In the highly competitive hospitality industry, the biggest edge a business can have is service quality, which is why owners and managers increasingly realize that putting real resources into staff training is the best way to keep their edge keen.
However, for many companies, setting up effective training procedures can be expensive and time-consuming — not to mention requiring knowledge and skills that simply may not exist within an organization. An increasing number of businesses are turning to certification programs that offer complete, self-paced modular training in a wide variety of skills.
One such progam is emerit, a collection of training tools incorporating feedback and guidance from industry representatives.
Forster's, a chain of four restaurants in the BC interior, is enthusiastic about its staff training and is now using an emerit supervisor training program. Since the beginning of the year, all Forster's supervisors are required to complete the Supervisory Skills tool, and the results are already apparent. "Our supervisors appreciate the certification opportunity and our company feels our retention of our key people will be longer because of this" says Forster's Restaurants President Al Forster.
Even larger operations with ample resources find emerit's products to be cost-effective.
Lissa-Maria Pietracupa is vice-president of "People and Culture" for Coast Hotels and Resorts, a regional chain with 35 hotels and resorts in Western North America. For more than a year the company has required all new employees to achieve emerit professional certification within the first 12 months of employment. She says the company is pleased with the results and views certification as the foundation for further in-house training.
"There is a real noticeable difference [in the employees]," she says, "not only in having the skills to perform their job, but also in their confidence that they can present themselves appropriately and know how to handle a situation."
She says that wearing the lapel pin indicating that an individual is nationally certified in their field engenders a sense of professional pride that "very much fits our corporate culture." She believes that an employee who is proud of their job performs better at it.
Lissa-Maria, whose background is in the high-tech sector, thinks that all hospitality businesses, large or small, can benefit from better staff training. She says it not only dramatically improves service but also enhances employee satisfaction and retention. As far as cost goes, she points out that spending money to train a person who stays for five years makes better bottom-line sense in the long run than training a constant turnover of employees.
