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HOW TO DEVELOP YOURSELF AND YOUR EMPLOYEES
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MODULE 4
UNIT
12345
SESSION
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Session 8-9.
•
Labour requirements
106
•
Recruitment
112
•
Trial periods
122
•
Developing your staff
128
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Section Four: How to develop yourself and your employees
4.1 LABOUR
Labour requirement
Labour profiling
Getting the right number of staff with the right skills within very small
businesses is crucial to success or failure to that business. Not only
must the correct level of staff be employed (to avoid over stretching
the staff or having staff standing around idle) but also the skills
possessed by staff are important for quality of work and they must
have the right attitude to the work you require them to do.
In this section we will look at profiling of labour, analysing the skills
you require and recruiting the right staff for the job.
¾ Tasks and timing of tasks
The type of work and the level of that work
will vary enormously
throughout the year in most small and micro businesses and
especially in those within the tourist industry sector. A range of
factors influences the requirements for labour, seasonality will affect
overall demand with peak months often being June - August or in
some areas with significant mountains, skiing is important during the
winter months.
In the tourism service sector like accommodation and catering your
greatest demand will come at peak times whereas in the production
sector (e.g. crafts, clothes, local processed/processed foods as was
indicated in section 3) manufacture of these products will be required
before peak demand in order to build up stocks in time for the peak
season.
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¾ Building your labour profiles
As part of your planning for a business enterprise you will need to
clearly identify the job tasks and work programmes required to make
your products or deliver your services efficiently.
You should identify all the different skills needed in order to
undertake these tasks (not forgetting those associated with looking
after your guests and customers properly).
ACTIVITY
Write down all the skills required for one of the tasks in your own or
planned business enterprise.
This will help you to build up a profile of the skills needed and begin
to identify which types of staff you need in your business. Many of
these tasks you will be able to do yourself, however there will be
peak times when you will need help or assistance to get all the work
done. You need to plan ahead for these times so that you have the
help at the times and the places when you need it most!
¾ expect the unexpected
Remember also that things will not always go according to your plans
and unexpected opportunities or problems may occur so it is a good
idea to prepare contingency plans just in case. Consider carefully
where you might get extra staff from in a hurry. Family or friends
may be able to help out at short notice for a short time, or there may
be Agencies in your area supplying temporary staff - at a price
premium. Colleges too may have students looking for part time or
casual work but do take care especially where there are statutory
laws in place - such as food hygiene certificates
or minimum age
standards e.g. for bar work.
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¾ pattern of labour needed
Your work plan should also take account of weekly and daily patterns
of labour demand. This is particularly important if you will need to
employ people for more than 8 hours per day e.g. in an all day
kitchen or a visitor attraction open from morning till night.
When planning your labour requirements take account of where this
labour might come from. Are there available staff
in the area with
the required skills. This is especially relevant in busy tourist areas
where demand for staff is high during peak summer months. Staff
may be available during the quieter months but may also family
commitments during summer and other school holidays.
Similarly weekend staff may be difficult to find and retain when family
ties mean staff are needed elsewhere.
¾ seasonal / weekly / daily trends in labour required
Daily patterns of labour requirements must also be considered
carefully. Staff with family may be available during their children's
school hours whilst younger (or older) people may be available earlier
in the day or later in the evenings. If good staff are in short supply it
may be worth considering scheduling your work to coincide when
these better staff are available.
Action point:Use examples drawn from a bed and breakfast and a craft shop to
demonstrate how labour requirement patterns vary throughout the
day
Skills analysis
Undertaking a job or task skills analysis will help you identify clearly
what skills and/or knowledge will be required to undertake that job or
perform the task.
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In doing this analysis you will also be part of the way towards
profiling the types of person you need to employ for that task. this is
very helpful when it comes to advertising for an employee since you
will have to carefully describe the job and define the personal
characteristics of the future employee in order to ensure you attract
the right applicants and don't waste your time and theirs.
Action point:
identify a task or a job within your company or that you have
experience of and try to describe in detail all the activities of the job
in one column in the other list the skills required in order to
undertake these activities.
job/task activities
skills required
¾ skills analysis
Just as it is important to try to employ staff with the best fit of skills
to those required in a job, it is also important to recognise that jobs
change and that staff may need to acquire new skills in order to
complete new roles effectively. Staff may also wish to progress to
new roles within your company or take on new responsibilities.
It may also be necessary to undertake a training needs analysis
periodically in order to ensure staff have all the right skills for your
changing workplace. This can be done relatively simply at the level of
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the individual staff member by discussing with them their current
level of skills and competence in carrying out the tasks required in
the new role and comparing this with the relative importance of this
skill in any new role. The following table called a snake can be used
to help quantify this relationship:
Job title.........................................
job task list
5 = high; 1 = low
personal skills level
1
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1
Priority
importance of task in
undertaking job
1
2
3
4
5
5
4
3
2
1
2
5
4
3
2
1
5
4
3
2
1
3
5
4
3
2
1
5
4
3
2
1
4
5
4
3
2
1
5
4
3
2
1
Where personal skills are low (1) but priority is high (5) then
¾ labour availability
it may be that within your family there are unused labour resources
which could assist you in your new enterprise. It might be more
effective in the longer term to train your family or relatives since they
are possibly going to remain in the business/enterprise for longer
than an employee. Such
surplus labour however may only be
available at certain times e.g. evenings which may be ideal for bar
work or extending production times. However just because they are
family does not mean they should not have access to appropriate
training.
Family and friends are also a source of labour if you need them in a
hurry and may be prepared to help for the short term. Similarly there
are a number of temporary staffing agencies or a local college may
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have students looking for part time and evening work to supplement
their grants/loans. You should always take care however if legislation
applies e.g. food hygiene certificates or a minimum age applies e.g.
bar work.
¾ pattern of labour needed
Your work plan should also take account of the weekly and daily
patterns of labour demand. This is particularly important if you will
need to employ people for more than 8 hours per day e.g. with
kitchen staff where you plan to provide breakfast, lunch and evening
meal or in a visitor attraction open from morning till evening.
When planning your labour requirements take account of where this
labour might come from. Are there sufficient available staff in the
area with the required skills, this is especially relevant in a busy
tourist area where demand for staff is high during the summer
months. Staff may be available during the quieter months but may
also have family commitments during summer school holidays.
Similarly weekend staff may be difficult to find and retain where
family ties mean they are needed elsewhere.
daily patterns of labour must be considered carefully, staff with family
may only be available during the children's school hours whilst
younger or older people may be available early in the day and
evenings. Where good staff are in short supply it may be worth
scheduling the more challenging tasks at times when skilled staff are
available.
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4:2
RECRUITMENT
Recruiting the right staff
Staffing of any tourism or craft small business is one of the most
important aspects of business management. Since so much of your
business will be done in a face to face situation and interpersonal
skills plays such a central role in every interaction with customers
your success as a company will depend upon YOU and YOUR STAFF even your part time staff.
Getting the right staff to do the job is crucial
There are broadly speaking five elements to recruiting the right staff
for the right job:1. You will need an up-to-date and accurate job description
2. You should use the job description to work out the type of person
you need for the job
3. You need to think about how you will advertise the job position
4. You will need to interview candidates for the job
5. You will need to make a job offer to your chosen candidate
Job description
It is tempting when running a small or micro business to say that
since it is so small with only a few staff that there is no need for job
descriptions. The advantage of a job description is that it clearly
defines and identifies the roles and responsibilities of each of your
staff.
This allows you to better manage your business and as a result your
staff will have a greater sense of belonging to your company.
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When you have a vacancy a job description helps you to more clearly
define and specify the type of person you are looking for. You will be
able to provide enquirers and potential applicants with a copy of the
job description which helps them to determine whether this vacancy
is what they are looking for. They will be better able to match their
skills and knowledge to what they will be expected to do in the post
thus making it easier for them to decide whether they should apply.
This should reduce irrelevant applications and reduce the amount of
time taken in selecting the right person for the job or applicants for
interview.
A job description normally contain certain key pieces of information:¾ the title of the job (it is important to get the wording right
otherwise you may attract the wrong applicants or fail to attract
those that you are looking for)
¾ the
person
to
whom
the
post
holder
will
be
reporting/responsible
¾ a general description of the job and its responsibilities
¾ a longer list of the main or specific tasks
It is good practice once the post has been filled to spend time with
the new employee going through the job description in more detail
and agree the main tasks, responsibilities and reporting
requirements.
Here is a sample job description for a person required to help serve in
a bar:
Sample job description
Job Title:
Bar person
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Reports to: Manager
General Job Outline: to operate a full bar service to customers
Specific tasks:The Bar Person will:
¾ greet customers in a welcoming manner
¾ take customers orders, ensuring that alcoholic drinks are
served in accordance with the law
¾ pour/mix drinks for customers in accordance with laid down
procedures
¾ enter the correct prices or codes into the cash till, inform
customers of the amount due, receive payment and give
customers the correct change
¾ clear and clean tables in accordance with company standards
¾ wash glasses and dispose of any damages
¾ maintain drink an mixer stock levels
¾ keep bar and associated areas clean, tidy and ready for use
¾ undertake any other duties as are required by the Manager
Now prepare a similar job description a the job/post in your company
¾
¾
¾
¾
¾
Working out the type of person you require:If you have a job description for the vacant post, it should be fairly
easy to identify the type of person you will require.
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Using the example of the job description for the bar person we
showed above we could prepare the following list of requirements for
the most suitable person in terms of experience, skills and personal
qualities.
List of skills and qualities required for a bar work person:
¾ previous experience of work in a public bar
¾ knowledge of laws governing sale of alcoholic drinks (licensing
laws)
¾ knows how to mix/pour drinks
¾ able to take and remember orders
¾ able to check beer levels
¾ able to operate cash register
¾ has a good standard of personal hygiene
¾ has a welcoming attitude and manner
¾ is a good communicator
¾ is interested in working with the general public
¾ is able and willing to work shifts and unsocial hours
now prepare a similar list of skills and qualities related to the job
description you prepared for your post:¾
¾
¾
Advertising a job vacancy
Before you write a job advertisement you should always consider
where you intend to place it. This will determine how long it can be,
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the style of writing, the size of text you can use, how much detail you
will be able to put into it and lastly the cost of the advert.
You should also be careful about legal aspects of wording
relating to equal opportunities: gender, race, religion etc.
There are a number of ways to place advertising and the following are
some examples ranked according to cost:
Cheap
¾ job centre
¾ local shops/supermarket/post office
¾ local career service
¾ local college or university
¾ circulating around friends/relatives
¾ a notice in your door/window
More expensive
¾ local weekly newspaper - modest cost
¾ local recruitment paper (maybe free or modest cost)
¾ internet sites (maybe free or modest cost)
¾ national newspaper (bigger audience but more costly)
A basic job advertisement should contain sufficient information to
enable applicants to make rational decisions about whether the job is
for them. Here is an example of a job advert for seasonal guides in a
tourist visitor attraction:-
VISITOR
GUIDES
WITH
EXCELLANT
COMMUNICATION
SKILLS
required to conduct parties around historic house from May to
September.
Please
apply
in
writing
by
xx/xx/xxxx
to
the
Administrator, The Big House, Any Town, Scotland, YZ12 9AB.
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Checklist for preparing job descriptions
¾
clearly identify your company or business
¾
clearly write the job title
¾
say where the job is located
¾
provide the following job details:
¾
responsibilities of the job
¾
the period of the contract and hours of work
¾
how applicants should apply or make contact with you
Always check:¾
basic facts are correct
¾
they are written in such a way they attract interest
¾
the text is concise and not too wordy
¾
it is clear what the applicants should do next.
If the job involves significant responsibility (e.g. cash or line
management of other staff) or working with confidential information
you might want to ask for character references from previous
employers
or
people
who
know
the
applicants
well
(e.g.
school/college/university Tutors). This could be in the form of a letter
from one of the above submitted by the applicant with their
application or a confidential reference sent by the Referee directly to
you. In the case of the latter you should ask applicants for names and
addresses of people willing to act as Referee and write directly to the
Referees requesting this information.
Interviews and interviewing candidates
Selecting for interview
Use the skills and personal attributes list prepared earlier to sort the
applicants into lists of suitable and unsuitable candidates. From the
suitable list select those most closely fitting the criteria you set for
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the job and prepare a manageable list for interview. Most employers
like to interview about 3 or 4 candidates per post.
Inviting them for interview
Select a suitable date in the immediate future bearing in mind that
they might have to make arrangements to be free to attend. Contact
each by telephone or letter inviting them for an interview. It is
important
to
include
clear
instructions
giving
the
following
information: where to come, when to come, who to ask for and what
to expect e.g. do you want them to make a short presentation?
At the interview (First impressions count)
When the interviews occur, even if you decide early on a chosen
candidate remember that each following candidate is hoping to get
the job so give them all a good interview, it helps their morale and if
at a later date another position comes up they may again be a
suitable candidate.
Try to make the candidates comfortable, try also to make a good
impression on the candidates it will make them more confident about
you as an employer. Prepare a checklist to help make interviews go
more smoothly:¾ arrange for candidates to arrive a little bit early and offer them
a cup of tea/coffee before the interview starts
¾ arrange for someone to meet each candidate or do it yourself
and show them where to sit and wait for their interview
¾ arrange for you not to be disturbed, e.g. turn off your office
telephone and mobile phone, have someone intercept all
visitors and colleagues. Put a notice on your door saying why
you are busy.
¾ clearly introduce yourself and also others on the interview panel
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¾ use a warm, friendly and encouraging tone of voice
¾ start the interview with simple questions for example about
their travel arrangements to get to the interview. This will help
candidates relax and be more comfortable with you and the
room.
Interview Questions
The questions you ask at interview are very important as the answers
you receive (in addition to any information given to you in application
letters) will provide you with the information you need to select the
most appropriate candidate for the job.
It is important to ask each candidate broadly similar questions so that
you can more easily compare their strengths and weaknesses. There
are also legal issues relating to equal opportunities which you should
be aware of in particular relating to gender equality.
Questions to ask:The following is a check list of questions you could ask which provide
basic information about most candidates. Some questions may not be
appropriate to all candidates or job situations.
1. Personal Information (to save time you could request this before
the interview)
¾ age
¾ marital status
¾ general health
¾ educational background
¾ any job specific qualifications (e.g. food hygiene)
2. Vocational and work background
¾ What work are you doing at the moment?
¾ What do you do in this work?
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¾ What other jobs have you had?
¾ What did you learn from the jobs you have had?
¾ What aspects of this work did you like best?
¾ What aspects did you like least?
¾ What problems did this work present and how did you
overcome these problems?
¾ Why do you wish to leave your current job?
3. The current job vacancy
¾ Why did you apply for this job?
¾ What experience do you have in this field of work (you should
refer at this point to the job description)?
¾ What job specific training (and qualifications if not covered
above) have you had recently?
¾ Here
is
a
situation
you
might
encounter
in
this
job.......(describe a scenario e.g. a difficult customer, crisis
situation or other work related problem). What would you do if
you were faced with such a situation?
¾ If you were offered the job what help or support do you think
you will require, at least in the initial stages.
4. Social aspects
¾ Describe what hobbies and other interests you have
¾ What is it about these activities which interests you?
Closing the interview. The following are important aspects you should
cover before completing the interview.
¾ Ask candidates if they have any questions. Answer these as
fully as you can.
¾ Provide information on conditions of employment e.g. rates of
pay, hours of work, holiday entitlement, starting date.
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¾ What notice must they give to their current employer, when
could they start the job if it was offered to them.
¾ Ask if candidates would accept the job if it was offered
¾ Give a date when decisions about the job will be taken and
when they could expect to hear.
¾ If appropriate tell them that appointments will be conditional on
satisfactory references and obtain permission to approach
referees.
Making the job offer
When you make the job offer to the successful candidate (whether in
person, by telephone or in writing) you are in effect entering into a
contract with them. European Employment law lays down strict
criteria on providing contracts and conditions of service, as an
employer you should be aware of all the requirements of this law.
Letters offering employment should provide an outline of the main
terms of the contract and an example is given below (the post of
Visitor Guide is used as a basis):Dear............
Visitor Guide
I am pleased to offer you a position as a Visitor Guide at The Big
House from 1st May to 29th September 200x. The salary is £150 per
week (payable weekly) and the hours of work are............
I would be grateful if you would sign and return the acceptance form
below as soon as possible. I look forward to seeing you here on 1st
may at 09.00 hrs.
Yours sincerely ................................
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Acceptance Form for the post of Visitor Guide, The Big House.
I accept the position of Visitor Guide at The Big House, at the stated
salary of 150 Euro per week. I understand this is on a fixed-term
contract basis, from 1st May to 29th September 200x.
Signature: ................................
Date: ...................................
4:3 TRIAL PERIODS
For some jobs it may be a good idea to start staff on a trial period in
order to determine whether they are suited to the job. This is
especially the case where jobs are difficult or where particular skills
are required and you are providing this training on-the-job. It will be
important for both you to fully explain the arrangement to your new
employee so that he or she understands that performance will be
evaluated at the end of the trial period. Criteria for this evaluation
should be clearly detailed and the methods for evaluating whether
these criteria have be achieved should be fully transparent.
4:4 HOW TO KEEP GOOD STAFF
Recruitment and training of staff is a very expensive and time
consuming task. It has been estimated in Scotland that it can cost
companies between 1,200 Euro and 3,500 Euro to lose a member of
staff and recruit and train another one. It therefore pays to keep
good staff and in this section we look at ways to retain and motivate
them.
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Meeting the needs of staff
The first step should be to meet the needs of staff in the workplace.
As people we all have similar drives and needs, these are termed our
motivators. As we grow older these may change with our developing
lives and may be different from those at an earlier stage. Some
examples of motivators are:¾ Financial security
¾ Respect from others
¾ Satisfaction from doing a good job
¾ Status and power
¾ Challenge, ambition or learning something new
(although not all of us will have these at all stages of our lives).
As employers we can help to stimulate our staff motivation however
there is only so much we can do in this respect. Motivation must
come from within a person and as an employer or manager you can
create a climate within which this motivation can be developed
through helping to meet staff needs.
Some things you can do to support and encourage motivation
include, recognising staff achievement,, giving of responsibility to
appropriate
staff,
operating
fair
practice,
training
and
staff
development. These will go a long way to gaining commitment from
staff and support from them to continuously improve their own
performance.
It has been shown from research and example that management by
threat does not motivate people in the longer term. Sitting along with
staff, working with them, recognising their needs and keeping them
informed are great motivators.
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Working to standards
What are standards and why work to them?
Standards are set by customer expectation, Tourists especially expect
increasingly high standards of presentation and companies if they are
going to get repeat business must meet these expectations.
In order to meet these standards companies must set their own
standards of product presentation, regardless of whether you are
producing goods or services. For example a provider of tourist
accommodation would expect her bedrooms to be clean and tidy with
towels and bed linen folded and presented in the correct way. In
order to achieve this the staff must be:¾ trained in the ways in which the rooms are to be prepared and
the standards expected
¾ continually supported to maintain these standards
Standards are important since if you do not set standards for your
employees to work to, you are likely to get poor and variable work in
return. You will only have yourself to blame.
Setting appropriate and achievable standards for employees will
encourage pride in your workforce. They will take encouragement
from achieving these and especially if praised by you will be
motivated to maintain these standards. This in turn will be good for
your business.
How to identify standards
There are a number of ways in which you can identify the standards
to which you expect your staff to work.
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Firstly it is important for you to identify areas of their work where
performance standards are relevant
Secondly you can link standards to the tasks you identified within
your employers job descriptions
Thirdly you can use published standards issued by the various
associations operating within your industry sector e.g. "Quality
Service Guides" are issued by the UK Tourist Boards. Other
organisations operate quality standards for catering, customer care
and working with the public.
Examples of Standards in the tourism related area might include:1. Operational tasks
¾ response time for customer enquiries (e.g. brochures will be
posted within 24hrs)
¾ frequency with which tasks are undertaken (e.g. public area
toilets are cleaned twice daily)
¾ product quality especially those items for public sale
¾ information given to customers will be 100% accurate
¾ operational safety (all equipment will be used in accordance
with manufacturers written procedures)
¾ staff appearance (e.g. staff in contact with customers will at all
times have a standard dress and clean tidy appearance)
¾ staff attitudes (e.g. staff will be helpful to customers; staff will
at all times check for damages and report any they find)
¾ wastage (e.g. the amount of waste is to be reduced by x% over
x months)
2. Customer care
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¾ Customers are dealt with in a polite and helpful manner at all
times
¾ Staff are sympathetic to the perceived need and feelings of
customers
¾ Complaints are acknowledged immediately and attended to
without delay
¾ Customer health and safety is given highest priority at all
times.
Prepare your own list of standards for your business (use the above
where appropriate)
¾
¾
¾
¾
¾
¾
To monitor the above you should prepare a checklist and regularly do
a "health check" of standards for each section of your business.
The following check list gives some examples of questions you might
include:Health Check questions
Notes
Do my staff look clean and tidy?
Do staff show sensitivity to the needs of
customers?
Do staff look as if they genuinely like
people?
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Are response times to customer needs and
to events appropriate?
Are staff working procedures the most
efficient?
Is the working environment welcoming,
clean and tidy etc?
Is the customer environment welcoming,
are there any distractions which might
reduce the pleasure of customers?
Providing Staff Feedback
Feedback is used here to describe the range communications between
you and your staff. It is most often used by managers to
communicate their feelings following an event and as such can be
highly motivating for staff if used carefully and sympathetically.
If a member of staff has undertaken a task well, performed to a high
standard or taken on duties above those normally required then this
should be acknowledged. A sincere "thank you" or "well done" is a
good motivator not only to them but also to the other staff who will
see that good work is appreciated. The occasional gift is also a good
idea especially if associated with a piece of outstanding work.
Remember that feedback can also go in both directions, a good
manager will also seek information from their staff about how the
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¾ Motivating staff
¾ Ensuring a member of staff knows a change in behaviour is
required (and why this should be)
¾ Providing information
¾ Confirming that a message has been received and understood
¾ Letting feelings be known
4:5 DEVELOPING YOUR STAFF
Throughout this section of the course we have stressed the need for
you to employ the best possible staff. In this part we will look at the
subject of how to continually develop their skills. In order to identify
the development needs of your staff it is important to have clearly
identified their job responsibilities and this was covered earlier in this
course.
Identifying staff development needs
This is one of the key aspects of effectively managing your business.
This process may involve one or more of a number of techniques
some of which include:-
¾
Observing staff at their work place
¾
Noting
how
they
undertake
work
tasks
e.g.
customer
interaction, bedroom preparation
¾
Trying staff out in new work roles
¾
Analysing problems within the company
¾
Identifying whether standards are being achieved
¾
Listening to staff ideas on improving the business
¾
Undertaking regular staff development reviews.
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When was the last time you use any of the above techniques to
identify the development needs of any of your staff?
What if anything have you done in recent years about identifying
development needs of your staff?
Remember to always refer to the staff members job description when
considering their performance in job tasks.
Developing staff
This will frequently involve staff undertaking some form of learning.
There are various forms or modes of learning and these include:¾
In the work place
¾
At a training centre, school or college
¾
Distance learning (on paper or via computer)
All forms of learning will require some time away from the job in
order for the staff member to undertake the learning although this
will vary depending upon the mode and the nature of the actual
learning. Whilst doing this you may need to have some cover from
Colleagues or extra staff brought in for that time.
Learning in the workplace may involve less time away from the
business but may require more supervision of the learner by senior
staff. This commitment must be fulfilled by senior staff otherwise
learners can become easily disillusioned.
Learning at training centres etc. is more common but involves staff
being away from the workplace for periods of time often, for full days.
Their time must be covered from within the business or by bringing in
extra cover for the time they are away. Expecting staff to catch up
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HOW TO DEVELOP YOURSELF AND YOUR EMPLOYEES
with their work after they return can lead to resentment and again
disillusioned staff.
Distance learning is becoming increasingly popular especially with
micro-businesses where it is difficult to release staff for full days.
Staff can pick up their learning at times suited to themselves and if
given support can also continue during their own time at home or
during break periods.
It will be important for you consider the implications of all the above
on the running of your business when staff undertake development
courses. Not only do training programmes cost money but providing
appropriate support may also have resourcing implications for your
business.
Implementation of learning
Following up the training with support to the member of staff who has
completed the training is just as important as providing the training
in the first place. It is vital that staff are given opportunities to
implement the learning and that this is seen and approved by
yourself and senior staff. Often this learning will have implications for
you as a manager in terms of the ways in which you run your
business, your standards or operating procedures. It is important that
you sit down with staff and discuss how what they have learned can
be used to benefit them in the ways they are working and what
benefits there may be to the business.
Finally don't forget that learning is not a once and for all time activity.
There will be continual need for staff development, not least because
the tourist related industry is continually changing.
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