Hospitality | 5 Strategies to Improve Employee Job Satisfaction & Morale

The fourth in our series focuses on workforce morale and job satisfaction in hospitality. Discover how basic fundamental training and management support can reduce employee turnover rates, increase morale and help your bottom line.

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Job Satisfaction

Job satisfaction in hospitality is important to not only retain employees but also to be able to fulfill the needs of your customers. Job satisfaction displays the amount of gratification that employees have when they’re in the workplace. It plays a crucial role in employee productivity.

Unsatisfied employees with low morale simply don’t have the incentive to exceed expectations from either managers or customers. Such circumstances are especially dangerous in the hospitality industry as inferior quality service directly impacts customer satisfaction and, eventually, brand reputation. Given the importance of social influence in the modern marketplace, negative reviews and low ratings can quickly erode business.

While the cause of low morale can vary between organizations, some of the more common reasons include a consistent lack of training, unskilled coworkers, lack of sufficient staff and lackluster rewards. Many hospitality workers consider themselves underutilized. It should be clear to management that employees want to learn and progress within their roles. However, most times, they do not feel they have sufficient training and opportunities to do so.

Employee Morale

Employee morale is a description of the emotions, attitudes and feelings of employees within their workplace environment. Employees that are happy and show a positive attitude at work are known to have high morale. Employees who don’t favor their work environment have low morale.

A few aspects of a workplace that can influence an employee’s morale include working conditions, support from management and job security. For example, If an employee sits down with their manager and it is communicated that they are on task with their work, then they will have a higher likelihood of feeling emotionally at ease and feel less pressure because of receiving a vote of confidence from management.

During an annual performance review, an employee may be asked how they feel about the work they are doing and evaluate their environment. This question gives the employee a chance to answer the question directly about whether the job is fitting in with their career goals.

It’s important for you to analyze employee morale and job satisfaction as two separate concepts. If you notice an employee with decreasing satisfaction, morale or both, you can assess how they can proceed in finding solutions to help them regain their morale or passion for their work.

👉 Here are strategies for improving your workforce’s morale and job satisfaction.

Create a positive work environment

The success of your organization can be determined based on how your workforce communicates with one another. Therefore, fostering positive behavior within your workplace is crucial to ensure your workplace can manage projects they’re working on and interact with clients in a friendly way.

Assess managerial support and behavior

Employees who work with clients on a day-to-day basis are brand ambassadors for your organization. Whether if it’s sales, marketing or another department, employees may not receive direct feedback from clients about their performance. If you receive feedback from the client about an employee, present feedback in an honest manner. Ensure that you’re making them feel like they’re doing well and are taking the necessary steps to better their performance when necessary.

Check in with managers monthly to see if they’re proceeding in enacting the steps to render employee feedback.

Measure satisfaction

Hold individual meetings with your employees periodically to gauge the motivation they have towards their job. When you get a response from the employee, you have a better idea of what their motivations are and how to build on them. Performance reviews also can give the employee an avenue to express their opinions in writing about additional comments they may have about their current role.

Involve employees in decision-making

Another method of fostering an all-inclusive workplace is to elicit feedback from team members as to areas of growth on a specific strategy or tactic. Giving employees more autonomy when it comes to resource allocation, setting priorities and goals is conducive to the success of your strategy. Also, it empowers employees to execute their tactics with clarity.

Receive feedback from employees regularly

Ensure you have direct communication avenues with your employees that extends beyond one manager. It’s important to have the manager’s evaluation of the employees. Establish an open-door policy to allow for frank conversation and open up the communication lines between upper and lower-level employees.

Are you ready to increase workforce morale and job satisfaction in hospitality? Focus on improving your employee’s attitude to their work to increase retention & overall customer service quality.

👉 Continue reading our blog and learn how to solve other HR struggles in hospitality.

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