool.
Thursday, June 09, 2011
Hospitality Staff Turn-Over and Finger Pointing
If you're particular hotel, restaurant, or region is having high turn-over, you might want to think twice before blaming your in-house HR team or friendly neighbourhood recruiter! According to workplace management expert; Tony Wilson, 90% of staff leave because of poor managers, not their jobs.
“When an employee resigns, many managers point their finger at the reasons beyond their immediate control. In most cases they should point it straight at themselves”, he said. According to Wilson, the single biggest issue which drives an employee to resign is not the job, salary, workplace environment or the company. Instead it is the quality of their relationship between employees and their direct managers.
In Wilson's book, "Jack and the Team that Couldn’t See", he suggests that most mangers spend too much time on operations, systems, strategy, products and services. “While these are important pieces in the performance puzzle, they spend relatively little time developing their people - their greatest competitive advantage”, he said.
In the largest survey of its kind, global research organization Gallup surveyed over a million employees and 80,000 managers to examine why employees stay or leave. The research found the immediate boss is the primary reason people stay and thrive in an organization, and is also the main reason people leave. Recent research from Indian University also examined employees across different work sectors and found that a worker’s relationship with their boss is nearly equal in importance to their relationship with their spouse when it comes to overall well-being.
How workers feel about their managers even affects physical health. A study of hospital workers conducted by Chilterns University College in the UK found that nurses working for hospital supervisors with poor management styles had significantly higher blood pressure than nurses working for bosses judged as understanding and considerate. As a result, the nurses with bad bosses had a roughly 20% higher risk of heart disease.
Being a good manager may seem a simple concept, but it poses a challenge when we recognize that most managers are promoted according to their ability to do a job well, not on how well they can build a team and get the best out of people.
“This probably wasn’t a consideration in any job prior to being a leader. Almost always, a manager is expected to easily transition without the necessary support and skill development”, said Wilson. “Despite the challenges, every manager needs to face the truth about how vital their relationship with their staff is. They must spend time developing their ability to lead and engage people. Get it wrong and staff will walk”, he added.
To avoid staff walking, better to drop the finger pointing game and tap into all your resources; HR, recruiter, managers, to face the challenge of proactively managing staff.
[Source: article by Lesley Horsburg, Recruitment Extra, October 2010]
“When an employee resigns, many managers point their finger at the reasons beyond their immediate control. In most cases they should point it straight at themselves”, he said. According to Wilson, the single biggest issue which drives an employee to resign is not the job, salary, workplace environment or the company. Instead it is the quality of their relationship between employees and their direct managers.
In Wilson's book, "Jack and the Team that Couldn’t See", he suggests that most mangers spend too much time on operations, systems, strategy, products and services. “While these are important pieces in the performance puzzle, they spend relatively little time developing their people - their greatest competitive advantage”, he said.
In the largest survey of its kind, global research organization Gallup surveyed over a million employees and 80,000 managers to examine why employees stay or leave. The research found the immediate boss is the primary reason people stay and thrive in an organization, and is also the main reason people leave. Recent research from Indian University also examined employees across different work sectors and found that a worker’s relationship with their boss is nearly equal in importance to their relationship with their spouse when it comes to overall well-being.
How workers feel about their managers even affects physical health. A study of hospital workers conducted by Chilterns University College in the UK found that nurses working for hospital supervisors with poor management styles had significantly higher blood pressure than nurses working for bosses judged as understanding and considerate. As a result, the nurses with bad bosses had a roughly 20% higher risk of heart disease.
Being a good manager may seem a simple concept, but it poses a challenge when we recognize that most managers are promoted according to their ability to do a job well, not on how well they can build a team and get the best out of people.
“This probably wasn’t a consideration in any job prior to being a leader. Almost always, a manager is expected to easily transition without the necessary support and skill development”, said Wilson. “Despite the challenges, every manager needs to face the truth about how vital their relationship with their staff is. They must spend time developing their ability to lead and engage people. Get it wrong and staff will walk”, he added.
To avoid staff walking, better to drop the finger pointing game and tap into all your resources; HR, recruiter, managers, to face the challenge of proactively managing staff.
[Source: article by Lesley Horsburg, Recruitment Extra, October 2010]
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Foreign Workers' Class Action Suit against a Canadian Restaurant
Have you been hiring foreign workers the past few years or considering doing so now? A suit has been filed against Denny's recently by a group of foreign workers. One worker fired has been compensated, while other aspects of the 10-million class action suit are pending.
As Tom Sanborn wrote for the Tyee, "In Reasons for Determination on a complaint against the company that operates Denny's Restaurants across western Canada, Amanda Clark Welder, delegate for BC's Director of Employment Standards, has ruled that the firm, Northland Properties Corporation, operating as Dencan Restaurants Inc., fired Alberto Sales, a temporary foreign worker from the Philippines, at least in part because he had contacted the Employment Standards Branch.
This ruling follows the ten million dollar class action suit filed recently against the Denny's operators by fifty temporary foreign workers who allege the company did not live up to its legal obligations to them.
The Employment Standards ruling, issued April 29, rejects Denny's claims that Sales had been terminated because of performance issues. It requires the firm to pay Mr. Sales $6,617.06 for wages lost between the time he was fired and the time his temporary work permit would have run out, plus $138.33 in interest.
The ruling held that Denny's had contravened section 83 of the Employment Standards Act, which prohibits punitive firing of workers for making complaints under the act. According Ms. Welder, Denny's management denied that they had broken the law in firing Sales. Speaking to The Tyee in January, Bobby Naicker, Denny's CEO, responded to questions about Sales and the class action suit by saying "We are comfortable we've done the right thing." In March, advocates told The Tyee that Denny's had at least temporarily improved some of its treatment of temporary workers in response to the class action suit.
"Denny's has been found to have engaged in retribution because a temporary foreign worker filed a complaint with the Employment Standards Branch" said Charles Gordon of Fiorillo Glavin Gordon, lawyer for Sales.
Further claims that the temporary foreign workers had been compelled to pay large hiring fees to an agent of Denny's in the Philippines are under ongoing investigation, and the accusation that workers were illegally required to pay for their own airfare to Canada is now part of the class action suit filed in January, and is thus not addressed in the April ruling.)
"Alberto Sales had a contract which clearly provided that Denny's was required to pay his airfare both from and to the Philippines. When he complained that they were not providing that, as well as paying for overtime and raising the issue of agency fees to get the job at Denny's, he was terminated," Gordon said.
Sales has been forced to return to the Philippines, as his work visa required that he continue working for Denny's in order to remain in Canada.
"This further illustrates the vulnerability of workers under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program," said Gordon."
As Tom Sanborn wrote for the Tyee, "In Reasons for Determination on a complaint against the company that operates Denny's Restaurants across western Canada, Amanda Clark Welder, delegate for BC's Director of Employment Standards, has ruled that the firm, Northland Properties Corporation, operating as Dencan Restaurants Inc., fired Alberto Sales, a temporary foreign worker from the Philippines, at least in part because he had contacted the Employment Standards Branch.
This ruling follows the ten million dollar class action suit filed recently against the Denny's operators by fifty temporary foreign workers who allege the company did not live up to its legal obligations to them.
The Employment Standards ruling, issued April 29, rejects Denny's claims that Sales had been terminated because of performance issues. It requires the firm to pay Mr. Sales $6,617.06 for wages lost between the time he was fired and the time his temporary work permit would have run out, plus $138.33 in interest.
The ruling held that Denny's had contravened section 83 of the Employment Standards Act, which prohibits punitive firing of workers for making complaints under the act. According Ms. Welder, Denny's management denied that they had broken the law in firing Sales. Speaking to The Tyee in January, Bobby Naicker, Denny's CEO, responded to questions about Sales and the class action suit by saying "We are comfortable we've done the right thing." In March, advocates told The Tyee that Denny's had at least temporarily improved some of its treatment of temporary workers in response to the class action suit.
"Denny's has been found to have engaged in retribution because a temporary foreign worker filed a complaint with the Employment Standards Branch" said Charles Gordon of Fiorillo Glavin Gordon, lawyer for Sales.
Further claims that the temporary foreign workers had been compelled to pay large hiring fees to an agent of Denny's in the Philippines are under ongoing investigation, and the accusation that workers were illegally required to pay for their own airfare to Canada is now part of the class action suit filed in January, and is thus not addressed in the April ruling.)
"Alberto Sales had a contract which clearly provided that Denny's was required to pay his airfare both from and to the Philippines. When he complained that they were not providing that, as well as paying for overtime and raising the issue of agency fees to get the job at Denny's, he was terminated," Gordon said.
Sales has been forced to return to the Philippines, as his work visa required that he continue working for Denny's in order to remain in Canada.
"This further illustrates the vulnerability of workers under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program," said Gordon."
Thursday, May 12, 2011
Proof Restaurants Hit Hard by BC's HST
I came across this news release by the Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association(CRFA) and felt it warranted reprinting here for your information:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 4, 2011
VANCOUVER – Nearly nine in 10 restaurateurs have seen a drop in sales since the introduction of the HST and new drinking-and-driving penalties in British Columbia, according to a province-wide survey by the Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association (CRFA).
Overall restaurant sales dropped by an average of 15% in the seven months following the July 2010 introduction of the HST, according to survey respondents. Liquor sales in particular fell by 21% in the four months following the introduction of new blood alcohol content (BAC) regulations in late Sept. 2010.
In the same survey, 68% of B.C. restaurateurs said they will vote against HST as it is currently structured in the upcoming HST referendum.
“For several months these two public policies have stalled any post-recession recovery in British Columbia’s restaurant industry – a recovery that has already taken hold in other provinces,” says Mark von Schellwitz, CRFA Vice President, Western Canada. “The restaurant industry is the fourth-largest private-sector employer in B.C. and contributes to communities all across the province. We urge the government to stop giving British Columbians more reasons to stay home, and work with us to create a better business climate for our members and their customers.”
The CRFA survey finds that:
Nearly nine in 10 (87%) of respondents reported a drop in sales since HST took effect;
The average decrease in sales was 15% between July 2010 and Jan. 2011 compared to the same period a year earlier;
68% of respondents say they will vote against HST as it is currently structured;
88% of licensed restaurant and bar operators said the new .05 drinking and driving penalties resulted in a drop in liquor sales;
Licensees reported an average 21% loss in liquor sales between Oct. 2010 and Jan. 2011 compared to the same period a year earlier;
As a result of the declining sales caused by HST and the new drinking and driving penalties, 72% of respondents said they have cut back on staff hours, 54% are offering more deals and promotions to keep customers, 31% are doing more advertising and marketing, and 20% have reduced their hours of operation.
The CRFA online survey of restaurant owners and operators was conducted between March 23 and March 31, 2011. The findings represent 1,909 B.C. businesses.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 4, 2011
VANCOUVER – Nearly nine in 10 restaurateurs have seen a drop in sales since the introduction of the HST and new drinking-and-driving penalties in British Columbia, according to a province-wide survey by the Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association (CRFA).
Overall restaurant sales dropped by an average of 15% in the seven months following the July 2010 introduction of the HST, according to survey respondents. Liquor sales in particular fell by 21% in the four months following the introduction of new blood alcohol content (BAC) regulations in late Sept. 2010.
In the same survey, 68% of B.C. restaurateurs said they will vote against HST as it is currently structured in the upcoming HST referendum.
“For several months these two public policies have stalled any post-recession recovery in British Columbia’s restaurant industry – a recovery that has already taken hold in other provinces,” says Mark von Schellwitz, CRFA Vice President, Western Canada. “The restaurant industry is the fourth-largest private-sector employer in B.C. and contributes to communities all across the province. We urge the government to stop giving British Columbians more reasons to stay home, and work with us to create a better business climate for our members and their customers.”
The CRFA survey finds that:
Nearly nine in 10 (87%) of respondents reported a drop in sales since HST took effect;
The average decrease in sales was 15% between July 2010 and Jan. 2011 compared to the same period a year earlier;
68% of respondents say they will vote against HST as it is currently structured;
88% of licensed restaurant and bar operators said the new .05 drinking and driving penalties resulted in a drop in liquor sales;
Licensees reported an average 21% loss in liquor sales between Oct. 2010 and Jan. 2011 compared to the same period a year earlier;
As a result of the declining sales caused by HST and the new drinking and driving penalties, 72% of respondents said they have cut back on staff hours, 54% are offering more deals and promotions to keep customers, 31% are doing more advertising and marketing, and 20% have reduced their hours of operation.
The CRFA online survey of restaurant owners and operators was conducted between March 23 and March 31, 2011. The findings represent 1,909 B.C. businesses.
Monday, May 02, 2011
Hotel Stats Available Jan/Feb 2011
Just released: Canadian Hotel Stats, PVK Jan/Feb 2011.
In reviewing the hotel room rates and revenues throughout Canada, one thing caught my eye for the first time that makes me wonder, "Am I living in the right province?".....
Revenue Per Room Availalbe 2011:
Atlantic Canada 41.16
Quebec 58.57
Ontario 54.31
Alberta 60.40
Saskatchewan 70.64
BC 52.20
NW Territories 89.14
OK, so Alberta's higher rate is no shocker, nor is the NW Territories, but Saskatchewan??? What's happening in the Prairie's that I don't know about?
Check out the ups and downs of the hotel industry and watch for trends via the PVK reports at the hotelassociation[dot]ca website.
In reviewing the hotel room rates and revenues throughout Canada, one thing caught my eye for the first time that makes me wonder, "Am I living in the right province?".....
Revenue Per Room Availalbe 2011:
Atlantic Canada 41.16
Quebec 58.57
Ontario 54.31
Alberta 60.40
Saskatchewan 70.64
BC 52.20
NW Territories 89.14
OK, so Alberta's higher rate is no shocker, nor is the NW Territories, but Saskatchewan??? What's happening in the Prairie's that I don't know about?
Check out the ups and downs of the hotel industry and watch for trends via the PVK reports at the hotelassociation[dot]ca website.
Monday, April 11, 2011
Want to Reduce Labour Costs? Series Part 2/3
Reducing Labour Costs: Series: Part 2/3
Our second issue focus is on skills development.
Did you know that a 1% gain in the average literacy/numeracy skill level in Canada would create a permanent increase of 18.4 billion per year in our GDP according to Stats Canada? How could that affect your bottom line?
Of low literacy workers in Canada, 64% are employed in industries such as hotel and restaurants.
+ Apprentice Hiring Incentive
+ SkillsPlus
Both the SkillsPlus and the Apprenticeship programs can support your financial goals if they involve improvinng staff productivity, reducing errors, reducing absenteeism and turnover, improve succession planning, and much more.
The Apprentice Program is 85% work-based training and 15% technical training and your successful staff will earn their certificate or ticket, typically in a 4-year period. A win-win all around.
The SkillsPlus program has been expanded from a focus on small business (under 50 employees) to include medium-sized businesses (under 500 employees). There is a customized program for tourism/hospitality.
Target Professionals Hospitality Recruiting sources management and executive level candidates within Western Canada. Visit us online or call at 604.552.2377 for service information.
Our second issue focus is on skills development.
Did you know that a 1% gain in the average literacy/numeracy skill level in Canada would create a permanent increase of 18.4 billion per year in our GDP according to Stats Canada? How could that affect your bottom line?
Of low literacy workers in Canada, 64% are employed in industries such as hotel and restaurants.
+ Apprentice Hiring Incentive
+ SkillsPlus
Both the SkillsPlus and the Apprenticeship programs can support your financial goals if they involve improvinng staff productivity, reducing errors, reducing absenteeism and turnover, improve succession planning, and much more.
The Apprentice Program is 85% work-based training and 15% technical training and your successful staff will earn their certificate or ticket, typically in a 4-year period. A win-win all around.
The SkillsPlus program has been expanded from a focus on small business (under 50 employees) to include medium-sized businesses (under 500 employees). There is a customized program for tourism/hospitality.
Target Professionals Hospitality Recruiting sources management and executive level candidates within Western Canada. Visit us online or call at 604.552.2377 for service information.
Friday, March 25, 2011
Want to Reduce Labour Costs?
Series: Part 1/3
This is the one cost variable that can be a challenge, and typically a good reason clients seek my help as an hospitality recruiter. The need to carefully monitor and reduce labour costs is especially important in the current economic situation, with increased energy costs, and for BC, we must consider the imminent increase in minimum wage.
This series' focus is youth incentive programs although not exclusively:
+ Youth Skills BC(YSBC) Hiring Incentives or the Skills Link Program
+ Targeted Wage Subsidies for Employers (Nationwide)
The YSBC is a pilot project offering BC employers a $2000 hiring incentive (up to 3 employees at $2000 each) to hire eligible youth between the ages of 15 and 29 and goes further to offer a training allowance of up to $1000 for this new employee.
Skills Link provides funding to hire youth between the ages of 15 and 30 inclusive who are not on Employment Insurance and experiencing barriers to employment; ie: single parents or living in rural locations.
The Targeted Wage Subsidy program provides employers with temporary financial assistance towards wages of eligible individuals whom they hire. The incentive is for employers to hire candidates they may not have hired otherwise without the subsidy.
Target Professionals Hospitality Recruiting sources management and executive level candidates within Western Canada. Visit us online or call at 604.552.2377 for service information.
This is the one cost variable that can be a challenge, and typically a good reason clients seek my help as an hospitality recruiter. The need to carefully monitor and reduce labour costs is especially important in the current economic situation, with increased energy costs, and for BC, we must consider the imminent increase in minimum wage.
This series' focus is youth incentive programs although not exclusively:
+ Youth Skills BC(YSBC) Hiring Incentives or the Skills Link Program
+ Targeted Wage Subsidies for Employers (Nationwide)
The YSBC is a pilot project offering BC employers a $2000 hiring incentive (up to 3 employees at $2000 each) to hire eligible youth between the ages of 15 and 29 and goes further to offer a training allowance of up to $1000 for this new employee.
Skills Link provides funding to hire youth between the ages of 15 and 30 inclusive who are not on Employment Insurance and experiencing barriers to employment; ie: single parents or living in rural locations.
The Targeted Wage Subsidy program provides employers with temporary financial assistance towards wages of eligible individuals whom they hire. The incentive is for employers to hire candidates they may not have hired otherwise without the subsidy.
Target Professionals Hospitality Recruiting sources management and executive level candidates within Western Canada. Visit us online or call at 604.552.2377 for service information.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
More Pay = More Satisfaction?
We all want a job that pays well, right? How many of us think things like "if I could only make "X" amount more, I would be happy"? Tempting to think such things isn't it? These questions, of course, address the old debate of whether pay leads to satisfaction. We've all heard anecdotes about people who make lots of money and are miserable yet many of us can't help but think that more money would give us more job satisfactaion as well as improve our lives overall.
In the Journal of Vocational Behavior, Author T.A. Judge, et al, recently put this issue to the test to find out if employees find higher paying jobs more satisfying. While their results suggest that within organizations, higher pay is associated with higher job satisfaction, the relationship was not very strong. Not surprisingly, the results also suggest that pay level is more strongly related to employees' satisfaction with pay specifically than with the job overall. Moreover, the fairly weak relationships between pay level and satisfaction were consistent across several countries (U.S., Great Britain, India, Australia, Taiwan).
This study suggests that while increased pay is somewhat associated with increased satisfaction, it's not a strong enough correlation to say anything definitively. If employees truly want satisfying work, then searching for the best paying job is probably not the way to go.
The authors note that attractive characteristics of the leaders and the actual job are likely better predictors of job satisfaction than pay level. People tend to leave positions more because of issues with their direct boss rather than any other issue.
While these results also suggest that increasing pay alone is probably not the best way to improve employees' attitudes, they advise that pay does have motivational power. Being a pay leader in the industry is unlikely to boost organization-wide satisfaction, because employees tend to compare themselves to others, but it will attract highly qualified candidates who value their own skills and experience and look for a company that fairly compensates and values employees financially as well as otherwise.
Publication: Journal of Vocational Behavior (OCT 2010)
Article: The relationship between pay and job satisfaction: A meta-analysis of the literature
Authors: T.A. Judge, R.F. Piccolo, N.P. Podsakoff, J.C. Shaw, and B.L. Rich
In the Journal of Vocational Behavior, Author T.A. Judge, et al, recently put this issue to the test to find out if employees find higher paying jobs more satisfying. While their results suggest that within organizations, higher pay is associated with higher job satisfaction, the relationship was not very strong. Not surprisingly, the results also suggest that pay level is more strongly related to employees' satisfaction with pay specifically than with the job overall. Moreover, the fairly weak relationships between pay level and satisfaction were consistent across several countries (U.S., Great Britain, India, Australia, Taiwan).
This study suggests that while increased pay is somewhat associated with increased satisfaction, it's not a strong enough correlation to say anything definitively. If employees truly want satisfying work, then searching for the best paying job is probably not the way to go.
The authors note that attractive characteristics of the leaders and the actual job are likely better predictors of job satisfaction than pay level. People tend to leave positions more because of issues with their direct boss rather than any other issue.
While these results also suggest that increasing pay alone is probably not the best way to improve employees' attitudes, they advise that pay does have motivational power. Being a pay leader in the industry is unlikely to boost organization-wide satisfaction, because employees tend to compare themselves to others, but it will attract highly qualified candidates who value their own skills and experience and look for a company that fairly compensates and values employees financially as well as otherwise.
Publication: Journal of Vocational Behavior (OCT 2010)
Article: The relationship between pay and job satisfaction: A meta-analysis of the literature
Authors: T.A. Judge, R.F. Piccolo, N.P. Podsakoff, J.C. Shaw, and B.L. Rich
Friday, March 11, 2011
Restaurant Waste Trends
If you've been in a restaurant kitchen, as many of you have considering this blog is all about hospitality, you've seen how much food, water and energy can be wasted there. Chef Arthur Potts-Dawson shares his very personal vision for drastically reducing restaurant, and supermarket, waste -- creating recycling, composting, sustainable engines for good (and good food). Here's a link to his talk, it's only 8minutes of your workday and very interesting.....
Arthur Potts Dawson: A vision for sustainable restaurants | Video on TED.com
Arthur Potts Dawson: A vision for sustainable restaurants | Video on TED.com
Monday, February 14, 2011
How Many Duds Do You Hire?
While much attention has been given to the importance of hiring talented employees, issues around the cost of bad hires are of increasing importance to both HR professionals and their organizations. What strategies could you use to improve the performance of new hires and how can you reduce the likelihood of their early departure?
With the best screening process and interviewing of candidates, it’s still possible to have a very high on-the-job success rate even if major errors occurred in the screening process. This may sound counter-intuitive, but there is a reason for this.
Tips for minimising new-hire early turnover
For the purposes of this article, the definition of a new hire ‘failure’ includes a new hire that: must be given major training or retraining during the first six months; voluntarily quits within six months; must be redeployed during the first year; is given performance management counselling during the first year; must be terminated within one year, or is a finalist who refuses your job offer.
Involve employees. If you have a less-than-perfect screening process, as we all do, the best way to minimize the impacts of any errors is to ensure that the new hire gets additional help once they start the job. In other words, even if the candidate does not have a perfect set of skills, they can still succeed if other employees want them to succeed and a buddy system is created. If other employees want them to succeed, they will provide the new hire with whatever special help, mentoring and guidance they need.
The best way to ensure your employees are willing to provide this extra help after the candidate starts the job is to involve the employees early on in the hiring process. Involving employees works because if they feel they are responsible for the new hire and that they own the hiring process, employees will invariably find a way to help the new hire succeed on the job. The best ways to increase employee involvement include paying special attention to employee referrals, providing peer-to-peer interviews, and, whenever possible, letting employees make the final selection from the group of finalists you have approved.
Here is a big one....avoid misleading the candidate.... giving them a realistic job preview. A major reason for candidate failure and early turnover is that the candidate was misled about the job, the manager, or the company during the recruiting and interviewing process. It’s important to not only provide the positive attributes of the job, but if you over-glamourize, many new hires quickly become disillusioned, disappointed, or even angry when they find out after starting that their real job compares little to the one outlined in the interview. This can result in poor early job performance or early resignations.
A realistic job preview should include both positive and negative aspects of the job. It can be a video, a site walk-through, or merely a list of the positive and negative aspects of the job. You can develop a list of positive and negative job features through an anonymous survey of recent hires and people currently in the job. It generally includes not just the types of bad and good things that occur, but also their frequency of occurrence.
Ask candidates what they require for success. Many candidates fail on the job not because they don’t have the required skills, but because they are not provided with the right information, tools, or guidance. That’s why it’s important to ask finalists, “If you’re hired, what would you require in order to be successful?” By identifying candidates’ key success factors and needs, you can determine if those are even possible before you hire them, and you can provide that list to the direct supervisor, who can utilise the list to ensure that new employees’ needs are met so that they can get off to a fast and successful start. The goal here is to create a win-win by taking care of your new hire's needs.
Make sure you have a solid orientation program in place. Even a great hiring process can’t guarantee that you won’t end up with low performers and high turnover rates. This is because the selection process is only the first step to success. The seeds of on-the-job failure can begin the very first day on the job if the new hire’s orientation experience goes awry.
For example, if the new hire starts and on their first day their manager is nowhere to be found, it can confuse and disorient them. During the first week, frustration and other problems can occur if the new hire has no uniform, work schedule, or training manual. The absence of managers and the frustration of not having the necessary tools might lead a new hire to develop poor habits that will permanently affect their productivity. In addition, poor orientation might cause candidates to develop such a negative attitude about the firm that they may prematurely quit.
Avoid ‘candidate abuse’, high offer - rejection rates and early turnover
Even if you accurately assess the candidate, you are likely to lose candidates if you mistreat them during the interview and hiring process. In fact, several companies have found that the highest reason for offer letter rejection is ‘candidate abuse’ during the hiring process. Some of the ways to decrease candidate abuse, and subsequently increase offer acceptance rates, include:
Stop doing stupid things during interviews. Sometimes interviewing managers can be the cause of high offer rejection rates. By taking phone calls during interviews, cancelling and rescheduling interviews, appearing disorganised, or even asking illegal or silly questions, interviewers can easily scare away top candidates.
Remember, great hiring only starts with effective skill assessment. If you disillusion or discourage top candidates, they will simply make up an excuse to drop out of the running or say no to your offer. Incidentally, you can only find out the real reason why they rejected your offer by asking them six months later.
Stop ‘death by interview’. Many companies avoid the use of testing candidates due to possible liability and have become increasingly conservative in how they screen candidates. As a result of this fear, companies have increased the number of interviews to make up for the absence of other screening tools. In some cases, interviews have proliferated like rabbits. Where one or two interviews used to be common, now multiple interviews are frequently the norm.
The net result of this trend is that candidates must endure a large number of interviews that are generally spread out over a painfully long time period. From the candidate’s perspective, attending a large number of interviews on different days is expensive and time-consuming. The long delays and the uncertainty stress candidates and their families. The burden is even worse, however, because in a down economy, the odds of all that time and effort actually resulting in a job offer are actually pretty small. By reducing the number of interviews, holding them at night, and even trying to have them all completed on the same day, can reduce top candidate dropout rates and increase offer acceptance rates.
Stop ‘death by repetition’. In a related matter, when candidates are subjected to multiple interviews (at the same company) it is quite common for different interviewers to ask exactly the same questions in back-to-back interviews. This tedious repetition is often because interviews by different managers are not planned or coordinated. It is also partially caused by interview training manuals, which, by suggesting appropriate questions to use in an interview, can inadvertently cause interviewers to use the same questions over and over.
From the candidate’s perspective, having to answer duplicate questions over and over is frustrating and confusing. Lack of preparation can cause some managers to ask questions whose answers are clearly right on the resume, wasting valuable time and frustrating the candidate even further. By reducing the total number of interview questions and then assigning the appropriate interview questions to individual managers (based on their knowledge area), you can reduce repetition, candidate frustration, and offer rejections.
Don’t keep candidates in the dark. Another all-too-common abuse of candidates occurs when managers keep candidates in the dark about the interview process and what is expected during it. Candidates are not told about what will occur during the interview and what skills will be assessed. In addition, they are frequently not told who will be there during the interview and what the role of each interviewer is.
This lack of information leads to confusion and frustration on the part of the powerless candidate – all for no reason. There is no legal regulation that prohibits companies from telling candidates upfront about the process and what is being assessed during it. Failing to educate the candidate may cause candidates to over-prepare in unimportant areas and under-prepare in important ones. Not knowing who will participate in the interview prevents the candidate from doing research on the background of the interviewers. By telling the candidate more, you can limit their frustration and increase the likelihood that they will provide the information you need to make an accurate hiring decision.
Reduce interview overload by discouraging less than qualified applicants from applying. You are less likely to waste time and be fooled by less-than-qualified or uninterested candidates if you work with a recruiter. Also, you might consider these approaches:
• Put automated self-assessment company culture and skill assessment tools on your website so that candidates can pre-screen themselves in or out of the process before it formally begins.
• Make a list with specific numbers of the disqualification factors that will significantly lower or eliminate their chances of getting the position. Put them on the website, along with the job description, as a pre-warning that they will not qualify if they meet any of the disqualification criteria.
• Post your average job acceptance/failure rate (in percentages) for applicants, so that people know upfront that the odds of anyone (other than the most qualified candidates) of getting the job are very low.
• Be highly selective in where you advertize your jobs, and create links to your website. Don’t place them in general interest publications. Instead, study the demographics of the most qualified people and place ads or job openings exclusively where it is highly likely that only the most experienced and qualified individuals will read them.
• Post frequently asked questions and their answers on your website. By providing these questions and answers, you can discourage individuals who would have not applied had they known in advance the answer to their specific question.
In the end, tt’s essential that recruiters and managers take a more realistic and critical view of the traditional interviewing and selection process. Rather then assuming that it’s perfect, they should instead examine it closely to identify its many nearly fatal flaws.
In fact, if you look at the validity and reliability of interviews as a scientist would, you’ll find the accuracy of the process to be appallingly low. Why managers and recruiters consistently ignore these facts is confusing, but such ignorance is unacceptable because weak hiring systems and bad hires cost firms millions of dollars.
The average cost of a bad hire is two times salary and when customer contact is involved, the costs can easily exceed half a million dollars. Instead of being complacent, managers and recruiters need to take a fresh look at the process and the metrics or measures that they use to calculate the percentage of ‘duds’ that they hire.
The approaches outlined above can dramatically improve new hire success rates. Because they include less freedom and subjectivity than the traditional interview process, they will produce higher offer acceptance rates as well as new hires who are productive and faster, who stay longer, and who are more satisfied with their jobs.
While much attention has been given to the importance of hiring talented employees, issues around the cost of bad hires are of increasing importance to both HR professionals and their organizations. What strategies could you use to improve the performance of new hires and how can you reduce the likelihood of their early departure?
With the best screening process and interviewing of candidates, it’s still possible to have a very high on-the-job success rate even if major errors occurred in the screening process. This may sound counter-intuitive, but there is a reason for this.
Tips for minimising new-hire early turnover
For the purposes of this article, the definition of a new hire ‘failure’ includes a new hire that: must be given major training or retraining during the first six months; voluntarily quits within six months; must be redeployed during the first year; is given performance management counselling during the first year; must be terminated within one year, or is a finalist who refuses your job offer.
Involve employees. If you have a less-than-perfect screening process, as we all do, the best way to minimize the impacts of any errors is to ensure that the new hire gets additional help once they start the job. In other words, even if the candidate does not have a perfect set of skills, they can still succeed if other employees want them to succeed and a buddy system is created. If other employees want them to succeed, they will provide the new hire with whatever special help, mentoring and guidance they need.
The best way to ensure your employees are willing to provide this extra help after the candidate starts the job is to involve the employees early on in the hiring process. Involving employees works because if they feel they are responsible for the new hire and that they own the hiring process, employees will invariably find a way to help the new hire succeed on the job. The best ways to increase employee involvement include paying special attention to employee referrals, providing peer-to-peer interviews, and, whenever possible, letting employees make the final selection from the group of finalists you have approved.
Here is a big one....avoid misleading the candidate.... giving them a realistic job preview. A major reason for candidate failure and early turnover is that the candidate was misled about the job, the manager, or the company during the recruiting and interviewing process. It’s important to not only provide the positive attributes of the job, but if you over-glamourize, many new hires quickly become disillusioned, disappointed, or even angry when they find out after starting that their real job compares little to the one outlined in the interview. This can result in poor early job performance or early resignations.
A realistic job preview should include both positive and negative aspects of the job. It can be a video, a site walk-through, or merely a list of the positive and negative aspects of the job. You can develop a list of positive and negative job features through an anonymous survey of recent hires and people currently in the job. It generally includes not just the types of bad and good things that occur, but also their frequency of occurrence.
Ask candidates what they require for success. Many candidates fail on the job not because they don’t have the required skills, but because they are not provided with the right information, tools, or guidance. That’s why it’s important to ask finalists, “If you’re hired, what would you require in order to be successful?” By identifying candidates’ key success factors and needs, you can determine if those are even possible before you hire them, and you can provide that list to the direct supervisor, who can utilise the list to ensure that new employees’ needs are met so that they can get off to a fast and successful start. The goal here is to create a win-win by taking care of your new hire's needs.
Make sure you have a solid orientation program in place. Even a great hiring process can’t guarantee that you won’t end up with low performers and high turnover rates. This is because the selection process is only the first step to success. The seeds of on-the-job failure can begin the very first day on the job if the new hire’s orientation experience goes awry.
For example, if the new hire starts and on their first day their manager is nowhere to be found, it can confuse and disorient them. During the first week, frustration and other problems can occur if the new hire has no uniform, work schedule, or training manual. The absence of managers and the frustration of not having the necessary tools might lead a new hire to develop poor habits that will permanently affect their productivity. In addition, poor orientation might cause candidates to develop such a negative attitude about the firm that they may prematurely quit.
Avoid ‘candidate abuse’, high offer - rejection rates and early turnover
Even if you accurately assess the candidate, you are likely to lose candidates if you mistreat them during the interview and hiring process. In fact, several companies have found that the highest reason for offer letter rejection is ‘candidate abuse’ during the hiring process. Some of the ways to decrease candidate abuse, and subsequently increase offer acceptance rates, include:
Stop doing stupid things during interviews. Sometimes interviewing managers can be the cause of high offer rejection rates. By taking phone calls during interviews, cancelling and rescheduling interviews, appearing disorganised, or even asking illegal or silly questions, interviewers can easily scare away top candidates.
Remember, great hiring only starts with effective skill assessment. If you disillusion or discourage top candidates, they will simply make up an excuse to drop out of the running or say no to your offer. Incidentally, you can only find out the real reason why they rejected your offer by asking them six months later.
Stop ‘death by interview’. Many companies avoid the use of testing candidates due to possible liability and have become increasingly conservative in how they screen candidates. As a result of this fear, companies have increased the number of interviews to make up for the absence of other screening tools. In some cases, interviews have proliferated like rabbits. Where one or two interviews used to be common, now multiple interviews are frequently the norm.
The net result of this trend is that candidates must endure a large number of interviews that are generally spread out over a painfully long time period. From the candidate’s perspective, attending a large number of interviews on different days is expensive and time-consuming. The long delays and the uncertainty stress candidates and their families. The burden is even worse, however, because in a down economy, the odds of all that time and effort actually resulting in a job offer are actually pretty small. By reducing the number of interviews, holding them at night, and even trying to have them all completed on the same day, can reduce top candidate dropout rates and increase offer acceptance rates.
Stop ‘death by repetition’. In a related matter, when candidates are subjected to multiple interviews (at the same company) it is quite common for different interviewers to ask exactly the same questions in back-to-back interviews. This tedious repetition is often because interviews by different managers are not planned or coordinated. It is also partially caused by interview training manuals, which, by suggesting appropriate questions to use in an interview, can inadvertently cause interviewers to use the same questions over and over.
From the candidate’s perspective, having to answer duplicate questions over and over is frustrating and confusing. Lack of preparation can cause some managers to ask questions whose answers are clearly right on the resume, wasting valuable time and frustrating the candidate even further. By reducing the total number of interview questions and then assigning the appropriate interview questions to individual managers (based on their knowledge area), you can reduce repetition, candidate frustration, and offer rejections.
Don’t keep candidates in the dark. Another all-too-common abuse of candidates occurs when managers keep candidates in the dark about the interview process and what is expected during it. Candidates are not told about what will occur during the interview and what skills will be assessed. In addition, they are frequently not told who will be there during the interview and what the role of each interviewer is.
This lack of information leads to confusion and frustration on the part of the powerless candidate – all for no reason. There is no legal regulation that prohibits companies from telling candidates upfront about the process and what is being assessed during it. Failing to educate the candidate may cause candidates to over-prepare in unimportant areas and under-prepare in important ones. Not knowing who will participate in the interview prevents the candidate from doing research on the background of the interviewers. By telling the candidate more, you can limit their frustration and increase the likelihood that they will provide the information you need to make an accurate hiring decision.
Reduce interview overload by discouraging less than qualified applicants from applying. You are less likely to waste time and be fooled by less-than-qualified or uninterested candidates if you work with a recruiter. Also, you might consider these approaches:
• Put automated self-assessment company culture and skill assessment tools on your website so that candidates can pre-screen themselves in or out of the process before it formally begins.
• Make a list with specific numbers of the disqualification factors that will significantly lower or eliminate their chances of getting the position. Put them on the website, along with the job description, as a pre-warning that they will not qualify if they meet any of the disqualification criteria.
• Post your average job acceptance/failure rate (in percentages) for applicants, so that people know upfront that the odds of anyone (other than the most qualified candidates) of getting the job are very low.
• Be highly selective in where you advertize your jobs, and create links to your website. Don’t place them in general interest publications. Instead, study the demographics of the most qualified people and place ads or job openings exclusively where it is highly likely that only the most experienced and qualified individuals will read them.
• Post frequently asked questions and their answers on your website. By providing these questions and answers, you can discourage individuals who would have not applied had they known in advance the answer to their specific question.
In the end, tt’s essential that recruiters and managers take a more realistic and critical view of the traditional interviewing and selection process. Rather then assuming that it’s perfect, they should instead examine it closely to identify its many nearly fatal flaws.
In fact, if you look at the validity and reliability of interviews as a scientist would, you’ll find the accuracy of the process to be appallingly low. Why managers and recruiters consistently ignore these facts is confusing, but such ignorance is unacceptable because weak hiring systems and bad hires cost firms millions of dollars.
The average cost of a bad hire is two times salary and when customer contact is involved, the costs can easily exceed half a million dollars. Instead of being complacent, managers and recruiters need to take a fresh look at the process and the metrics or measures that they use to calculate the percentage of ‘duds’ that they hire.
The approaches outlined above can dramatically improve new hire success rates. Because they include less freedom and subjectivity than the traditional interview process, they will produce higher offer acceptance rates as well as new hires who are productive and faster, who stay longer, and who are more satisfied with their jobs.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Social Media "Reference Check"
There is a growing trend to use online social media - facebook, myspace, etc - to gather information or a "reference" of sorts, on prospective candidates. Putting aside the discussion of an individual's privacy for the moment, liability is top of mind for Human Resource Managers in regard to social media and the prospect of lawsuits against their companies.
Human Resource Managers have had it hammered home to, above and beyond all else, be concerned with liability. There are so many areas a company can be open to liability after all; hiring, firing, promotions, credit checks, performance plans … tell me when to stop.
Liability is so prominent that there’s a whole industry dedicated to telling us what can get their companies sued and how to avoid it. Much of that advice is well-intentioned and valuable, but occasionally over the top in the interest of protection.
Go to any HR conference these days and you’ll hear speakers waxing poetic about the risks of viewing the social media accounts of candidates in the selection process. It’s the obvious stance when you think about it. You viewed a social media account, saw something you didn’t like and made a hiring decision that had nothing to do with someone’s ability to do the job.
Are HR Managers damned for judging a candidate's profile on facebook or damned if we don't? Some things to consider from HR's point of view:
1. Can we afford NOT to Google a candidate and see where the digital trail takes us? Most any CEO if asked: “Do you expect me to do everything legally at my disposal to ensure the hires we make can do the job and are great fits for our company?” will likely give a positive response. Your CEO expects you to deploy all legal measures you can reasonably afford to make sure you’re making great hires.
2. Hiring managers are becoming much more tolerant, hopefully, about what they see in a candidate’s social media footprint. The transparency of social media created a bit of a blowback effect in the early days. We never had access to pictures of candidates drinking before, so there was some shortsighted judging going on as a result. Now? We’ve seen enough to remember that people drink socially and pictures can be dated. As a result, we’re much more tolerant when we find out that a candidate’s not spending weeknights at church. Our threshold for what constitutes a red flag is much higher and more related to whether someone can do the job. That’s a good thing.
3. Candidates don't always get the real reason they were rejected, and that doesn’t change simply because social media is at play. Unless the candidate in question has a skills gap, most organizations don’t share the real reason for rejection. As a candidate, you had a personality issue and seemed a little angry at the world during the interview process. Did the company provide you with candid feedback? Of course they didn’t. We’re already trained on what not to say that might present liability in the feedback process. Why should questionable pictures or content mined through social media be held to a higher standard?
Stop me when you’ve heard this risk reducer: “We’ve elected to make an offer to a candidate who was a better fit for the role in question.” The statement is true when you don’t think someone can get along with the hiring manager and it’s true when they’ve blasted opinions via social media that most at your company would find objectionable.
4. Privacy settings have eliminated much of the liability related to social media. By far, the biggest risk to a company is digging into a social media account that is intended for nothing but personal use by a candidate. Facebook is the choice of most candidates when it comes to communicating events in their personal lives, and privacy settings now allow a candidate to wall off what they don’t want the world at large to see. As a result, liability has been greatly reduced during the past two years.
5. Evolution means some species don’t advance. You pay your employees to exercise good judgment related to what, with whom and how they communicate. This requirement is on display daily in your company, and when someone shows they can’t do it, you separate them from the mother ship (that’s called termination, folks).
Even though we’ve grown up dramatically related to our reaction to personal details shared via social media, occasionally someone will share something so egregious you know there’s a judgment issue at play in their DNA. That means they don’t get to play in your company at which time you share the talking points detailed in item No. 3 above.
For HR Managers, it's all about risk vs engagement. So too for candidates. Social media may have started as a convenient way to share your private life with family and friends, but it has always had a risk of what you display, and now that includes prospective bosses.
[Source: article by Kris Dunn, Workforce Management Online, January 2011]
Human Resource Managers have had it hammered home to, above and beyond all else, be concerned with liability. There are so many areas a company can be open to liability after all; hiring, firing, promotions, credit checks, performance plans … tell me when to stop.
Liability is so prominent that there’s a whole industry dedicated to telling us what can get their companies sued and how to avoid it. Much of that advice is well-intentioned and valuable, but occasionally over the top in the interest of protection.
Go to any HR conference these days and you’ll hear speakers waxing poetic about the risks of viewing the social media accounts of candidates in the selection process. It’s the obvious stance when you think about it. You viewed a social media account, saw something you didn’t like and made a hiring decision that had nothing to do with someone’s ability to do the job.
Are HR Managers damned for judging a candidate's profile on facebook or damned if we don't? Some things to consider from HR's point of view:
1. Can we afford NOT to Google a candidate and see where the digital trail takes us? Most any CEO if asked: “Do you expect me to do everything legally at my disposal to ensure the hires we make can do the job and are great fits for our company?” will likely give a positive response. Your CEO expects you to deploy all legal measures you can reasonably afford to make sure you’re making great hires.
2. Hiring managers are becoming much more tolerant, hopefully, about what they see in a candidate’s social media footprint. The transparency of social media created a bit of a blowback effect in the early days. We never had access to pictures of candidates drinking before, so there was some shortsighted judging going on as a result. Now? We’ve seen enough to remember that people drink socially and pictures can be dated. As a result, we’re much more tolerant when we find out that a candidate’s not spending weeknights at church. Our threshold for what constitutes a red flag is much higher and more related to whether someone can do the job. That’s a good thing.
3. Candidates don't always get the real reason they were rejected, and that doesn’t change simply because social media is at play. Unless the candidate in question has a skills gap, most organizations don’t share the real reason for rejection. As a candidate, you had a personality issue and seemed a little angry at the world during the interview process. Did the company provide you with candid feedback? Of course they didn’t. We’re already trained on what not to say that might present liability in the feedback process. Why should questionable pictures or content mined through social media be held to a higher standard?
Stop me when you’ve heard this risk reducer: “We’ve elected to make an offer to a candidate who was a better fit for the role in question.” The statement is true when you don’t think someone can get along with the hiring manager and it’s true when they’ve blasted opinions via social media that most at your company would find objectionable.
4. Privacy settings have eliminated much of the liability related to social media. By far, the biggest risk to a company is digging into a social media account that is intended for nothing but personal use by a candidate. Facebook is the choice of most candidates when it comes to communicating events in their personal lives, and privacy settings now allow a candidate to wall off what they don’t want the world at large to see. As a result, liability has been greatly reduced during the past two years.
5. Evolution means some species don’t advance. You pay your employees to exercise good judgment related to what, with whom and how they communicate. This requirement is on display daily in your company, and when someone shows they can’t do it, you separate them from the mother ship (that’s called termination, folks).
Even though we’ve grown up dramatically related to our reaction to personal details shared via social media, occasionally someone will share something so egregious you know there’s a judgment issue at play in their DNA. That means they don’t get to play in your company at which time you share the talking points detailed in item No. 3 above.
For HR Managers, it's all about risk vs engagement. So too for candidates. Social media may have started as a convenient way to share your private life with family and friends, but it has always had a risk of what you display, and now that includes prospective bosses.
[Source: article by Kris Dunn, Workforce Management Online, January 2011]
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