Fighting a Two-Headed Monster

As another month of lousy economic news pushes its ugly maw deeper into the hospitality industry HR’s been continuing to partner with other senior management, crafting strategies to minimize further staff cuts. While roundly unpleasant, this task of figuring out who stays and who goes, which programs die and which are merely placed on life support, those of us wearing the HR badge have likely learned more about adaptation and innovation in the preceding 3-6 months than we’d known in our entire careers. Don’t put away those skills just yet. In case you’ve not noticed, the monster — what this very challenging period for HR has come to represent — has grown another head.

While we’ve been working overtime to keep employees focused as more of their friends and co-workers seek employment elsewhere our government has been busy passing laws that will bite us hard if we don’t pay attention.

The 2009 amendments to the 1992 Americans With Disabilities Act expand the definition of which employees are disabled, and what they can do if you don’t treat them as disabled. Changes to the Family & Medical Leave Act also demand attention. The newly minted Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act, rolled out with great fanfare but lacking specificity, promises a torrent of litigation, in many cases for decisions made years ago. And then there’s the specter of the Employee Free Choice Act, its principal objective being to clear the path to unionization by minimizing the need for secret ballot elections; in a matter of months it could be the law of the land.

Had we only been fighting the wrenching pain of layoffs and downsizing it would still require the very best efforts HR could muster; this year, however, we have begun to witness what is predicted to be one of the most active employee-friendly legislative seasons in a very long time. Fighting this two-headed monster requires not only the summoning of Herculean fortitude; it probably means that HR will once again resort to a time-honored strategy for managing multiple problems: divide and conquer.

Be honest and be well.

Copyright 2008-2009 by Charles A. Conine and Hospitality HR Solutions

Double-Edged Sword

There I was, way back in 19 — well, way back then — fresh out of college and working in my first HR job at the venerable Hotel St. Francis on Union Square in San Francisco.

It was at this beautiful hotel where I discovered an unwavering truth, one of the tenets that have steered me through the great times and the challenging periods too.

The St. Francis not only enjoyed respect from well heeled travelers around the world, it had an army of supporters quite close to home — its employees. Beginning at the front entrance on Powell St. a tall and stately Arthur Van Allen greeted each guest alighting from a taxi. Art’s tenure: 20+ years. In the lobby bell captain George Cross, a 25-year veteran ran the bell team, many of whom had been employed at least as long as George.

Upstairs in a tiny locked room Arnold Batliner toiled, washing the hotel’s quarters, nickels, dimes and pennies so that, according to a tradition begun in 1938 ladies would not soil their gloves with unclean coins. Joy Sullivan, the general cashier, and Arnold could easily count 50 years of service between them. In housekeeping probably 25 percent of the large staff had been around at least 20 years.

Working in HR meant that I’d prepare the service award lists for our general manager Mr. Wilhelm to read off at the annual employee awards banquet, a rousing affair with hundreds of employees in attendance. The printed program told the story of literally thousands of years of service to the St. Francis. The number one entry on the list for each of the three years I was privileged to work there, was that of Marshall Fogg, whose name on the program was followed by an amazing inscription: “More than 45 Years of Service.” Marshall had serviced the St. Francis’ boilers and oiled its machinery for over twice the period of my entire life. His loyalty to one of San Francisco’s grande dames, a loyalty shared by hundreds of his co-workers, cast me in awe — and still does. Mr. Fogg carried around in his toolkit something more than loyalty, however.

What Marshall and Joy, Arnold and Arthur, George and all the others taught me in my years at the St. Francis was that mutual respect can bridge very wide gaps, closing them with a simple handshake. Mutual respect by employees and management was one of the hallmarks of the hotel. It became one of mine.

True to its management philosophy Westin Hotels somehow exported this sense of joie de vie — the joy for life — to virtually of its properties worldwide. To this day the Westin Alumni Association, a unique organization in itself, carries on its active rolls hundreds of members of its original hotel management teams (pre-Starwood), many of whom I interacted with at the three Westin properties where I worked in the 1970s, and all of whom have pledged to stay in touch. Several subscribe to our “HR Update” and many others have remained lifelong friends.

Sadly employee loyalty has been proven time and again to be a double-edged sword. It can save businesses and when cast aside, sink them. Not unsurprisingly there are very few St. Francis Hotel-like workplaces left for us to show off as models of hospitality built upon mutual respect. Those that have thrived and still maintain great employee/employer relationships are prevailing even in these tough times. In his commentary in this month’s “Hospitality Educator” column Cornell professor Bruce Tracey mentions one, Four Seasons Hotels. There are others, of course, those with often iconic leaders whose belief in mutual respect is matched only by their own joie de vie, an undeniably infectious zest for lives well lived. Bill Marriott, whom I consider one of the finest hoteliers ever, is such a person. Ruth Fertel, the deceased matriarch of Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse, was another.

If there was ever a time when employers should rethink their loyalty to their employees, we’re living it. The glitter has gone out of many so-called preferred employers, their catchy recruiting brochures giving way to the reality that, as my grandfather often said, a house built on a poor foundation stands only so long before collapsing. With layoffs and downsizing affecting nearly every hospitality organization the industry's honorable employees need reassurance that their loyalty has not been misplaced.

Be honest and be well.

Copyright 2008-2009 Charles A. Conine & Hospitality HR Solutions

Channeling Obama: Harnessing the Power of Passion

This post is reprinted from our newsletter "HR Update" which is available by complimentary subscription. Send an e-mail with your name, title and company to info@hospitalityhrsolutions.com


Though the history-making presidential election is, well, history, lessons remain about who voted for Barack Obama — and why.

Hospitality industry employees were a friendly constituency, it turns out. In fact the people who make up a huge portion of our industry — minorities, women, people under 30 — voted overwhelmingly for Obama. Impressive statistics, these: Young voters favored Obama by a margin of 68% to McCain’s 30%. Latinos, 67%. Women, 55%. African-Americans, 96%.

Why the lopsided victory? Exit polls showed that Obama prevailed not merely as a youthful, vigorous alternative to McCain. Instead it was Obama’s message — “hope”, “we can do better”, “McCain is another Bush” — that truly resonated with voters, and even inspired them.

Far from denying that possibility, many can easily recall how inspired they were by a young John F. Kennedy. In his time Franklin Roosevelt so lifted the electorate they asked him back again — and again. More recently, there was the immediate and powerful effect of President Bush’s speech atop the New York City fire truck right after 9/11.

If it’s true that Obama’s message — and not just voter dissatisfaction with President Bush —was the major factor in his victory, we ignore our employees’ passion for the new president at our own peril. On the other hand the specter of misguided legislation emerging in the next Congress — we hear a lot about the Employee Free Choice Act, for example — is a genuine cause for concern.

So, what do we do now? Stage a pre-emptive attack on Congress’s new spending initiatives? Speak with a united voice, saying our industry will not accept new or expanded entitlements or wrong-headed “free choice” legislation? It’s likely we will do a fair amount of that.

How will these attacks on President Obama’s ideas resonate with our employees? A wholesale condemnation of Obama’s thoughts about “change” could backfire, encouraging employees who believe management is tone deaf to look for work elsewhere or, worse, galvanize their co-workers to promote change. Did someone mention the EFCA?

A more moderate, no less determined approach may alienate far fewer employees and even win allies. While keeping an eye on emerging legislative proposals, employers can earn important goodwill by demonstrating to their employees that their desire for change was heard.

But where to begin? Think demographics: for example, what employer policies might we alter to appeal to the more mobile Generation Y? What benefit programs could we amend, without adding costs, to permit part-timers to have some albeit limited health coverage? How soon could we support more community involvement by everyone on the team? Could we sponsor a modest employee scholarship program?

Engaging and energizing a shrunken workforce during an economic decline unprecedented in recent history is a tall order, even for the best of companies. But if we view this challenge from a different perspective — there’s a new president with a huge cheering section, anxiously awaiting its marching orders — we could harness the power of passion, and profit from it.

Harassment Training: A Sham?

Way back in the Dark Ages when the concept of sexual harassment debuted in one after another expensive and embarassing lawsuits employers were forced to take more seriously the notion that where sex is concerned, employees can not always be trusted to do the right thing. Brought out of the shadows by diligent and ever more aggressive litigation sexual harassment not only got a name but more importantly, we learned that in many of these cases trusted managers -- alright, even executives -- were named as defendants.

In the wake of years of such cases, well more than a dozen states passed laws either requiring or encouraging employers to provide some form of anti-harassment training. California, ever the leader in employee-related regulations, adopted AB1825 in 2005, requiring employers of 50 or more to provide regularly scheduled training for newly hired supervisors and current management.

While various people have grumbled, and more than a few in our industry have wondered aloud concerning the efficacy of the training, it seems obvious that at least its key admonitions, taught bi-annually as California's law requires, are likely to be remembered, if not universally adhered to. Equally obvious: training that is regularly reinforced has to help reign in harassing conduct.

Did I say it seems obvious? Not so fast, says one California educator. Using a guest editorial in the Los Angeles Times on November 21, 2008 as his platform UC Irvine professor of molecular biology Alexander McPherson laid out his reasons for refusing the university's repeated entreaties to attend the required training. Calling the program "a disgraceful sham" McPherson, a tenured professor, said he found the training "repugnant and offensive" and added that an unnamed "vocal political/cultural interest group" was responsible "as part of a politically correct agenda that I don't particularly agree with."

As the professor's comments echoed on the West Coast, in the Midwest the echo was draped in irony. Nine days before McPherson's editorial was printed a University of Iowa college music professor, Mark Weiger, was found dead in his garage, a victim of an apparent suicide. His death came a week after a former student filed a lawsuit alleging sexual misconduct by Weiger when he was her professor. In August another University of Iowa professor, Arthur Miller, also took his own life after being charged with accepting sexual favors from students in return for favorable grades. In the wake of the Miller case the university ordered its professors to sit for training -- on how to avoid sexual harassment.

Whatever we take from these eerily similar tragedies Professor McPherson's insistence that mandated sexual harassment training is a "sham" is an opinion he is free to state. And he could well be right; after all, what the training seeks to impart is really all about simple respect, and common sense. Perhaps an employer's policy statement to that effect might suffice at some workplaces.

Yet somehow I can't shake the feeling that Professor McPherson, who says he's received many letters of support for his position, would set a more enduring example if he were to state publicly that despite his objections to the material being taught, he owes it to his students to do as they do: sit in the chair, listen politely, and at least look interested. Following the training, when the inevitable Q&A session arrives, the professor could articulate his views and, just as in his classroom many would be educated simply by being there to hear opposing views.

Be honest and be well.

Copyright 2008 by Charles A. Conine and Hospitality HR Solutions

The Attitude "Alarm Clock"

When I was a kid my mother used to tell me that someday I'd appreciate what having no responsibilities felt like, though at the time, watching out for our family cat, my trucks and trains and a host of Matchbox toys seemed like a big enough responsibility to me. All too soon came my first opportunity to see what being an adult was really like: I was to grow and sell vegetables to our neighborhood, an idea of an eccentric aunt whose motto was "idle hands are the devil's workshop." The money earned would be my allowance; the days of weekly quarters from mom, and advances on next week's quarter, were over.

At fifteen a girlfriend suggested, firmly, that she would no longer pay for my ticket to the local drive-in movie. Then she promptly marched me off to where she worked, the local Marriott Hot Shoppes. There a tall, imposing and stern-faced fellow, Terry Stone, offered me my first "real" job as a short-order cook in the restaurant's snack bar. More responsibility. Showing up on time. Working versus talking. But it felt good, in the way that the notion of regular exercise, once confronted and actually implemented, can change your attitude toward physical labor. It can, though it doesn't always, particularly if you think it's not worth the effort. Some people work through the pain, the inconvenience, sore muscles, reduced couch time. Some put that New Year's resolution on the pile with all the others.

The same is true of the employees we hire. Hoping that they will succeed we provide them the tools -- and we wait. We wait for the new hire's skills to sharpen, her mind to focus solely on the task at hand. Sometimes it does, and we reward the effort. When her mind wanders, we remind her that "this is work, you know; you can daydream later." Sometimes this works, and sometimes it doesn't. That's when we bring out the big guns: "Keep up like this, and you will be out of a job," we say, knowing that only some employees will hear, let alone care about this admonition. Others will not hear or not care. Some are so impertinent they simply walk off the job which may seem an attractive alternative to hearing the words "you're fired."

What separates those who do from those who do not? What single definable characteristic caused the Ritz Carlton hotel chain to win the prestigious Malcolm Baldridge quality award? How can Crystal Cruises keep up its unparalleled reputation as "best cruise line", winning the Travel & Leisure award, year after year? What inner strength led an adopted child, Dave Thomas, to found and lead Wendy's?

As my grandfather used to say, it's all about mental attitude.

When hiring, promoting, training and yes, even disciplining, watch the candidate or employee's attitude. Some, as we all know, are timid about showing they care; with encouragement, however, they blossom. Others are natural leaders and will pick up every job you throw their way, do it, then ask for the next assignment. Others seem wooden, disinterested, unfocused; this group, needless to say, may not be your best new hires. You're reaching them too late.

All great performers possess an attitude "alarm clock". They know when it's time to add effort and when to let others take the lead. They keep track of important dates and rarely, if ever, miss work. They prepare. They smile, share kudos with co-workers. They participate in performance assessments, offering occasionally overly harsh self-appraisal just to show that they're aware of their shortcomings. When an especially challenging moment arrives -- deciding whether to return lost property, telling the truth about a missed goal -- the "alarm clock" inside superstars rings. It just rings. No prompting needed.

Can we teach employees to possess an attitude "alarm clock?" The subject of much debate, this is. What is very clear, however, is that great attitudes are catchy, and where one resides, others will follow.

Be honest and be well.

Copyright 2008 by Charles A. Conine and Hospitality HR Solutions

Strategic Planning, Part VII: The Hospitality Industry, Rising

Strategic Planning, Part VII:
The Hospitality Industry, Rising

The rock artist Bruce Springsteen, a longtime hero of America's bedrock working class, tells the story of an encounter that changed his life. He was stopped by a fan the day after the 9/11 terror attacks. Looking into Springsteen's eyes, the admirer had said simply, "Bruce, we need you." Though the encounter was brief Springsteen was moved: how could he make sense of a terrible tragedy, one that would define America like none other since Pearl Harbor?

The answer came the following year with the release of "The Rising", a wrenching wail that brought together Americans of all stripes, helping us see that recovery from this tragedy that deeply affected all Americans would require an "all for one, one for all" mentality, a force clearly greater than most of us had ever experienced. Our whole foundation had been shaken nearly apart. "The Rising", at once a guttural anthem, became a voice for many, the song's entreaty, "Come on up for the rising, come on up, lay your hands in mine" an unmistakable call for unity. Springsteen had accomplished what politicans could not: the song became a rallying cry for several generations of Americans.

Our current economic miasma, while not a 9/11 tragedy, is nonetheless wrenching, and requires a universal response if we are to prevail. Let's face it: We are being forced to reconsider our past ways. The hospitality industry is in trouble.

Luxury of all types seems so out of place, excessive, unnecessary -- some would say, even cruel in an age of rapidly evaporating retirement incomes. Employees assuming their big hotel chain employers would be around forever, have seen pension plans falter, their hours cut, their benefits reduced. Restaurants that served Wall Street and Main Street are either out of business or offering pre-fixe dinners at modest prices. Airlines and restaurant chains alike have declared themselves bankrupted by the spiraling crisis. Seeking clarity in this mess has been daunting, prolonged by an elusive economic bottom that keeps sliding out from under us, nearly by the day it seems.

If management teams were ever called upon to put aside individual differences for a common good, it's now. Does your crisis recovery strategy include duties for every member of your team? Is senior management communicating more often with the line? Are HR staff aware of which employees need help coping with the economic reality that is causing so much upheaval in families? Are employees now more sensitive to guest concerns? Are your products priced at levels to encourage repeat business?

So much can be done when we band together. The industry's leadership has spoken plenty to various trade publications but has been strangely quiet in the mainstream media. It's time for someone to stand up and issue a rallying cry.

Be honest and be well.

Copyright 2008 by Charles A. Conine and Hospitality HR Solutions
Visit us at www.hospitalityhrsolutions.com

Strategic Planning, Part VI: Taking the Reins in Turbulent TImes

Strategic Planning, Part VI
Taking the Reins in Turbulent Times

The word on the Street -- Wall Street, that is -- isn't great. The stock market meltdown and the seizing up of the nation's financial system represent the potential for disaster. There is no guarantee that the proposed government bailout of the mortgage mess announced over the weekend will calm the roiling waters anytime soon. Adding noticeably to the nation's collective jitters: muscle flexing by Russia, Iran, North Korea, Venezuela, etc. A Congress lacking direction, the nearing elections -- well, it all makes many fearful that tomorrow's news will be worse.

Over the weekend, as the pundits dissected the past week's unprecedented financial news and handicapped whether Congress will destroy or revive the nation's confidence this week as it seeks to digest the government's $700 billion bailout proposal, I paused. Listening to friends and colleagues bemoan our current fix, I wanted to agree, but for some reason, I didn't.

Clearly, those who hold a cynical view of Congress's ability to inspire anyone, let alone chart a course for an entire nation, are not necessarily wrong when they crankily rant against our national leadership. While it is naive to expect that politics will not be a part of the Congressional review, or that an inevitable delay in a deal with Congress will not hurt the economy further, I wonder: should the nation's business leaders sit on the sidelines while Congress fiddles? Should we call our Congressman? Or should we power forward, mindful of the dangers but unwilling to surrender to the view that life as we know it has been irreparably altered?

For some reason this weekend my mind was replaying a scene from the movie "Midway", a sweeping WWII drama chronicling the improbable victory by outmanned US forces in the first pivotal Pacific naval battle after the cataclysm of Pearl Harbor. In the movie Robert Mitchum portrays legendary American admiral William F. "Bull" Halsey. Laid up in a Pearl Harbor infirmary with a debilitating skin condition Halsey is asked by CINCPAC chief Chester Nimitz, played by Henry Fonda, to name his temporary replacement for the Midway campaign. Who should lead this crucial battle, Nimitz asks Halsey. Halsey recommends Raymond Spruance, a junior officer with no flight experience in a Navy where it is thought that only fighter pilots can command aircraft carrier task forces.

Nimitz winces. "He has no carrier experience," he tells Halsey. "No, but he knows carrier tactics," Halsey counters. Nimitz hesitates.

"Chet," Halsey growls, "you once told me that when you are in command -- command!"

History proved Halsey's recommendation providential. Thanks to good planning and advance intelligence Admiral Spruance's forces pounced upon superior Japanese forces as they steamed near Midway Island. Enemy losses that day were so great that the tide of the Pacific war was strategically altered. From that moment onward the Imperial Navy was retreating.

Times of turmoil call for decisive action. While fears of defeat will always be with us, the consequences of delay and inaction usually produce inferior outcomes. Yes, some will say let's wait and see what Congress does Is there a stronger alternative?

America's hospitality industry doesn't need a pass from Congress. We need strong leaders who continue to believe in their people, their products and the future, to think strategically and without emotion. If your strategic plan needs review, do it now. Otherwise, let's get the engines fired up. It's time to lead our teams into the uncharted times ahead. Victory awaits.

Be honest and be well.