Hotel-Level Workforce Management: Reducing Wage Spend, Improving Guest Service and Reflecting Priorities

While everyone knows the schedule is important and is viewed as the lifeblood of hotel operations, most hotels have little structure and even fewer processes to guide this critical component. 

Reducing Wage Spend vs. Optimizing It

Wage cost is the second- or third-line item in every operating department’s P&L, after revenue and cost of sales, and the first thing we analyze in non-revenue departments. Wage cost is the biggest expense in many departments. Yet, wage cost improvement is only one benefit of effective hotel workforce management.

In the weekly labor meeting or month-end P&L review, the focus is on the wage margin or the productivity ratio or both — and it should be. Effective workforce management optimizes wage spend. Optimizing wage spend is different than reducing wage spend. 

A brand-new manager can reduce wage spend; they simply schedule less and send every employee to clock out on time, never incurring even a few minutes of overtime. 

Effective workforce management is more than reducing wage spend; it is a strong structure and effective processes which directly impact three areas of the hotel’s scorecard and influence a fourth.

Four Scorecard Wins from Effective Workforce Management

More accurate weekly forecasts and better schedules result in lower wage spend while putting the right person, in the right place, at the right time to better service the guest. Employees are happier and more engaged when the schedule is completed on time and does not require constant revisions. 

Lower wages, better service, and happier employees are three direct scorecard wins. Better service and happier employees will drive additional revenue. 

Four positive impacts on the scorecard: lower wages, better service, happier employees, and higher revenue, all by optimizing the workforce management process.

How Hotel Workforce Management Improvement Actually Happens

The schedule is a management decision that reflects your organization’s priorities, values, and your assumptions about your team. Workforce Management makes those decisions visible, deliberate, and improvable.

When a hotel improves its workforce management, it follows the same path as any important initiative: hotel leadership sets the priorities and values, the structure, and the workforce management expert/advisor designs and implements the process.

Achieving significant gains across multiple metrics does not involve a multiple-month project, a big upfront time or fiscal investment, or new technology. Every hotel is paying employees, so you already have some level of a workforce management system — how can you leverage what you have?

Workforce management improvements fit every hotel size, from mega resorts to small boutique independent hotels because every hotel benefits from lower wage costs, with improved guest service and happier employees.

How Does your Hotel Stack up?

Do a quick analysis to determine gaps at your hotel?

• Are you above 90% accurate with weekly volume forecasts?
• Are you providing a planned hours target, by day and function, based on that weekly forecast?
• Are the scheduled shifts staggered based on customer volume? Or are the start/end times the same every week?
• Do the managers get labor analytics every day? So the P&L is not a surprise at the end of the month?
• Is there a weekly labor meeting led by finance, operations, and human resources?

Then, you can determine how much can be gained by a workforce management evaluation for your hotel.