Employers who don't give their housekeeping staff a chance to perfect their existing skills and learn new ones shouldn't be surprised by the high turnover rates in hospitality.
Ask any housekeeper what kind of change they associate with their job, and they will most likely say sheets. It's no secret many housekeepers find their duties repetitive and unenticing. How can their managers solve that?
First of all, hotel housekeeping training shouldn't begin and end with the onboarding of new employees. What about the long-standing staff who feel overlooked?
To borrow a quote from Yoda, a master trainer with centuries of experience: "Always pass on what you have learned." Treat your housekeeping staff like Jedis in the making and help them reach their true potential.
You'll need to rethink housekeeping staff training to create a strong team that keeps your hotel spotless and has your guests returning.
Let's discuss what managers and supervisors can do to create unbeatable hotel housekeeping training.
What is the importance of housekeeping staff training?
It helps avoid cleaning mistakes and thus increases guest satisfaction.
1. My staff is experienced, so what's the point of training?
That way, your new employees will have the chance to make mistakes and learn from them without negatively affecting your guests.
No matter how experienced someone is, ongoing training will improve their performance, keep them engaged, and expand their skill set.
Providing your veteran staff members with ongoing training and professional support allows them to assume mentoring roles. Let them help with training programs designed for newer staff members.
That way, your new employees will have the chance to make mistakes and learn from them without negatively affecting your guests.
2. Circumstances can change
As the COVID-19 pandemic showed us, things can change dramatically overnight. With a slow return to normal, it's imperative to ensure your housekeeping staff is adequately trained to deal with new health and safety protocols.
Consider other ways to grow your team's resistance to change, such as switching to housekeeping management software. Read more about how your hotel can benefit from going digital.
Five best practices for successful housekeeping staff training
Just like every aspect of the hotel management business, housekeeping staff training has evolved by embracing technology. Let's talk about five essential ingredients for creating a modern and efficient hotel housekeeping training.
1. In-person training and shadowing
The first housekeeping training sessions are foundational and should be held in person. Leave it to management or veteran team members to onboard new staff members.
The first few weeks in a new workplace are hard for anyone. Minimize your staff's anxiety and nervousness with in-person talks and training sessions. This is your opportunity to discuss key principles and values through personalized communication.
Best practice: Set up in-person training sessions to make your new hires comfortable and welcome them into a team. Stay professional yet friendly, and talk clearly about what is expected in terms of culture, behavior, attitude, etiquette, and interaction.
What do you think is the best way to teach your new housekeepers how to perform tasks properly? That's right, letting them see firsthand how to do things correctly by observing a veteran team member.
The first few hotel housekeeping training sessions should always include shadowing. When the new hires complete initial training sessions, reinforcing acquired skills through other methods becomes much easier.
2. Video tutorials
Once you've laid the foundation with in-person training sessions, it's time to leverage technology. No, not lightsabers.
We're talking about creating video tutorials for your new staff. Enriching your training sessions with digital content helps trainees reference instructions whenever they need a refresher or detailed guidance.
Best practice: While there are countless ways to use video and other digital materials to improve the housekeeping staff training process, short and simple videos taken on smartphones will do the job. The best thing about video tutorials is that they can be easily updated whenever necessary.
Just be sure to provide instruction on the most important job aspects:
- Technology: Are you using housekeeping software to track your team's daily tasks, schedule employee shifts, and communicate internally? Create educational videos for staff members who are new to these types of apps and tools. Watching videos has proven to be highly efficient in the onboarding process.
- Cleaning Technique: Use videos to show new employees the best and most effective cleaning techniques. Your videos should also clearly show the results that are expected from staff. This is a great time to ask your experienced housekeepers for help.
- Equipment and Product Use: To create a successful housekeeping team, your staff needs to know how to use all the cleaning equipment and products correctly. Create videos that show your staff how to stay safe by maintaining the equipment and adequately using every cleaning product.
3. Photo tutorials
Taking photos to show new hires how things should be done is simpler than making videos and can be just as effective. While explaining complex tasks in a detailed video is best, you should use photographs for uncomplicated tasks full of visual particularities.
Best practice: Take employee uniforms - photographs can show how your staff should wear them. Show exactly what you are looking for, and don't forget to emphasize the details.
Another excellent opportunity for using photos is showcasing presentations in hotel rooms and dining areas. Show what a made bed should look like, how to stack towels and fold napkins, and so on.
4. Detailed checklists
Printed checklists have long been preferred for keeping track of tasks and establishing housekeeping standards.
However, digital checklists are the real game changer.
From the housekeeping staff to managers, anyone can use them to ensure all tasks have been completed and everything is running smoothly.
Digital checklists deliver the best results because they clearly define work goals and show staff how to achieve them—all in simple and incremental steps that are easily manageable.
Best practice: Break goals into smaller steps to keep your staff motivated and eliminate stress from completing tasks. Psychologists have confirmed that every small achievement checked off a to-do list results in a feeling of pleasure and motivation through the brain's dopamine release.
The science is saying that digital checklists have the same effect on your housekeepers as chocolate. But while Milka won't keep them around, providing them with a greater sense of purpose and achievement while they perform their daily activities surely will!
5. Easily accessible SOPs
The beauty of technology and housekeeping management apps is that everything is right at your fingertips. You're carrying all the information you could need in your pocket, no matter where you are in the facility.
The same goes for digital standard operation procedures (SOPs).
Best practice: Housekeepers and managers should always have SOPs available on their mobile devices. Using digital SOPs for housekeeping training and evaluation purposes daily will help hotel managers achieve the following:
- Health and Safety Compliance: With many new protocols that hotels must adhere to keep their guests safe from COVID-19, health and safety compliance has never been more critical. Use SOPs to ensure that your facility complies with relevant health and safety regulations.
- Ongoing Training: As mentioned earlier, hotel housekeeping training should be a continuous, cyclical process. Regularly updating your business's SOPs plays a massive part in that process.
- Branding and Customer Service Standards: SOPs are there to define and meet the high standards expected of your staff and facility. Making sure that SOPs are upheld will go a long way toward maintaining and increasing your hotel's credibility.
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Ready to create an unstoppable housekeeping team?
If you expect superhero productivity, help your staff become superheroes.
In other words, train your staff. Hiring is easy, but keeping staff will be impossible unless you empower people to grow their skills.
And since room cleanliness is the #1 priority for hotel guests, you will quickly notice that happy staff translates into satisfied customers.
