In late November, CareersCompass attended a hospitality industry night presented by Workforce Singapore (WSG) and Jobstreet.
It certainly offered a five-star experience for those already working in, or interested in joining, Singapore’s hospitality industry. Packed with fresh insights and career opportunities, attendees had a chance to wine, dine, and network with industry professionals.
We took the chance to chat with Jessie Lim, one of the panel speakers for the night, who answered some key questions that will be relevant to the career health for those working in Singapore’s hospitality sector, as well as their employers too.
How has the hospitality industry changed in the aftermath of Covid-19- have the needs of guests evolved, and what are the trends ahead that the Singapore marketplace needs to take note of to stay competitive?
Jessie: Well, some of the feedback we get from surveys from guests is an increased focus on sustainability initiatives, and apart from that, also taking a step back to look at the booking and user journey for travellers and guests into our property.
For the latter, this means looking at technology just as artificial intelligence (AI) to look at how from booking till check-in, the whole process can be more seamless and elevated.
In addition, even the whole booking process could also end up skipping third-party platforms. Travellers might just type into an AI platform where they’re looking to go, and what are their travel needs. We’re going to need to adapt quickly and evolving to meet guest needs efficiently.
After all, guests these days don’t even want to come down to the front desk to tell us their requests anymore – they just want it resolved as seamlessly and fuss-free as possible.
Social media has also changed expectations for travellers, with the rise of platforms such as TikTok and Xiaohongshu, and their popularity in the key markets we’re targeting such as China and India.
We need to entice guests in new and different ways, using social media to engage our audience as well.
Skills-wise, what will be new that those working in the industry will have to pick up to maintain and improve for their career health?
Jessie: With all the technological skills that are needed, we have to be creative and use design thinking to be creative on how we can encourage reskilling and upskilling, and also which processes will actually be improved across the industry spectrum by tech as well.
This can be as broad as revenue management, and automation of hotel processes, down to simple day-to-day functions such as housekeeping and the replenishment of amenities in rooms as well.
This is why it’s important those in our industry take their career health seriously, because the world is changing and evolving very fast.
Even for those colleagues who might be more senior age-wise, it’s important for them to take up these opportunities and adapt.
There has to be a mindset change. Sometimes, employees may say they can’t get used to handling dual portfolios, ask why should they be looking to expand their skillsets, or whether that extra effort is compensated salary-wise.
But if we look at it from a different angle, times like these give us more opportunities and challenges to learn and grow professionally, especially since most workers can now be more multi-tasking with AI tools that give easy entry into different specialisations.
And this allows everyone to chip in at different times the property needs help in as well, which contributes to a teamwork culture that really came to the fore during the Covid-19 period when all hands were on deck.
Regardless of position or rank, many of us helped with the day-to-day work in the property, given the manpower crunch and various quarantine protocols meant it was all hands on deck, even when it came to changing bedsheets and making up rooms!
So why is a focus of career health really a win-win for both employers and employees in the hospitality industry?
Jessie: As with all things in life, it takes two hands to clap. In order to retain talent, employers have to give them the safe space, support and tools to grow, learn and build up their career health.
This means factoring the courses staff will have to go for, allocating enough bandwidth and time for them to do that, while still being able to do their regular work and some measure of work-life balance.
And for employees, they should leverage on the tools and support they’re given. At the Pullman, we actually gamified learning with bite-sized modules that they can do during their train rides to work, or pockets of free time that won’t take more than 10 minutes. And the gamification is also encouraging given the competitive aspects of the learning experience!
