In the new era of asset light strategies, the acquisition and retention of young talent is becoming a strategic function for global hospitality companies. Winning companies should embrace new talent strategies to outperform their competitors in their respective markets, and better prepare for upcoming challenges from disruptive hospitality companies.
For the 9th year in a row, the Young Hoteliers Summit Employer Rankings Report explores career path motivations and workplace characteristics young professionals view as the most important. This year, 1766 students completed the survey from 95 nationalities across 198 schools. Here are the key takeaways:
Career path analysis
More than ever, intrinsic motivation is key for motivating young graduates to work in a specific company. Development and learning opportunities, company culture and work life balance are key factors graduate consider when choosing a job. Hotel companies should seriously consider these factors to attract and retain talent.
There is also a general increase in interest for traditional hospitality in the past 3 years. This is very promising for a relatively slow changing industry. Hotel companies should benefit as much as possible from this new motivation and continue widely promoting the industry to continue this positive momentum.
Hotel companies should also consider other industries with similar traits as hospitality (banking, events, and luxury and fashion) as competitors to attract talent. Highlighting the core values of hospitality (relationships, teamwork, service) would set hotel companies apart from the other industries.
Communication and HR practices
In order to reach and attract new talent, hospitality companies should provide opportunities to have direct contact with the company environment by offering personal experiences within the company. Additionally, young graduates place greater value and trust on information or experiences provided by peers. Nowadays, brand and work environment reputations are co-constructed with your potential employees.
To further enhance young graduates’ interest to work for a particular company, hospitality brands could offer potential employees greater insights into their products and company culture.
It is imperative to provide opportunities for young graduates to experience company’s competitive advantages in terms of working environments.
Hospitality companies should also aim to highlight their internal culture and job offering on company websites and presentations.
Retention
As mentioned by KPMG (2017), young millennials need to perceive the overall purpose of their work in order to truly commit themselves. Hospitality companies should focus on delivering their employee value proposition in order to reach high retention rates of new graduates. Clear career development and learning opportunities should be presented to the new graduates even during the recruitment process.
When considering turnover of employees that have been working for over a year at the company, fair monetary compensation as well as an adequate work life balance, should also be taken into consideration.
Brand awareness
Companies that were mentioned the most frequently for the Top of Mind question were Marriott [International], Hilton [International] and Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts.
When asked to specify the reason for naming their top company to work for, the overwhelming response to this question was reputation/prestige, followed by career growth opportunities. Employee culture was the third most popular choice. It can be concluded that company image plays a great role in the choice of brand to work for, particularly for young graduates.
For the Luxury & Upper Upscale Segment, there are significant differences among the top brands for which hoteliers want to work for. Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company takes first place in 2018, followed by Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts and W Hotels Worldwide.
On the other hand, the results of the top 10 brands present in the Upscale & Upper Midscale segment are more varied. This is a possible signal to greater uncertainty or lack of knowledge of these particular brands.
Therefore, greater brand exposure is necessary for Upscale & Upper Midscale brands.
Lower scale brands should seize this opportunity to become more visible in the job market and recruit a larger share of young graduate.
Download the full report here.
About Young Hoteliers Summit and the Rankings
A student-led initiative, the Young Hoteliers Summit (YHS) gathers each year representatives from approx 40 international hotel schools at the EHL campus for 3 days of conferences and networking.
The YHS Rankings are an integral component towards achieving the mission of YHS, which is to improve opportunities for young talent by putting global hotel companies in the spotlight. Since 2010, hospitality students worldwide have been asked to give their perception of hotel companies in terms of employers and recruiter.
