Job Analysis Report/Analysis of Current Employer’s Organization
I. Introduction
Working for Grand Hyatt Hotel for the past ten years has been quite a learning experience, both personally and professionally. I started working for the firm in 2008, right when it first opened its branch in downtown San Antonio.
II. Company Background
A. History – Building the Empire!
Hyatt Hotels Corporation is a publicly traded company that runs its businesses worldwide. Interestingly, although this highly regarded hotel establishment started its operations decades ago, it was not until 2009 when it began publicly selling its shares at the New York Stock Exchange. Based in Chicago, the company was formed by Jack Dyer Crouch and Hyatt Robert von Dehn as a partnership, but they later sold it to Jay Pritzker in 1957 for $2.2 million. Years later, the new owner’s brother, Donald Pritzker, joined him to partner in running the hotel.
Consequently, the first outlet of Hyatt Corporation was located next to Los Angeles Airport. After running the enterprise for two years, the brothers realized that the hotel business was performing very well when situated next to an airport. As a result, they opened a new branch near the Seattle-Tacoma Airport (Washington State). Thereafter, the company opened new branches in the surrounding areas and into the neighboring states.
With the continued success of its local operations, the brothers, eventually, opened its first branch outside the U.S. in 1969 – the Hyatt in Hongkong. From herein, this hotel giant leaped its way on becoming of what is now known as Hyatt Global. Even after Donald died in 1972, Jay continued to run the business. Remarkably, by 2015 the business had 627 branches worldwide, to include Argentina, Brazil Chile, Mexico, China, UK, France, Switzerland, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Italy, just to name a few.
Endlessly expanding its empire, Hyatt Corporation formed several subsidiary operations that would see it become a private company in 1979. From here, to name a few, emerged Hyatt Regency, Hyatt Place, and the Grand Hyatt, which was opened in 1980. Years later, Grand Hyatt became a significant part of my daily life, having to work as one of its Guest Service Representatives in the San Antonio branch for the last ten years. Given such, despite its highly acclaimed success in the hotel industry, staffing problems that has long been ignored in the San Antonio branch, remained a critical issue and is discussed further in the later part of this paper.
B. Grand Hyatt – The Subsidiary at A glimpse!
As a subsidiary, Grand Hyatt’s aim was to target locations end strategically position its hotels in large culturally rich cities where they sell their high-priced foods. In the U.S, Grand Hyatt hotels are in cities like San Antonio, New York and other similar culturally rich cities where they offer services specifically for vacationers and business guests. It also runs several chains of Casinos and Golf Resorts including the one in Pakistan.
Comparatively, among all subsidiaries, Grand Hyatt is one of the top leading revenue generators with 60 hotels worldwide, two of which are in Texas – Dallas and San Antonio. The building of Grand Hyatt San Antonio started in 2005 and was completed in the early part of 2008. Around that time, Grand Hyatt hired about 200 employees. Fortunately, I was part of that group who became gainfully employed amidst the greatest economic recession our country has ever experienced.
Time and again, Grant Hyatt was able to rise above the challenge simply because of the brilliant minds of its top management and diligent employees who are driven by its mission to “care for people so they can be their best.” At Hyatt, success is centered and built around people that matters most – the customers. While this is true, in a service-oriented industry, the true gem is embedded in its human resource, because how else could a company deliver excellent customer service without its staff? The answer is quite transparent as Grand Hyatt continues to be on the top 10 list of hotels in San Antonio.
C. Market Position – Staying in the Game!
Compared to other hotels, Grand Hyatt has remained one of the top favorites mainly because of its prime location. Grand Hyatt is securely located in the city centers where other operations take place. In addition, Grand Hyatt’s decision to open its branches near airports (Terminal D) has given it an upper hand as visitors don’t have to travel long distances before accessing its services.
Additionally, Grand Hyatt’s comfortable hotel rooms, special amenities and accommodations as well as a smoke-free environment also makes it a perfect choice for guests to stay and/or to conduct business meetings. Based on the AAA Inspector rating, out of five, Grand Hyatt’s room services scored 3.8, bath services scored 3.0 and the public services was rated at 3.7.
When it comes to marketing strategy, the corporation has been capitalizing mainly on two aspects: Hyatt.com and Hyatt Gold Passport. The former helps a potential client to get all the information pertaining to Hyatt facilities. While the latter is a loyalty and guest recognition program aimed at retaining its clients, a perfect illustration of how Grand Hyatt’s stay abreast with some of the giant contenders in the industry, i.e. The Marriotts, Hilton Hotels, Wyndham, to name a few. In a highly-competitive industry, providing superior customer service is a prime; and Grand Hyatt, over the years, consistently upheld its spot in this industry, placing number nine in the world’s largest international hotel chain.
D. Management – United We Stand, Divided We Fall!
Hyatt Hotel Corporation is one of the largest multinational hotel chain owners. However, some of its subsidiaries are not wholly-owned. Some are partnerships, and some are franchised. One of its famous former partners was Donald Trump, who sold his shares in the Grand Hyatt New York to the Pritzker’s back in 1996.
Similarly, Grand Hyatt San Antonio is also structured as a partnership between the Pritzker’s and Austin-based FaulknerUSA and Marathon Real Estate of New York. Hyatt, however, serves as the management company. As a partly-owned subsidiary, Grand Hyatt San Antonio operates independently from Hyatt Hotel Corporation. As such, Grand Hyatt structures its own senior management, product offerings, clienteles, etc. Nevertheless, Hyatt Hotel Corporation could still significantly control the strategic direction of Grand Hyatt.
In view of the company’s operational structure, employee and staffing issues are usually handled by the managers at the subsidiary level in which Grand Hyatt management seems to be taking more of a nonchalant position. In effect, the hallmark of Hyatt Hotel’s idea of success in having a team that embodies competitive spirit and skill, is slowly losing ground at Grand Hyatt’s Guest Services Department.
As a guest services representative, a typical day at Grand Hyatt is very fast pace, a lot of multi-tasking – checking guests in and out while answering incoming calls or completing reservations or handling complaints. As such, the job could get highly-stressful; and being that guest services are customer’s first contact point, keeping it together could be a challenge.
II. Analysis/Critique:
A. Overview
While Grand Hyatt San Antonio is performing well in several areas, the management appears to be having such a challenge to keep a conducive working environment. In the past, there had been a few times when Grand Hyatt made the headline in the local news as workers went on strike a number of times starting in 2010 and then most recently in 2015. It took five years for Grand Hyatt to finally collaborate and resolve these issues with the workers union.
Although the primary issues brought in the bargaining were related to pay and workers benefits, the message conveyed behind all that ruckus is indicative of management’s lack of sensitivity to their employees’ needs. As a result, employee turn-over is significantly high, job morale is low, and not to mention grouchy, overworked employees due to poor work-life balance. These issues as identified, will be the focal of discussion in the following proposed analysis of problems and solutions if I were to be a manager at Grand Hyatt’s Guest Services Department.
B. Problems and Solutions
Introduction
Overall, Grand Hyatt has made remarkable strides since inception. However, persistent challenges mainly emanating from high turnover, low morale and poor work-life balance present a huge hurdle to the company’s prospects. If I were the manager of Grand Hyatt, I will focus on overturning some of the policies and norms so as to deal with the impediments promptly and allow the firm to stay on course for further growth.
Problem #1: High Employee-Turnover
First, on the high turn-over of employees, most managers, certainly, would agree that keeping their experienced and highly-skilled staff members guarantees premium customer service, customer satisfaction, increased repeat customers, and increased sales. The importance of employee retention to an organization’s long-term health and success cannot be emphasized any more than having a management who understands that good customer service starts with its employees.
At the Guest Services Department, key members left mainly because top management is so uninvolved with the on-going issues that continues to plague the team. People are coming and going within three to six months, making it a challenge to build and maintain a cohesive place to work that encourage good team dynamics. Largely, the issue is on training and understaffing. New hires are allowed to work with bare minimum knowledge on how to work the computer and phone systems.
Nowadays, hotels use advanced reservations software systems that are linked or interfaced with other sites for customers booking on line, be it through Expedia, Orbitz, Kayak, Hotwire, and similar other sites. Part of the guest services daily job is to check, verify, refresh and/or update the reservation register, not only to ensure that special accommodations or requests are well noted, but more importantly, for overbookings.
As simple as it may sound, such inadequate training causes a domino effect because any errors made, creates additional work for other members, thereby, taking time away from their own work. In a very fast paced work environment, the ability to address problems efficiently while you have customers waiting in line, hungry, sleepy, and tired from their flight, is a prime. Sometimes, instances like these, also creates for a highly volatile situation because some customers do not have all the patience to wait. New hires are usually overwhelmed working under this kind of pressure. In effect, they would quit the job and left us scrambling to fill-in because we are understaffed again.
Solution:
From a manager stand-point, I would address this high-turnover issue in two-folds: first, be a proactive manager that supports open communication; and second, implement employee training and mentoring plan for new hires. Employees seek out support from management, and management supposedly should listen to employees’ feedbacks and updates on issues concerning their jobs. Right now, there is such a big gap between management and employees due to lack of good communication and/or direct interaction.
Thus, as a proactive manager, my first course of action would be to have an open communication, a round-table meeting every other week or whenever the need arises for an impromptu meeting. Maintaining good communication with supervisors and their team leaders is a good way to connect with your staff to best resolve issues affecting job performance and most importantly, your employees’ ability in delivering premium quality customer service.
Management’s interaction with staff promotes teamwork and allows them to stay in the loop, as well as follow through with issues and ensure implementation of resolutions to make staff feels that they understand their concerns. Furthermore, close interaction and maintaining good communication with staff will not only provide comfort, but also promotes peace and calm in the workplace, a good catalyst to resolving issues, especially, highly sensitive issues.
Another course of action that I would consider in resolving the problem of high-turnover of employees would be to implement training programs, especially for our new hires. The importance of training, mentoring, and coaching could never be emphasized any more than it is in businesses with prime focus in customer service. Guest services representatives are the customers’ first point of contact when they come in to Grand Hyatt. Thus, I would recommend a two-week training program before placing new hires to work. The first week of training should be focused on the computer and telephone systems because this is a critical piece to providing quality customer service. Technical skills are a “must” in this job because time is of the essence when you are handling so many customers, especially, during peak hours.
Along with the technical skills training also comes customer service and interpersonal communication skills. When you hire new employees with barely minimum experience in customer service, a brief orientation of what to expect in a highly-intensive, fast paced environment is essential so they will be prepared for what they are up against. Most of the new hires in my department lasted, at the most, six months because they could not stand the pressure of the job. They are underprepared for the responsibilities in front of them, which often leaves them frustrated. Eventually, they give up and quit the job. I believe training and mentoring from start to finish would encouraged new employees to stay because nothing is more empowering than being equipped with the knowledge and skill competence to perform your job.
Problem # 2: Low Job Morale
Every employee wants to be recognized for their hard work. Guest services representative is a 24-hour job. Often, because of the high employee turn-over, we have to work mandatory overtime. There will be weeks when some of us will be working 6 to 7 days and barely have any time for quality rest and for family. Although overtime pay is good, your body is too exhausted that financial incentives is no longer enough to motivate you to work. However, because some of us who has been with the company since its inception, we still have that sense of loyalty to Grand Hyatt that sometimes we have to sacrifice our weekends. Sacrifices that are often gone unnoticed. There is no reciprocity. Everyone gets tired and when there is nothing there to motivate you, job morale goes down and people start missing work, calling in sick, etc.
Solution
The fundamental way that the Hyatt management can boost the morale of the workers is by creating a positive environment with additional benefits that supersede the added workload and other causes of demotivation. In this context, if I were the manager, I would introduce monthly awards as a way of demonstrating that the company values the effort of all employees as a result of working beyond the stipulated schedule (Dobre, 2013). Such awards will be issued based on a thorough appraisal of every employee during the given period. Employees with the highest score will get added bonuses to their normal monthly pay. Along with recognizing the top performers, I would also undertake to add more incentives to boost collective performance such as setting and working towards attainable targets within short periods. Certificates of merit will be accompanied with other benefits accorded to each employee for improved performance.
As the manager, I would also seek to enhance inclusivity in decision-making on matters pertaining coping with the additional workload. Typically, employees want to feel that they are part of the process of coming up with solutions to any problems that affect their productivity. To achieve such, I will keep open communication and deliberation on every aspect of sharing the piling workload. Even though there is need to maintain the work tempo in line with the set goals and objectives, I deem it vital to let the team take charge of their projects with a lesser micromanagement approach (Dobre, 2013). By according the workers space to demonstrate their skills and complement one another’s effort, it is highly likely that they can feel trusted and empowered to go an extra mile regardless of the strain. Additionally, I will uphold the mutual flow of feedback for prompt adjustment to maintain continuity.
Problem # 3: Poor Work-life Balance
Given the current work dynamics, maintaining balance between work and personal life is quite a challenge. Due to the high turn-over, the department is always understaffed necessitating the mandated overtime on some weeks. In effect, staff is tired and overworked. This problem is further exacerbated when weekly work schedules are subject to change at a given moment. Thus, it is difficult to have a life outside work. Often, your personal schedule, somehow, always end up being scheduled around your work schedule.
Solution:
As the manager of Grand Hyatt, the first step is to enhance workplace flexibility. While it is necessary for the management to keep a hands-on approach on the schedule to ensure adherence, work-life balance can be achieved by letting the workers plan their schedule. This way, it will be easier for them to fix their off days according to their preference rather than the management imposing the timetable on them (Gilley et al., 2015). Employees will be allowed to alternate their working and rest days provided there is no any breakdown in the entire project. When the workload is predictably low, more people will be given additional days off and vice versa. However, it is crucial that the management reserves the ultimate discretion of approving the timetables so as to make sure that they are in tandem with the overall organizational schedule and workflow.
Another potential measure that I would undertake is to introduce designated quiet spaces within the workplace. A quiet space is an isolated section that represents a totally different atmosphere from that in the work room. Such a place can be characterized by some flowers, shades, soft music and comfortable seats. Employees can make their way to this area in turns to take a physical and mental break from the pressure of work (Gilley et al., 2015). This place is exclusively for relaxation and reflection as well as connecting with the outside world through phone calls and chats. The time spent by each employee will depend on the workload at their respective stations as well as how they have organized themselves. However, the management will enforce a requirement compelling every employee to visit the “quiet place” for at least 2 times a week.
Conclusion
For any business to succeed, it is imperative that it assembles the right man power who will ensure that the activities of the company are carried out as stipulated in the company’s mission. As Grand Hyatt’s new boss, I have done detailed research on various issues affecting the business, and I strongly believe if the challenges mentioned above are taken care off, then Grand Hyatt will easily meet its targets. With every employee having the necessary skills, desirable personal traits, and well oriented to work in our facility; then I don’t see anything else that will prevent Hyatt Corporation from delivering what they have always promised to deliver.
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