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Top Tips for the Perfect Uniform
Interview with Pamela Batt, Contractor for uniform Installation Galaxy Macau
Pamela was born in Melbourne and grew up in Perth. She began her career by owning and running and a card and gift shop in Perth for over 15 years before moving to Sydney in 1995. Her hospitality career began at Star City as a Wardrobe Attendant in the Wardrobe Department. She then moved to become Wardrobe Clerk, responsible for quality control, ordering and maintaining the quality of all items in the Star City Wardrobe Department. She finished off as a Supervisor at the casino/hotel operation and left Star City for Saint Catherine’s Girls School in Waverley. Here she was the Uniform Shop Manager for 4 years until she moved to Macau with her husband in April 2006. She took on the job as Wardrobe Manager for Altira Hotel and Casino and undertaking the wardrobe installation for the opening of the hotel in December 2006. After 18 months she was transferred to the sister property; City of Dreams to set up the new wardrobe operation there. City of Dreams has 6300 uniformed employees and Pam’s role was to coordinate the uniform design and set up for the installation. She left the hotel in January 2009 and after a break took on her current job as Wardrobe Consultant for the Galaxy project which began in July 2010.
She is responsible for outfitting the 7500 uniformed employees this includes initially coordinating with the designers and coordinating with the manufacturing side. When I asked what issues she faced with such big numbers she said the number one concern was communication. She needed a very extensive size range for all of the different multicultural staff. Of the 7500 employees there are 32 different nationalities. The third big issue was in educating staff on how the wardrobe department works and functions.
I asked Pamela for her top tips on how to get the perfect uniform. The number one point was functionality for the position. It is important to ensure the garment is made to fit for the purpose of the garment, this is a big priority.
Number two was durability of the fabric and the construction of the garment. Good manufacturing processes without shortcuts being taken is essential for the perfect uniform. Shortcuts could include using poor quality facing fabric in suit lapels for example.
The third point was the correct choice of fabric, a fabric which can withstand the industrial laundry process. She finds a combination of 60% polyester with 40% viscose for pants and suiting to be the most successful. She also recommended microfibre and 100% polyester for pants and suiting though this doesn’t breathe so well.
For white shirting, the recommendation is for 65% polyester 35% cotton, this is the best mix for durability and longevity of the garment. She mentioned it is important to always choose the blue toned version of a white shirt rather than the yellow toned version. As the garment wears, it becomes grey as the cotton fibres disintegrate and the shirt is left with 100% polyester fibres at the end of its life.
For white shirts with best the look choose 60% cotton and 40% polyester.
In terms of design, for Pam it is hard to go past the classic 2 button suit, it never dates and this is the suit design she would recommend.
For pants, always use adjustable buttons on the trousers, these are better than the adjustable sliders which tend to break during the commercial laundry process. Her other tips include to consider ordering uniform standard sizing rather than made- to- measure, even for suits. She usually order 50% unhemmed garments and 50% with regular and longer legs at the time of installation. She also suggested to look at longer arms and shorter arms versions of jackets and shirts for ease of multi-fit.
In terms of fabric it is essential to ask the manufacturer to include in their contract 30% spare fabric to keep on hand and to be utilised within 12 months. You need to be able to give a guarantee to the manufacturer that you will use the fabric up within 12 months.
These are Pam’s top tips for the perfect uniform.
Interview with Jean Chen, Executive Housekeeper – Four Seasons Macau
Jean Chen is the Executive Housekeeper at the Four Seasons Macau, which opened its doors in August 2008. In that same year Jean was transferred from Four Seasons Shanghai for the opening of the Four Seasons in Macau and to take on the role as Executive Housekeeper there. The hotel has 360 rooms, 84 suites and 2 presidential suites. While in Macau Lycette & Associates caught up with Jean for a Q&A session, by Liz Lycette
Q. What is your cultural background?
A. I am Malaysian Chinese
Q. Where were you born and where did you grow up?
A. I was born in Penang, West Malaysia
Q. What was your career path to date?
A. I discovered Housekeeping by “accident” when I took a job as a Supervisor with an new hotel opening in Penang after I left high school whilst waiting to go to college in Switzerland…I have been in Housekeeping for 27 years since. I started out in Purchasing actually.
Have worked for the Hyatt for about 8 years, Consulting for hotel openings/refurbishments in Karachi, Pakistan, Hsinchu in Taiwan, Beaufort in Singapore, Mines Resort City in Kuala Lumpur, Cititel in Kuala Lumpur, I also worked as Projects Assistant at the Regent in Jakarta and spent around 11years to date with the Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts.
Q. What was your first role as executive housekeeper?
A. My first role as EHK was with the Hyatt Kuantan in Malaysia, 1.5 years after joining them as AEHK.
Q. What challenges did this bring?
A. Honestly found it a bit overwhelming at first as I had to learn how to do the budgets, cope with renovations and an ageing laundry plant that had daily machinery breakdowns, handling people besides your own staff dealing with different ego’s and characters in the workplace. It was not something you learn at school or out of a text book.
Q. What are your current job responsibilities at Four Seasons Macau?
A. Oversee both Housekeeping & Guest Laundry department operations, supervise, train & develop people, initiate improvement plans for guest services, cost control,systems,uniforms & linens inventories and purchases, work safety procedures to name a few and execute high maintenance standards for the property in terms of cleanliness…in a nutshell
Q. How many staff are you responsible for? and what areas are you responsible for?
A. I am currently responsible for 120 Housekeeping & Laundry staff as well as the soon to be opened FS Residence Apartments. I have an international team from all over Asia namely Philippines, Myanmar, Mumbai, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Shanghai to name a few.
Q. What would your typical day be like?
A. Start at 7.30am; meet with my Overnight shift Laundry staff & Houseman. Discuss any overnight operational challenges if any – normally around 15- 20 mins. Do a walkabout for Public areas and meet with the contractor if there are any maintenance issues or projects not properly executed or completed, inspect guest rooms and guest room areas, plan purchases, review laundry production reports, productivity reports, follow up with Engineering on outstanding issues, meet with Managers and supervisors for a morning briefing and evening de-brief, check on next day’s arrivals and work with Room’s Controller on room blockings and last but not least catch up with outstanding paperwork at end of the day…
Q. What are your top three challenges this week?
A. 1) Meet with external laundry on bathroom linen finishing, completing uniform replacement plan for this year and see if it is in line with the budget.
2) Clearing outstanding annual leave for the Room Attendants and Supervisors from 2010.
Q. How did you choose those managers under you? What criteria?
A. Select the right people do not settle for what is in front of you…the time invested to wait for the right candidate is worth it. Less stress on yourself. They must have a willingness to learn, must be hands on and most importantly good attitude with an open mind towards change.
Q. As an expat what advantages and disadvantages does this bring to your role?
A. Advantages – you learn to be creative in tailoring the way things are to be done and to suit the environment you are in. The only disadvantage is probably in the beginning when you struggle to learn the language and at least understand the basics. A great personal advantage is, you get to travel, see the world and widen your social circle.
Q. How do you manage moving from country to country? How do you deal with different cultures?
A. Go with the flow…it must be a country that you can somehow picture yourself living in. I strongly believe that you must be humble to want to learn about the people and show genuine respect regardless of how different they do things from you.
Q. What are your top 3 tips for success in Housekeeping Management?
A. Be willing to be hand’s on when the situation requires to – walk the talk
- Listen without prejudice
- Keep yourself up to date at all times whether it is technology, new processes, trends etc- don’t be afraid to share ideas with your counterparts/colleagues in the industry- you have nothing to lose.
Q. If you had to do it all over again what would you do differently?
A. I took a year off work in between my stints…I would have used a part of that time to hone in on my public speaking skills which is not something we Asians are quite comfortable with. I was lucky to be able to work in Australia and had to learn this the hard way. I learnt public speaking at Toastmasters … many a red face and blushes years later…. as we say in Malaysia. ”now no problemla”!
Q. What advice would you give someone starting out in housekeeping?
A. Learn the basics/fundamentals of housekeeping well, it will take you a long way.
Q. How about your personal life? How do you balance work and home life?
A. My family is scattered around the globe, so we get together once a year if we can for a vacation. I do not believe in “face time“ when I see that I have completed all that needs to be done for the day – I go home. “Face time” in Asian working society means you do not leave before your bosses do, hence giving “face” to your bosses.
Q. What do you do for fun?
A. Travel, yoga and cook for friends…
Q. How do you think housekeeping management has changed since you started?
A. To start with you have to be computer savvy as productivity these days can be easily measured as well as efficiency, all is controlled through electronic processes, you need to know and understand your numbers. How your department’s expenses affect the room’s retention and bottom line. The DOHK is now more involved in decision making processes during set-ups on room’s operations. In fact in some companies, the DOHK’s are part of the Planning Committee team involved in the hotel’s decision making processes.
However, there are still a lot of hotel companies who place Housekeeping Managers on the back burners and only remember them when it comes to getting something cleaned.
Setting up and successfully running a 100% non smoking Hotel
The Westin Sydney contains 416 guest rooms, a large ballroom and function space and many F&B outlets and was at the time of this interview the only Sydney 5 star hotel operating entirely as a non-smoking Hotel. I met Assumpta McDonald, Executive Housekeeper at the Westin Sydney to discuss how she set up and successfully continues to run a 100% non smoking Hotel including all guest rooms and public areas and if she had any help or advice for those going into the non smoking arena. By Liz Lycette
LL: Where did the initial idea of an entire smoke-free hotel originate?
AM: The first directive was initiated by the Westin Head office in North America, where there are many non smoking hotels operating, however the Management team at the Westin Sydney were the ones to drive this initiative here in Australia, making it the success it is today.
LL: What procedures had to be put in place before beginning?
AM: After Head Office in North America had gathered a large amount of feedback from their customers; Westin Hotels in the Pacific region were approached and asked who would like to participate. Westin Sydney joined the programme along with Westin Melbourne and Westin Fiji.
At first surveys were sent out to all corporate clients and guests, asking for their comments and the overwhelming response was a resounding yes to 100% non smoking.
The Management team then decided on a start date to implement the 100% non-smoking policy. Once the date of 1st July 2006 had been set, a full marketing campaign was implemented to advice all clients and guests of the changes to the operation. The sales team contacted all their clients and regular guests were sent letters from the General Managers office.
Due to constant customer demand, most of our 416 rooms were already non smoking, leaving us only with 36 smoking rooms on 2 floors to converting 2 floors a year; this.
A systematic plan was agreed to convert these remaining rooms to non smoking in conjunction with the annual spring cleaning programme which kept a cap on costs and spending.
Smoking rooms were taken out of the Property Management System and Reservations advised all guests at the time of their reservation that the Hotel was 100% non smoking.
Information banners were placed in the lobby, guests given small cards together with their key cards at check in and verbally informed by the Front Office staff. Guest room letters signed by the General Manager went into all rooms 2 weeks prior to starting and there was also signage placed in the guest lifts. It was critical to let everyone know what was happening well in advance.
LL: What did you need to do in the rooms in order to prepare them as non-smoking rooms?
AM: We did a full spring clean, similar to the preventative maintenance programme with Engineering, carpets and upholstery were shampooed, bedding cleaned, including relining of all pillows and cleaning of doona inserts. Corridor carpets were also cleaned using a deodorising chemical method which helped remove residual smells. Engineering changed all the air conditioning filters. A provision had been put into the Capital Expenditure Budget for new beds so this was also done at the time of the conversion to non-smoking.
LL: Now that you are a smoke free hotel, what happens if a guest is found to be smoking in the room? What is the full procedure?
AM: The Housekeeping team are the “eyes and noses” of the operation, and all Associates are trained in detecting the residues of smoking. Should evidence of smoking be found, the Room Attendant contacts their Supervisor who in turn alerts the Manager on Duty. The “evidence”, be it a cigarette butt in the bin, in a bottle or in the toilet bowl is removed by 2 staff members and kept until the case has been resolved. A message is left with the guest to contact the Manager on Duty who then handles the case. It is essential the Manager on Duty acts swiftly so the evidence can be removed and kept safely and the Room Attendant can proceed to clean the room.
Once the Manager on Duty has discussed the incident with the guest, they are then charged a cleaning fee of $200.00. Naturally this process needs to be handled with the utmost sensitivity and delicacy. This fee doesn’t cover the full actual cost but is meant more as a deterrent to the guest. The room then has to be put ‘out of order’ to shampoo the carpet, upholstery and conduct the usual full spring clean before it can be relet.
LL: What are the advantages of a non smoking policy?
AM: Guest feedback has been overwhelmingly positive and all the staff really love it too. In particular the rooms are easier to clean, no dirty ashtrays to clean, there is no damage from cigarette burns and no need to sanitise and cope with smoky smell after a smoking guest has checked out. There has been no lost business due to the policy, in fact there is an increase in business from those guests preferring the 100% smoke free environment.
LL: And what are the challenges and any disadvantages?
AM: A few guests have objected, however the positive feedback has far outweighed the negative comments. The initial cost to set-up non smoking floors including the full spring clean can also be expensive if this is not planned and budgeted. There is also the additional cost of all the collateral and the costs of communicating the changes to all the guests and corporate clients to be considered.
LL: Finally, what words of advise could you share to someone thinking of implementing a 100% non-smoking Hotel?
AM: Firstly plan well in advance. Convert your rooms from smoking to non-smoking gradually, there is less impact on the P&L and combine it with an existing spring cleaning/ preventative maintenance programme.
The initiative must also be a Hotel wide team effort, everyone from the GM down must be 100% behind the idea to ensure success, and everyone needs to be strictly complying with all the procedures. This requires full support from all to be a total success but the benefits are worth the effort.
For more information email: info@lycetteandassociates.com
Interview with Brenda Olson, Executive Housekeeper – Wolgan Valley Resort & Spa
A Q&A session with Brenda Olson, Executive Housekeeper at Wolgan Valley Resort & Spa, conducted by Liz Lycette.
Q: Where were you born and where did you grow up? Go to School?
A: I was born in Coos Bay, Oregon USA. My family stayed in USA until I was 3 and then we moved to Australia. My mom is an Aussie and my dad American. My mom went off on an overseas adventure early in her life and ended up meeting my dad in Spain where they married, moved to the USA had 3 kids and thought Australia would be a great place to raise us. I have lived in Coober Pedy in Western Australia and later near Windsor in the Lower Blue Mountains. I went to school in Penrith west of Sydney.
Q: What was your career path until your first Executive Housekeeper position?
A: I first worked in Hospitality at Australia’s Wonderland after a while I started working in Visual Merchandising. I did this for 12 years in the Sydney Metro area.
Q: Where have you been Executive Housekeeper? Hotel? City? Country? Number of rooms? Challenges of each position?
A: Like my mom I took off on an overseas adventure to the USA, ended up in Alaska where it was more about the location and experience than the actual job. I applied to be a Housekeeper, and was accepted. Soon after I was promoted to a Supervisor and then asked back as an Assistant Manager the following season. I loved the job and the atmosphere so much I applied for the Executive Housekeeping Manager position and was successful! I have been in that position for the past 6 years.
The McKinley Chalet Resort is on the boarder of Denali National Park right in the middle of Alaska, USA. The Resort has 480 rooms, room set up of TW/DB mini suites, 2 x Queen rooms and King rooms. On any given day there was at least 53 Housekeeping employees needed to operate the resort – Assistant Managers x 3, Supervisors x 12, HSK x 52, Housemen x 5, and PAC x 6. Most of the seasonal employees were from eastern European countries like Russia, Bulgaria, Romania, and Poland also Dominica Republic and USA Students, they worked on a 4-month visa.
Challenges were staffing accordingly. Opening and closing the resort, motivating the staff and keeping morale high, check out time of 10am and new arrivals at noon meant a short turnover time between rooms, team work & organisation was key.
Q: What was your last position in Alaska like? How long were you there and what made you come back to Australia?
A: My position as the Executive Housekeeping Manger was certainly challenging at times. Working a seasonal property, opening the property from being closed for 7 months to ensuring everyone was trained in enough time for our first guests, losing staff during the season, to closing down the property. I loved meeting new people every season from all over the globe.
I worked in Denali at the McKinley Chalet Resort for 6 years.
The decision to return back to Australia was certainly a hard one. I worked 10 months out of 12 so we came home to Australia every 2 years or so seeking a warmer climate for the winter. It got harder to leave family & friends each time, so we decided to see what opportunities opened up in Australia for us before our return tickets to Alaska were due.
Q: Why did you choose Housekeeping?
A: I think Housekeeping choose me - I like to clean, I like things in order and I like an end result. Housekeeping appeared as a great opportunity in Alaska for me to live and work in such an unbelievable environment. Not many can say they clean rooms where moose and grizzly bears walk by …
Q: What do you love most about it? And what is the hardest part of being a Housekeeper?
A: The hardest part of housekeeping is being the ‘unsung hero’s’ in a hotel, being unappreciated or under paid.
What I love most about Housekeeping – guest satisfaction, seeing an end result, the closeness within the team
Q: When did you join Wolgan Valley Resort & Spa? What are your first impressions from the first 2 weeks?
A: I joined Wolgan Valley Resort in February 2010. My first impressions were surreal, everything was organised, policies and procedures were in place and the property was amazing
Q: What are the biggest 3 challenges? Working in a remote property?
A: Staff retention, isolation, boredom etc. Dust is a huge challenge, it blows in from everywhere!
Communication with other departments. a sense of urgency or lack thereof.
Q: Describe Wolgan Valley – setup – number of rooms? Physical layout? Housekeeping staffing and structure of setup of staff. Public areas?
Room rates? What type of guests?
A: Wolgan Valley Resort & Spa is Australia’s first luxury conservation-based resort. Located on Australia’s Great Dividing Range, within the heart of the Blue Mountains World Heritage Area. The resort occupies only 2% of the 4,000 acres.
This secluded resort features 40 individual suites surrounded by private decks, each having it’s own indoor/outdoor swimming pool, separate living and sleeping areas, luxurious en suite bathroom and double sided fireplace.
The Housekeeping Department has a staffing of 14 – breaks down to Executive Housekeeping Manager, Supervisor, 4 PAC and 8 Suite Attendants. Generally we have 2 am PAC and 2 pm they do our turndown service that all guests receive during their stay. Our suites are like being in your own home so the timeline of cleaning them is around 45 min – 1 hour, larger suites 11/2 hours.
Room rates vary from $1,660 up
Our guests come from all over Australia and the world.
Interview with Grace Esogon, Executive Housekeeper, Sydney Harbour Marriott regarding The Salvation Army Employment Plus scheme
By Liz Lycette, Principal – Lycette & Associates
Grace has been working closely for many months with The Salvation Army Employment Plus on a new employment and training scheme which creates great wins for both the Hotel and unemployed Australians, giving them hope for the future. I met with Grace to find out more about the scheme including all the pros and cons.
Q. Can you explain how The Salvation Army Employment Plus service works?
A.The Salvation Army Employment Plus (TSAEP) is a nonprofit organization which delivers an employment programme funded by the Australian Government.They provide a number of candidates who then go through 4 stages of screening and training; which can be funded by wage subsidies accessed by TSAEP.The Hotel advises how many staff they are looking for, TSAEP screens the candidates and sends through suitable CV’s for screening the next day.The hotel will then run a 2 hour “information session” for candidates to show them all aspects of the work they will be required to do.At the end of the session, those candidates who are interested stay back and are then further screened by the Hotel. Suitable candidates are offered a work experience programme of 50 hours over 2 weeks. Upon successful completion of this programme, recruits are then offered a 2 weeks “work trial”.The final successful recruits are then offered a contract of 26 weeks.Training costs for each candidate is paid for by TSAEP through a wage subsidy scheme.
Q.When did you first start to useThe Salvation Army Employment Plus programme?
A. We first started in June 2008.
Q. How did you initially find out about them?
A. While working at Courtyard by Marriott in North Ryde, I met an employee who was recruited throughTSAEP and I can see that there was potential talent from TSAEP candidates.
Q.Why did you decide to try them out?
A. I met some of the candidates at a career expo and saw an oppor tunity to develop the talents from within this group, I interviewed them and recognized the candidates potential and decided to try them out after some convincing reassurance from the TSAEP consultant. Employing students and getting them to stay has been challenging in the past, the TSAEP recruits have remained steady and loyal.
Q.What procedures needed to be put into place to set this programme up?
A. An excellent existing training process needs to be in place. Strong buddy training programmes with lots of interaction and communication is important.There is also some paperwork necessary for wage subsidy, verification forms and performance feedback to be filled out. All other processes are the same as for regular staff recruitment and training.
Q.What is the process of employing someone throughThe Salvation Army Employment Plus?
A. After the 2 hour group interview and information session, candidates undertake a full 2 weeks work experience programme and then 2 weeks work trial. Successful candidates are offered a 26 week contract, the candidate works as a fulltime hotel employee and a performance appraisal is conducted before the 26 weeks contract expires. 65% of the candidate salary is subsidised by the Government, this covers the Hotel training costs any lost productivity.The successful candidate is then offered an employment opportunity after the 26 week programme.
Q. How quickly are they trained and how soon are they 100% productive?
A. Candidates are trained progressively as per the departmental training process. Some candidates may take a little longer to train and reach the depar tmental 100% productivity level, most have no prior hotel background and some candidates just take time to adjust.The wage subsidy offered byTSAEP assists the Hotel with costs in training candidates to reach their full potential.
Q.What are the financial benefits? Costs to you? Costs to them?
A. The wage subsidy for each candidate assists the department in training candidates to reach their full potential.This reduces the cost and time in hiring and training new recruits.
The 2 weeks work experience programme give candidates and the Hotel the opportunity to assess performance and suitability. In addition, there is an additional 2 weeks work trial. 90% of the candidates wage is subsidized during the trial.This gives the Hotel a further opportunity to assess the candidate’s performance before offering a 26 week contract.
Q.What are the advantages? Short term? And long term?
A.The scheme is very cost and time effective. It is also a way to give back to the community andTSAEP provide workplace visits and support throughout the programme.TheTSAEP employees have proven to be very loyal; they are mostly quiet achievers and work hard to stay employed. As a result, Housekeeping staff turnover is now low.
Q.What about disadvantages? Short term and long term?
A. One has to exercise patience as TSAEP candidates don’t have any hospitality industry background.The first 2 weeks of the work experience programme is sometimes not enough to evaluate every candidate’s performance and there is a lot of coaching and counseling involved with some candidates.There is also an increase in training hours. Critically, the Housekeeping team must be willing to help, buddy trainers need to be patient and understanding, adapting to each candidates needs.
Q. Have you had any feedback from other staff? Management? on these personnel?
A. The candidates have developed a great rapport with the whole team.The programme is cost and time effective in terms of the recruitment and training process.The candidates are being recognized by well management and fellow team members have nominated them for the Hotel recognition program.
Q.What final words of wisdom would you give to someone thinking of considering using these services?
A. TSAEP candidates have talents waiting to be tapped, it is essential to get your team on board. Despite the hard work and paperwork sometimes seeming to make the process high maintenance, it is all worth the effort and very self rewarding. It is important to realise that sometimes some candidates just won’t’ work out. This is a wonderful tool for building up recruits self confidence and it is really a great way to support our local community.
Since Grace started this initiative, she has won the “2009 AHA Housekeeper of the Year Award” and also the “Marriott EDGE Award for Asia Pacific”, selected from Managers of Marriott hotels throughout the region.
Contact details for The Salvation Army Employment Plus:
Samantha Phillips The Salvation Army Employment Plus Parramatta Phone: 02 9633 8106 Email: samantha_phillips@aepsalvationarmy.org
The Hilton Sydney – a successful model of Housekeeping staff outsourcing
By Ariane Lellmann, Lycette & Associates – senior consultant
The Sydney Hilton is a 5*, 577 bedroom hotel, reopened in 2005 after 2.5 years of extensive renovations, containing 4 Bars and restaurants, Spa, wide spread Public Areas and major function space. The Executive Housekeeper, Ms Leonie Looser, is a hospitality professional with over 25 years experience and has been with the Hilton Sydney since 10 years. Since the hotel re-opened 2 years ago, only the Executive Housekeeper and 1 Assistant Executive Housekeeper are employed by the hotel, all other Housekeeping staff are supplied from an outsourcing provider.
Lycette & Associates had the opportunity to discuss with Leonie this particular chosen outsourcing approach and how this impacted on her daily work and responsibilities.
Preparing to outsource successfully:
AL: What were your initial main reasons for looking at a full outsourcing option and what were your expectations?
LL: When the Hilton closed for renovation in 2002 Housekeeping consisted of a very mature age work force. We were not looking for a quick, cheap cost cutting exercise but for a viable financial partnership with a provider in regards to OH&S and workers compensation cost responsibilities
AL: Given average hotel occupancy how many staff for how many departments were you approximately looking for on a daily basis?
LL: Apart from our Hilton employees in-house Laundry (15 staff) we were looking for an overall team of approximately 100 plus staff, covering a.m./p.m. Room attendants, a.m./p.m. Supervisors, a.m./p.m. Public Area attendants, Uniform room Attendants (open 24 hours) and administration.
AL: The Hilton is a very large hotel and a complex, demanding operation but a long-time and experienced Housekeeper such as you does all the jobs involved almost automatically. How did you approach identifying the many essential key points in a systematic fashion when preparing the brief for the selection process?
LL: We have started with Hilton’s Standard Operating Procedures, our brand standards and core competencies as a base and developed a very detailed manual from there. We have written our own very specific “how-to-do” procedures, detailing every step in regards to equipment care, furniture care and every task, big and small, to be carried out in our operation. This has taken months to prepare, but it is a very critical step in the preparation process in order to avoid any misunderstandings. Every step and task of the operation needed to be clearly defined as to “who”, “what”, “how often” and “to what standard” so that I was confident we had a clearly defined basis of the 5* quality operation expected at a Hilton Hotel. We also determined and set the staffing levels and productivity.
AL: So quality assurance was obviously one of your main issues – what else were your initial concerns?
LL: Yes, the issue of ownership on quality and a potential clash of a “business deal” versus the “demands of quality” was very important to me. I was also concerned about commitment to training, communication and how to truly understand a 5* operation. Therefore it was very important to spell out what exactly was expected as a basis for any future negotiations.
AL: What would you consider as priorities and crucial elements to focus on when interviewing and subsequently negotiating with an outsourcing provider?
LL: The biggest drive was my absolute commitment to quality; any discussion and negotiation about the business model had to entail our detailed “how-to-do” specifications and I didn’t take anything for granted. After an initial selection process we allowed the providers to price and cost the model on the specific basis of our given expectations and set their margins. We then compared these quotations against an all-staff-in-house model with 3 different occupancy levels, based on average previous actual experience and figures. Apart from that varied and detailed reference checks are also very important.
AL: Negotiating and composing a business contract of this volume requires very specific expertise, apart from an operational understanding of the Housekeeping operation. Who and what did you work with closely during the process?
LL: Absolutely – the Hotel Manager, Financial Controller and I worked together very closely during the entire process and we also had professional legal advice and assistance.
Working with the chosen outsourcing provider on a daily basis:
AL: Housekeepers traditionally tend to like to nurture their own staff, don’t like “losing control” and by nature of their quintessential job scope worry about quality control. How do you now handle communication with the provider and their staff?
LL: We have on site full time a senior Operations Manager with whom we have a very close relationship. We also have daily Supervisor meetings just as in any operation, regular monthly Room Attendant meetings and possibly 1-2 more ad-hoc briefings. The Supervisors are also invited 3-monthly to general information and communications meetings with the Hotel Manager and Hilton pays for this time. It is extremely important to think of the provider’s employees as “our team” and to integrate them with hotel employed team members from other departments. Here nobody thinks of them as outsiders and we all are simply “The Housekeeping team”.
AL: How do you assure training of new staff is to the expected level of competency for the Hilton Sydney?
LL: The training process and duration for new starters is part of the contract and has been previously agreed and set at 10 days to reach full productivity. Any training required due to new policies to our brand service standards is paid for by Hilton. Any coaching or disciplinary meeting will have a Hilton employed person and a provider employee present. We are very quick to follow up on any guest comment/ complaints/ mystery shopper results (positive as well as negative feedback)
AL: How do you assure compliance with health and safety standards?
LL: It is very important to understand that the hotel cannot shift away from that responsibility. The hotel has to provide a safe workplace and equipment and has the responsibility to document its risk management policies and actions.
AL: How do you maintain a motivating environment for the staff wanting to achieve their best and can you still have recognition and incentive schemes?
LL: Absolutely and that too is very important and was discussed at the contract negotiation phase. The provider hosts 2 “employee of the month” awards based on Hilton’s performance criteria, one for Room Attendants and one for the other Housekeeping positions. From Hilton’s side we run another smaller incentive scheme for staff that have done something special plus we invite all staff quarterly to a lovely morning tea party with lucky door prizes.
AL: How do you handle special and/or unforeseen cleaning tasks (such as follow-up after a carpet shampoo, follow-up after preventive maintenance/any maintenance job) as well as periodic cleaning tasks?
LL: All these jobs have been priced out before and a fix job rate for each task has been agreed, which I need to budget.
AL: After your initial concerns how do you now handle quality control and delivery of consistent service standards?
LL: We have a very transparent and measurable quality control programme based on our brand standards in place. We spot check occupied rooms as well as departure rooms and everything is documented and uploaded in our quality computer system. It works very well and also forms the basis for the award system.
The experience of 2 years:
AL: You are now looking back on 2 years of working with your chosen provider. What would you describe as the main benefit for you and the hotel in working with the current system?
LL: It is important to have the right mind set to make this system work. The main benefit I feel is that I am not bogged down with a lot of paperwork and reports anymore, particularly pertaining to the recruitment process. This allows me to focus on many other aspects better. I am also sharing the responsibility for overseeing the performance of all.
AL: How do the actual results compare to your initial expectations financially?
LL: Financially this system runs on par with an in-house-employed system, but the benefit for us is in the avoidance of the potentially unknown workers compensation blow-out.
AL: How would you describe the skills and knowledge required to be a “Business Manager in charge of Housekeeping Services” in today’s competitive environment?
LL: A thorough understanding of financial management is essential. You have to understand yield and average rate and know where and how savings can be obtained in relationship to occupancy and average rate. I need to develop my own annual business plan and score card and am held responsible against those. This reflects not only financial performance but also the quality as scored in our guest satisfaction surveys. I also believe that suppliers’ relationships are very important and you have to have an active role in the purchasing decision process. Last not least it is essential today to have an understanding of the most recent changes to the Industrial Relations laws affecting the workplace.
AL: Looking to the future and the changing needs and expectations the hospitality industry places on its Managers, what advice would you share with young graduates/professionals interested in developing a career in Housekeeping?
LL: Learn all there is about the department while you have a chance in order to have a thorough understanding and appreciation of what is really involved. Become financially savvy and understand the aspect of financial management. Develop and hone your communication skills, may that be to negotiate successfully, share information clearly or motivate those around us – after all, we are in a people’s business.
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