Yes, there was a time when pulling out a phone during the workday was frowned upon. However, with social media playing such a prominent role in the lives of not only our employees, but also in the actual success of our properties, that “mental attitude” towards phones needs to change. The challenge is to find the proper balance of the two, so it benefits the employee, the property, and the guest experience.
Controlling Staff Usage
Social media is a mental break from the daily events of life for most people today. You won’t get too much of an argument from the “older” generation that people may be too deeply involved in social media, but by agreeing to that, you also agree just how important social media is to the “younger” generation, which we are sure many of your employees fall into.
Depending upon the position, you will definitely want to limit just how much time your staff members use social media but look at it as a tool make their job a bit more enjoyable as well as showing some pride in their work. Guidelines will have to be set and followed, but this is something that can be used to your advantage.
Increasing Your Online Presence
It is no secret more people use social media to find information about events, hotels, and restaurants than we have ever seen before. In fact, in certain industries, ours included, potential customers and employees visit sites like Facebook and Instagram to obtain information about these types of businesses. This is exactly where your staff can help you promote your brand.
When it comes to the hospitality industry, your operational managers and support staff are not just staff members in their respective departments, but also potential sales people for your property. These particular employees no doubt see far more good and bad about the property than sales people will on a day-in and day-out basis. That being the case, get them involved in developing your online presence.
For instance, are your banquet managers taking daily pictures that can be posted on the various social media profiles depicting break setups, buffet displays, and table settings? This is an opportunity to help cross the bridge between operations and sales that is a challenge for virtually every property in the hospitality industry.
While it is ill-advised to allow random staff members to post on social media accounts without some type of approval process, using their pictures and tagging them is a terrific way to give a banquet houseman, housekeeper, or server an attitude boost. Little things like this should be done on the spot for maximum impact.
By that we mean make the post, tag the employee, then allow them to like and share the post right then and there on their own personal page. Now you have line employees with their chest out because they made an actual REAL contribution to not only their department, but the public image and perception of the property.
There is no arguing the fact this can be a challenge to implement and control, but the rewards far outweigh the risk here. Furthermore, social media and technology are just a reality for today’s hospitality managers. Your options are to embrace it and move forward, creating a better work environment and a stronger online presence or going down the rabbit hole and having employees dreading coming to work. We can all agree the former is the far better option.
Need executive-level hospitality managers to help take your operation to the next level and beyond? JDI Search is a leading hospitality recruiting service with a proven record of recruiting and hiring managers for hotels throughout the country. For more information about our services, please click here.
Photo By stevanovicigor