Supercharge your employee onboarding in the fast-paced hospitality industry

Do you manage a hotel chain, store, restaurant chain, fitness center or an e-commerce business? Then you are probably aware of the challenges of running a business at full speed. As operations- or site manager, your day-to-day business involves quick turnarounds, tight deadlines and a constant influx of demanding customers. In such turbulent work environment, how do you successfully onboard new staff?
To ensure an efficient process and a positive experience for everyone involved, we have put together Learnster’s 4P for a successful onboarding. In this article, we shed light on the challenges and best practices of onboarding in a fast-paced hospitality industry.

A planned employee onboarding
Building up a basic understanding of the business prior to day one ensures a smooth start for the new joiner. Instead of spending valuable time covering must-knows on site, operations managers can focus on the daily workflow - without unnecessary disruptions or downtime. The time in between the contract sign-off and start date is often referred to as pre-boarding. This is usually an exciting period with lots of curiosity and anticipation for the new job. Make the most of this opportunity by providing your future colleague with information such as company overview, core business values, safety standards and local routines. You can also send personal greetings from managers and other co-workers to make your new joiner feel appreciated and welcome.Maximize the knowledge levels and ensure a positive experience with Employee Onboarding in Learnster.

A professional employee onboarding
Welcome your new talent to a 2022 organization (and not a 1922 one!). Getting up to speed during an intense onboarding period requires business-consistent information, shared in a way that makes sense to your employees. Both paper-based checklists and learning-by-doing may seem like good options at first, but they fail to meet today’s expectations of a digitalized and accessible training program - especially among millennials. Give your new joiners the opportunity to process all the new information and apply them onto the daily work. For the operations manager, nothing is more important than seeing crucial information being reflected in the day-to-day business. You can also gauge the knowledge levels by inviting your employees to fun and challenging tests and surveys - both during and following the onboarding process.

A personalized employee onboarding
At Learnster, we know that there is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to onboarding. Different job roles and individual needs require personalization, both in terms of course content and study pace. Someone who is used to practical work might be a champion at setting the table or greeting guests, but struggle with theoretical learning. A digital onboarding opens up many new and personalized formats as it turns boring manuals into a dynamic learning experience. A warm and friendly communication style makes a huge difference and prevents your company from seeming like a cold and impersonal machine.

A professional employee onboarding
In the productivity-oriented hospitality industry, nothing is more important than efficiency. No one knows this better than the operations- or site manager. Given these circumstances, your new talent must quickly get up to speed. But in reality, productivity usually drops during the onboarding period. This is due to the lack of overview and ability to recognize support needs and progression.
By digitalizing the onboarding process, line managers can better track the individuals’ progress through course modules and milestones. Whether you are juggling one or multiple onboarding processes, across one or multiple units, a digital onboarding will help keep productivity on top.
