Interpersonal skills and professional qualitiesTraining staff

Within the hospitality industry, staff training and standards very much influence the quality of service. Good customer service just doesn’t happen by accident. Staff must be properly trained for their role.

Training staff is important to ensure they:

• Know and understand the standards and practices relating to delivering excellent service.
• Understand their roles and develop high level skills to deliver the expected standard of service to customers.

Training can be provided in two ways:

• On-the-job
• Off-the-job

On-the-job training

As the name suggests, this type of training takes place while the member of staff continues to work. The trainee is supervised and trained by another member of staff who does the same job, but has more experience.

Advantages of on-the-job training

• Additional staff are not required to cover during training times.
• The member of staff is being trained to the exact standards and methods expected within the business.
• Little or no travelling costs or tuition fees so it is less expensive for both the business and the individual.
• The trainee does not have to settle in to a strange learning environment and has the trainer on site to provide help and guidance in a work environment.
• In large businesses training will be part of an overall programme and will provide on-going development for all staff.
• The timing of training can be chosen to suit the business.

Disadvantages of on-the-job training

• The trainee may pick up bad habits from observing other members of staff.
• The trainee may not receive a formal qualification to show the level that has been achieved.
• The trainer may be very good at the job but may have poor training or teaching skills so the quality of training is poor.
• Training an inexperienced member of staff can add pressure and have a negative impact on working relationships.
• Mistakes made by trainees can impact on the quality of service or product for the customer and create a poor impression of the business.
• Management may receive more complaints about trainee staff and these take time to follow up and deal with.
• Two members of staff are involved in the training process which can add pressure to completing tasks efficiently.