Things that happen in the catering/hospitality industry

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  • Lazy and uncaring managers leaving staff on their own to do all the work without any support, supervision or proper instructions/training. This kind of managers will say it is a kind of management style called “delegation”. Such managers pretend doing back office jobs during busy hours until it becomes quiet then they come out to “check on things” as if he/she cares. Mind you, the staff knows. They are not stupid like these managers think, so managers of this sort should think again. These kind of managers have no clue how the business is run and in effect demotivates the team and crashes the business down. Sad that this is happening and to those business owners/hotel GM/ HR (another clueless managers as well sometimes) who hired such managers in the restaurant, bar or cafe, we hope you know your key performance indicators to realised not too late that you hired an expensive idiot or con artist. We have seen so many of these kind of managers over the span of our careers that it is really another reason why this industry is going down the drain and good team members leave. In the future and for the success of businesses,always check your KPIs and the staff turnover because all these point to the performance of the manager in charge. And if the KPIs and staff doing well, please, I beg you please, reward these managers as they are very rare now.
  • Hotels,restaurant chains and Cafes only hire managers of the same nationality…go figure.How they get away with this racism? I do not know.
  • HR manager so uptight about uniform standard that a scarf that was off 2 inches from the left is already unacceptable. If this is not funny to you…better get tested.
  • Staff greets managers “good morning, good afternoon” and does not respond back and ignores them totally. No managers should be this busy or preoccupied not to give same courtesy to their team members.
  • Managers who think bullying is a management style.
  • Manager took store Hoover home thinking he/she could get away with it. Funny he/she knows there is CCTV…
  • Now I am leaving this topic here so that you all may add in your own funny, sad and insane experiences on the comments below. I am sure you all have lots to share.

The Challenges we face in the hospitality/catering industry

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Why nobody wants to work in this industry anymore?

Well, apart from the very low pay, there is also the unsociable long hours, split shifts, stressful work environment, unreasonable demands of the management/customers, high staff turnover, unmotivated team due to lack of teamwork and high percentage of staff absences, lack of clear communication, poor training, very poor recognition and incentive programs, harsh penalties or not strong enough disciplinary measures for underperformance and undependable zero hour contracts are just the very few that comes to mind.

But this can not go on like this. There must be  way we can reverse the downward spiral of this industry. How can we make it better for the people who still believe and hope that one day someone will figure out the formula to better this industry?

To me, I think we must begin how we perceive this industry and the people working behind it.How we categorise the people who work in this industry should change. Do you know that we are classed as unskilled/semi-skilled workers? Which means:

Unskilled labor is a segment of the workforce associated with a limited skill set or minimal economic value for the work performed. Unskilled labor is generally characterized by a lower educational attainment, such as a high school diploma, or lack thereof, and typically results in smaller wages.

I totally disagree with the definition and how our industry workers are classed as. The fact that we can tolerate the insanely spoilt brat attitude of some customers and the delusional demands of some bosses already show a great high skill and ability to still smile and not to commit murder on a daily basis. By this fact alone, we should be paid more than doctors because we save more people for being stabbed or shot by just using our high degree of skills called control and professionalism.

We are much more than what people perceived us to be. We provide nourishment for you and your family with good food, make you smile on your worst days, help you celebrate success and the best times of your lives. We assist you in making your work easier, lighter and we provide you the best rest possible away from home. All these uses high level of skills, so much dedication, and genuine concern for others.

It is hard to be nice when people are not nice. It is difficult to work when the environment is not ideal, and heart breaking when our kindness are being abused and misunderstood as stupidity. To make this industry better, let us start from here…respect the people working in this industry and give them the best chance to make their standard of living better.

Until then…