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Hospitality Workers Retention During Pandemics: 4 Successful Experiments 

As companies started recovering from the COVID-19, they encountered another ongoing crisis: most hospitality workers moved to other sectors and refused to return. This left hospitality businesses struggling with staff shortages, unqualified workers, and lower quality service. However, some of the global companies that avoided layoffs successfully retained their workforce, preserved their reputation, and maintained their service quality. Here are some of their success stories.


First Experiment: When Hilton put their hospitality workers first

At the pandemic, Hilton announced collaborating with 30 leading companies to provide temporary jobs for their employees, besides covering their health insurance, which is a common practice during crises. Furthermore, Hilton announced allocating 70 million Euros as a fund to cover hospitality workers that have no medical insurance or social security.


Second Experiment: Suspending cash dividends at Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt, Accor, and MGM

Several hotel chains, including Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt, Accor, and MGM, have announced pay cuts for certain employees, including the CEOs, as well as suspending cash dividends and a 50% reduction in salaries for the senior executive teams.

Every company has employees who can survive without a salary for an entire year and others who cannot manage for even three months. Therefore, an advanced crisis management plan is essential. This plan should identify employees who would accept salary reductions over layoffs, ensuring their loyalty through effective prosperity strategies during successful periods. It should also account for the second group—those unable to endure without a salary and unlikely to return if laid off, as seen during the COVID-19 pandemic.


Third Experiment: Attracting the local hospitality sector with big discounts in Marriott Emirates, and Fur Seasons Egypt

Better to operate with lower prices than not to operate at all. This was the strategy of the Marriott Group and the Four Seasons chains.

The Marriott Group Emirates, Oman, and Saudi Arabia have offered significant discounts to encourage the local hospitality sector during the pandemic. They also restructured services to offer local hospitality special packages at competitive prices as part of the recession.

Meanwhile, Four Seasons Hotels Egypt utilized the recession to train their staff and improve safety measures during the pandemic. They also offered special discounts to attract local guests during a difficult time for international hospitality.


Fourth Experience: Talent management strategies in Wyndham, Marriott, and Accor

In a study about Sustaining Human Resources through Talent Management Strategies and Employee Engagement in the Middle East Hotel Industry, semi-organized interviews were conducted with 37 hotels across the Middle East, including Lebanon, UAE, Egypt, Jordan, Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Oman. The selection criteria were that all five-star hotels were located in the capital cities and willing to participate in the study.

Each interview included 5 topics related to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on human resources development and talent management strategies.

Managers from the Marriott group noted that “Employees were accepting new working conditions; they slowly adapted to the new situations, as challenging as they were, and they tried to be as flexible as possible to perform efficiently.” Employees exhibited good working practices by being able to handle multiple tasks and working under pressure.

Wyndham group managers reported, “They showed loyalty to their work, understanding the pandemic situation and its effects by working hard, cooperating, and communicating with customers.” Employees showed creativity and courage during their work, ensuring customer satisfaction.

Managers from the Accor group of hotels mentioned that “Employees were respecting health and safety measures by applying all the necessary precautions, such as hand sanitizers, mandatory masks, social distancing, and following all the hygienic standards.”.


Managing hospitality workers talents can save your business during crises and is addressed in two phases:

  1. Pre-pandemic: Establishing a comprehensive talent management strategy that not only strengthens operations during normal times but also directly impacts talent management during crises. This includes developing employees’ skills, preparing them for effective behavior during crises, and enhancing their loyalty to the organization. Additionally, it involves classifying hospitality workers to identify which talents can handle work pressure during crises and which may require relocation or reassignment during such periods.
  2. The talent management phase during the crisis: This involves implementing additional procedures and arrangements, such as promoting talented employees to managerial positions during the pandemic, training staff in preventive and health safety measures, and holding regular meetings to update their hospitality workers on crisis developments. These meetings also serve to reassure their hospitality workers about their career future and clarify the company’s policies regarding staff during the pandemic.

Managing hospitality workers talents in the pandemics can also include: 

  • Modifying certain work procedures, such as implementing remote work for administrative and booking staff, reducing working hours for specific roles, and redeploying some hospitality workers internally to areas within the company that require additional support.
  • Talent management during crises may also involve some layoff procedures, but not for the talents and cadres on which the company relies, but for the employees whose behaviors may disrupt the work environment, negatively impact team performance during crises, or those who are non-productive and uncooperative with colleagues. While such employees might be given opportunities to improve in normal times, there may be no room for such leniency during crises.

The cost saved during a crisis by laying off thousands of workers may later be outweighed by the expenses of finding qualified talent and restoring operating levels and service quality. Therefore, it is crucial to carefully evaluate the costs of both options before making a decision. Retaining your hospitality workers during crises is often the safest strategy to minimize losses and ensure a quicker return to full operational capacity once the crisis has passed.

Avoiding layoffs not only prevents potential lawsuits from affected hospitality workers but also helps maintain your productivity and daily operational levels, which will require significant effort and investment to restore.

Contact the Saudi Company for Manpower Solutions (SMASCO) team to consult them on your company’s needs for hospitality workers and cadres.


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