Tourism businesses are weighing up the situation, with seasonal impacts, domestic travellers now loving being back overseas, and our favoured international travellers not returning as quickly as we’d like.
It’s easy to hesitate around staffing up, it’s likely that head counts are being reduced because the coming months aren’t what was predicted or hoped for.
And we know that the pool of trained and talented staff remains low.
With all this in mind, here are 5 strategies to address staff shortages and improve the customer experience:
1 – Invest in Workforce Development: Focus on training and development programs to upskill existing staff. By investing in employee growth and offering opportunities for advancement, businesses can boost employee morale and loyalty, leading to improved customer service.
2 – Enhance Recruitment and Retention Efforts: To combat staff shortages, review recruitment and retention strategies. Think about offering more competitive salaries and benefits, create a positive work environment, and provide opportunities for career progression. These can help attract and retain talented individuals.
3 – Leverage Technology Solutions: Automation and technology can help bridge the gap caused by staff shortages. Implementing self-service kiosks, chatbots, and online booking systems can streamline processes, reduce the burden on employees, and provide customers with quick and efficient service. Likewise take a good hard look at systems in-house already – are they antiquated, slow and in-effective? Could that put off prospective staff, or mean existing staff leave sooner, because they can’t handle the clunky old systems they need to use to do their job?
4 – Foster Collaboration and Cross-Training: Encourage collaboration among employees and implement cross-training initiatives. By fostering a culture of teamwork, employees can support each other during peak periods, ensuring that customer needs are met promptly and efficiently. Likewise have you considered partnerships with like-minded businesses in other regions to counter the high and low seasons.
5 – Prioritise Employee Well-being: Promote work-life balance and prioritise employee well-being. Implement flexible scheduling options, provide adequate breaks, and create a supportive work environment. By prioritising the well-being of employees, businesses can reduce turnover rates and maintain a motivated workforce dedicated to delivering exceptional customer experiences.
Which of these strategies could your business definitely work on?
Gen
P.S Whenever you’re ready… here are 4 ways I can help you develop and work on your business leadership capabilities:
- Grab a free copy of Smash Indecision and Overwhelm, 4 Steps for Better Business Leadership E-book
It’s the road map to overcoming doubt and indecision, how to deal with “overwhelm” to improve your business leadership capabilities. —Click Here - Join the Tourism Business Leader’s Facebook group and connect with like-minded leaders focused on building highly effective teams
It’s our Facebook community where smart leaders get to learn more about creativity, leadership and performance for tourism business success. —Click Here - Join our Tourism Pro-Team Program
Helping tourism business leaders develop their skills to improve engagement, accountability and performance of the team. If you’d like to work with me so you can stop being reactive, have the difficult conversations and drive performance to get the results you want and know the business need then…message PRO to me here and I’ll get you all the details. - Let’s get the Whole Team Together
Would you like a different perspective and someone else at the front of the room or on zoom/teams to lead regular and consistent team building, accountability, and engaging learning experiences, that drive results and outcomes for individuals, teams, and the business? If you feel a little challenged with everything going on, maybe sounding like a cracked recorded saying things repeatedly, or actually not 100% how to motivate and inspire the team, given the current nature of business, it may be useful for us to chat. Message TEAM to me here… and tell me a little about the business, your team, and what you’d like to work on together.
