Training and development positively impact both the employee and the business. For an employee it improves personal self-esteem and demonstrates that the business values them. For a business it improves productivity, performance, and business resilience. It is also known that employees are three times more likely to stay with an employer when they are offered opportunities to learn and grow.

And yet the hospitality sector seems to sit behind the curve in upskilling their staff with statistics suggesting that 21% of the sector are reporting skills gaps, versus 15% in other sectors across the UK.

Within this section of the website, we’ll be exploring the challenges that visitor economy businesses specifically face in developing their teams and offer suggestions and solutions so that your business benefits from a motivated and skilled workforce

Bitesize masterclass

Quick overview

Explore the importance of training and development, its role in recruiting, developing and keeping staff and the positive impact it can have on your business.

It’s important to distinguish the difference between training and development because whilst both are integral to improving business performance and productivity (which also means profitability by the way), they address different elements and provide different outcomes.

Training

Training is generally a short-term process that is job oriented and is designed to develop a skill or knowledge needed for the current job in hand. Training is usually provided by the employer either on a one-to-one basis or, where there are general gaps in knowledge, for whole teams.

Most businesses recognise the need to train new staff on their specific systems and processes, but in the visitor economy sector, research suggests that unless a business is engaged with an apprenticeship scheme or adopts some new technology which requires everyone to be trained, this is where training generally stops.

One of the advantages of training is that it can be provided on the job, and often during service, by existing and experienced staff members and hence cost and time of delivery is reduced. The disadvantage of this method is that any bad habits will also be passed on, the person delivering the training is unlikely to be trained to train others and the business may not be aware of any new developments in the sector or discipline that could benefit the business and the staff member.

There is often an expectation that training will either take place in work time, or that the individual will be compensated either financially or with time off in lieu of payment if it takes place outside of work.

Development

Development is less specific, will be different for every member of staff, and usually relies on individuals expressing a desire to embrace a new challenge or learn something new.

Because it isn’t as tangible as training and in some cases may not even bear a direct relation to the role a person is undertaking, business owners may find it hard to justify the expense or see the return on investment they might receive in return. 

More businesses are recognising the benefit to their business where staff seek to develop their leadership skills by undertaking management degrees or become accredited in an area that is loosely related to their roles such as an accredited HR or marketing course. In these cases, some businesses will subsidise or even pay for the cost and allow some paid study time, in return for a commitment to the employee remaining within the workforce for an agreed period.

In other cases, where they may not be a direct correlation to a specific role, some businesses are starting to recognise the benefit in staff morale and staff retention by allowing time during the work week when staff members can expand their skills and interests by taking loosely relevant, short, external courses. For example, a member of the waiting team may ask to attend a speaker training course because they want to develop self-confidence. Whilst the correlation between the current job and the course might not be readily evident – just think about how much better the waiting team member will be able to converse with your customers, deal with difficult conversations and how empowered he or she will feel to cope with any situation. Or what of a member of the kitchen team who wants to go on a design course because they want to develop their creativity. It may bear no relation to washing pots or helping with the prep – but think about how these new skills might enhance your menu and dish design.

Deciding what is right for your business

The first thing to say is that even if you are a team of one then this doesn’t mean that training and development doesn’t apply to your business. You will likely have your own training and development needs – which are equally important to the success of your business.

  • One of the best places to start is with your Business Plan, and more specifically your skills matrix. We’ve included some templates on the website that we encourage you to complete, and which will highlight where you have gaps, both for your current service provision and also in taking the business where you want it to be.
  • Rather than recruit people with specific skills, can you develop your current team and allow them to develop and grow with your business?
  • The next port of call is with your profit and loss forecast for the next 12 – 36 months (check out the templates we’ve included within the Business Start Up Section of the website). What allowance have you made for research and development, what have you made for recruitment and what have you made for staff training?

How much do you have available to invest in your team?

  • Are you able to offset some of your recruitment allowance toward training and development costs? After all, you are more likely to retain staff if you give them a reason to stay with you.
  • What funded training programmes can you take advantage of? Whilst you may still need to bear the cost of paying your staff’s time to attend and potentially even additional staff to cover, there are a number of highly professional and accredited courses you may be able to benefit from.

Check out the resources within the 3rd Party Training Resources section on the website.

  • Other sources that offer training and development opportunities for your team. These include: –
  • Online or off-line courses (internally developed or externally provided)
  • Workshops
  • Industry meetings, exhibitions, and events
  • Familiarisation events
  • Study trips
  • Books 
  • Industry magazines
  • Coaching
  • Mentoring
  • Buddy support
  • Guest speakers/visitors
  • Stretch assignment/special projects
  • Podcasts
  • Webinars

Then you need to assess the practicalities. We don’t mean use these as reasons not to offer your team learning and development opportunities but rather to find solutions that would ordinarily prevent your team from benefitting. Practicalities will include: –

    • Busy operational periods
    • Staff holidays
    • Ensuring all staff are offered equal opportunities for development, whilst bearing in mind different motivational factors for participation  
    • Mechanisms to measure return on investment
    • Relevance to business growth stages

Create a schedule and a budget that is equitable, affordable, and achievable. Try and mix it up 

    • Perhaps there will be the opportunity for everyone in the team to attend one industry event each year (relevant to their job role and position); enjoy one professional, developmental, or coaching course or become a buddy or mentor. 
    • Could you invest in a subscription to some industry magazines that are available for your team to read when they have the time? 
    • What about any inspirational books you’ve read that you think would be great to inspire the team? Not everyone is into books but coming in to work and finding a gift of a book once a quarter does wonders for staff members morale and sense of worth.

How much do you have available to invest in your team?

  • Are you able to offset some of your recruitment allowance toward training and development costs? After all, you are more likely to retain staff if you give them a reason to stay with you.
  • What funded training programmes can you take advantage of? Whilst you may still need to bear the cost of paying your staff’s time to attend and potentially even additional staff to cover, there are a number of highly professional and accredited courses you may be able to benefit from.

Check out the resources within the 3rd Party Training Resources section on the website.

  • Other sources that offer training and development opportunities for your team. These include: –
  • Online or off-line courses (internally developed or externally provided)
  • Workshops
  • Industry meetings, exhibitions, and events
  • Familiarisation events
  • Study trips
  • Books 
  • Industry magazines
  • Coaching
  • Mentoring
  • Buddy support
  • Guest speakers/visitors
  • Stretch assignment/special projects
  • Podcasts
  • Webinars

Then you need to assess the practicalities. We don’t mean use these as reasons not to offer your team learning and development opportunities but rather to find solutions that would ordinarily prevent your team from benefitting. Practicalities will include: –

    • Busy operational periods
    • Staff holidays
    • Ensuring all staff are offered equal opportunities for development, whilst bearing in mind different motivational factors for participation  
    • Mechanisms to measure return on investment
    • Relevance to business growth stages

 

Create a schedule and a budget that is equitable, affordable, and achievable. Try and mix it up 

    • Perhaps there will be the opportunity for everyone in the team to attend one industry event each year (relevant to their job role and position); enjoy one professional, developmental, or coaching course or become a buddy or mentor. 
    • Could you invest in a subscription to some industry magazines that are available for your team to read when they have the time? 
    • What about any inspirational books you’ve read that you think would be great to inspire the team? Not everyone is into books but coming in to work and finding a gift of a book once a quarter does wonders for staff members morale and sense of worth.
Marketing your strategy

Be under no illusion. If you’ve come this far then you are ahead of most businesses within the visitor economy sector and it’s something you should be shouting about both internally and externally.

  • Launch your initiative internally. It’s a big deal. You value your team; you want to keep them and you’re doing something about it
  • Make sure potential recruits know about it. On your ‘about us’ section on your website – shout about all the perks of working for you
  • Tell your suppliers about this. Chances are they may have opportunities they can provide your staff with that will cost you nothing. It’s not unheard of for hotels or farmers or experience providers to provide ‘behind the scenes’ tours to their clients and suppliers so that they can create stronger working relationships
  • Link up with Business Lincolnshire who will be able to connect you to fully funded courses that both they and other runs for local businesses.
  • Get your staff to become your advocates. Ask them to post about what they are up to.

 

Even if yours is a business that employs mostly seasonal staff, the benefits from offering other benefits on top of a salary are tangible and don’t need to be costly in time or money. And when we are in an era where demand is low and only 1 in 3 posts in the hospitality sector are being filled, we ask you the question, what will make someone want to work for you rather than your competition?

Training, Development & Learning Masterclasses

In this first of three masterclasses on training, development and learning, Natalie explains the difference between all three and the importance of integrating all these areas into your business, to fit with your business needs. By the end of this video on training, development and learning you will understand the elements and the different options available to you.

3rd party training

Course providers

Whilst on the job training is very valuable, we highly recommend that you include 3rd party training providers as part of your staff training strategy. 

Within this section, we’ve included information on a range of course providers including a guide to those organisations that offer fully funded courses for Lincolnshire Businesses. 

Joe Bloggs