Cross-training/cross-utilization has always been one of the most important strategies utilized by hospitality for enhancing profitability and is even more important now as the industry struggles during these uncertain times. As employees are trained in a broader variety of tasks so they can perform several jobs, both the organization and the employee experience many benefits.
The Case for Cross-Utilization
As “shelter at home” orders were put in place around the world and travel came to a sudden halt, the hotels and restaurants that opted to keep their doors open moved immediately to sub-minimal or skeleton staffing. Across the board, these businesses focused on utilizing cross-trained employees who are able to effectively execute multiple roles and tasks, in order to deliver service during this period of extremely low business volumes.
Historically, reduced labor costs and increased productivity were the primary reasons for cross-utilization. The practice expanded out of necessity as the labor shortage of the past few years became a bigger issue for the hospitality industry. It has also proven effective in small or geographically-isolated markets where the labor pool is generally more limited. It’s common today to see a server cross-trained to assist the bartender in busy periods or cover both positions during slower periods, or a front-desk clerk serving as the restaurant host for lunch following morning check-out and before afternoon check-in periods.
Hospitality organizations that cross-train are better equipped to recover faster from disturbances in the market such as economic downturns, seasonal slowdowns in business, or extreme disruptions such as the industry is experiencing with the COVID-19 crisis. Staff can be cross-utilized to deliver service during extremely low volumes and to reduce operating losses as properties focus on maintaining business viability as they work to return to profitability.
The company is not the only one to benefit. Cross-training provides associates the opportunity to build relationships with other departments and people with whom they would otherwise have little to no contact. These relationships break down work silos and foster teamwork. When associates have a better understanding of each other’s roles and tasks, it increases the employees’ understanding of the “big picture” and prepares them for future roles in the company.
Most employees are very willing to expand their skill set and become more versatile if given the opportunity. In these times, it could be the difference between a furlough or a paycheck.
To realize the full benefits of cross-utilization, however, you need to prepare appropriately, implement the process successfully, and ensure the initiative is designed for sustainability.
Preparing Your Team
One of the biggest concerns when starting to cross-train is the mindset of your associates. Are they ready and willing to cross-train? Motivated associates are eager to learn new skills while at the same time making themselves more valuable to the team and or future employers. With that being said, some team members may view cross-training in a negative light. They can be hesitant because they assume it means taking on extra work. Other associates may view the cross-utilization initiative as a red flag for a company’s attempt to bring back fewer employees.
These concerns will be less likely in today’s scenario, when almost every associate is fully aware of the business impact this crisis has had. Regardless, it is imperative that your leadership controls the narrative regarding cross-utilization and presents it as a key strategy for bringing the business back to financial health so the company can ultimately re-employ as many team members as possible.
Before implementing a cross-training initiative, you should answer the following questions for everyone involved with the process:
- What is the objective of cross-training?
- When and how long is the training process?
- What will the training involve?
- How does this benefit your associates?
Controlling the narrative can reduce rumors/gossip and assist in ingraining cross-utilization into the property’s culture. The more information that can be shared, the easier it is to gain acceptance from the group.
Associates that have previously cross-trained and view the program as a benefit must be leveraged to influence associates who are not as enthused about the cross-training initiative. Team members that are onboard can also assist with stopping rumors before they start.
Implementing the Program
To successfully implement a cross-utilization program, it is essential to understand the tasks assigned to each role. By documenting and reviewing the various job processes, you are forced to understand how and why things are done the way they are, and if they can or should be done differently.
This unique situation provides every property with the opportunity to do a ground up review. It is important to look at the work from the point of view of what tasks need to be done rather than what positions are needed. UniFocus CEO, Mark Heymann, writes about this in his article, Do Minimum Shifts Apply In Today’s Environment?, where he aptly says, “The days of ‘how many shifts do I need for which positions’ to open the doors are past. A focus on ‘what are the minimum tasks required’ will dramatically enhance the recovery period as consumers’ confidence in their safety returns and guest volumes return to a profitable scale.”
One way to accomplish this is to develop Task Lists by job for those that could potentially be cross-trained.
For each job, list:
- Every task in chronological order by time of day, along with a brief description of the work involved, and the skills required.
- A reasonable expectation (RE) of the time required to complete each task.
- The frequency of each task. In other words, how many times during the day/week/month must the task be completed?
- The number of times the task is performed every day/week/month.
- Whether or not the frequency of a task should vary based on customer volume.
While creating task lists, collaborate with your team. Even furloughed managers and associates should feel they are a part of the decision-making process. In many cases, your associates may know more about their job tasks than you or the management team, so finding a way to engage them will be well worth the investment. At this point, it’s also advisable to review and refine the workflows and processes to ensure tasks are being done in the most effective manner.
Once Task Lists are complete, begin identifying duplication and redundancy between the jobs and tasks. Eliminating duplications ensures increases in productivity and can improve your overall management of labor.
Next, identify jobs that require similar skills as the targets for cross-training. Instead of cross-training a single person to handle another person’s tasks, you should come in with the mindset of cross-training several people from several teams. Examples of jobs with a similar skill set are Reservations, Front Desk, and Concierge. Note that they all require guest contact skills. As such, these three positions would be a natural fit. Another combination of jobs to examine would be Housekeeping Houseperson and Banquet Houseperson/Setup. Dishwasher to Garde Manager is another cross-utilization opportunity. Once you have identified the essential tasks and the best-suited jobs for cross-utilization, you are ready to begin cross-training.
There are several approaches to the training process. Demonstrating, instructing with verbal or written directions, and or supervising performance are all effective. The most common method within hospitality is typically the buddy system (shadow training). Whichever approach you take, everyone must be on the same page and communicate the same message at all times.
As you progress through the training process, you must understand there will be challenges. Managers and supervisors often forget what it’s like to acquire a new skill set, and they may lose patience with the process. Over time, in their role as a manager or supervisor, they convince themselves that they were proficient from day one. Again, there will be challenges. When measuring labor hours vs. the output, you may even notice an initial loss in productivity. Keep the faith as your short-term loss in productivity will result in long-term efficiency gains. As a rule, a 30-60-90 day approach should be used for evaluating performance. Although some early setbacks are common, you will see incremental improvements that have a cumulative effect if you stick with the cross-training initiative. Cross-utilization could very well become the new normal as the industry struggles to become profitable and ramps back up post-pandemic.
Sustaining the Benefits (No Going Back)
Once you are further down the road in your cross-utilization journey, it is critical to put mechanisms, policies, and procedures in place to ensure a permanent cultural change. Without a permanent cultural change, it is easy for employees to fall back to less productive practices.
You must document the new roles, practices, and job combinations. When documenting, include the physical job combinations and shared roles. You should also document the scenarios and trigger mechanisms that would require cross-utilization. Test your new processes and assumptions. If you can test the new work model against historical volumes and/or production, you should do so. If labor cost reduction is your ultimate goal, a best practice is to review your test results and compare them against past performance, hours, and productivity. From a pure execution standpoint, you can randomly move associates around to their newly trained areas to ensure they are prepared to perform and execute at a moment’s notice.
Finally, be sure to get employee feedback. If cross-utilization has added to employees’ workloads to the point they can no longer execute effectively, it’s essential to know this as soon as possible. Employees that are empowered to give productive feedback often assist you with additional process enhancements. Cross-utilization is a living process that should always be reviewed, modified, and improved as team members become more comfortable in their roles, and their knowledge base increases.
Hotels and restaurants that were able to stay open were forced to use cross-utilization and have discovered what those that will re-open post COVID-19 will find out: a versatile work force will be the key to business viability and a quicker return to profitability.
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