I've devoted a lot of words in these biweekly blogs over the last few years to reminding hoteliers to be focused on their employees, and I'm extremely delighted to see that one of the top lessons people learned from the COVID-19 pandemic has been to do exactly that.
I hear so often now from hoteliers — completely unprompted most of the time — that they're doing what they're doing to empower their teams and create a positive work culture for their employees. This conversation was so sparse back in 2019 and earlier, and now it's one of the most-talked-about subjects in the industry.
But one thing I think we all need to be extremely mindful of is not every segment, not every place in the employment food chain is feeling the love in quite the same way. Even if your company has an overall good culture, often if there's any sort of strife or disconnect, it happens at what you could define as the middle-management level.
Now I know that's a pretty amorphous term, but what I mean is the folks positioned to act as authority figures who often have to defer most or at least a significant portion of decision-making power to those above them. Think a general manager or director of operations at a hotel that is managed by a large, sophisticated third-party management company.
Beyond being paid well, receiving flexibility and earning strong benefits, what most employees want out of their work experience is to feel empowered — like they're more than just cogs in a machine. So if there's some disconnect on issues big or small that come from the top down, it's often those managers that will bear the brunt of that without the power to offer employees proper recourse.
At the same time, that level of employee is likely the most burnt-out from the last few years of being severely understaffed. After all, it's the general managers of the world who stuck around during the depths of the downturn in 2020 and were forced into doing every job on property just to keep the lights on. If they're now positioned in your company as the "bad cop" expected to enforce unpopular corporate edicts, that's likely a tough pill to swallow after years of doing the dirty work.
These people are not a dime a dozen or easily replaced. Their jobs require critical thinking, empathy, authority and creativity, so any business strategy built around effectively chewing them up and spitting them out is inherently flawed. They themselves need to feel empowered, like their voices are heard at the corporate and C-suite level, with clear pathways to growth and regular signs that you both appreciate the hard work they've put in and are striving to make things better for them every day.
As the old adage goes, people don't quit jobs, they quit managers. So if you have good managers, reward them and foster their growth in positive ways. Don't chase them away or turn them into bad managers through a combination of frustration and disenfranchisement.
Let me know what you think on Twitter, LinkedIn or via email.
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