Apr 07, 2017

End-to-End Platform Helps Hoteliers Engage, Manage & Train Employees

MONTREAL—With both high employee turnover and the strain on time and resources needed to train new employees, labor costs can be significant. A focus on staff retention can help ease the burden. WorkJam, an employee engagement suite for the service industry, is designed to optimize the employee-employer relationship life cycle. Among its core services are mobile schedule management, on-demand training and assessments, and streamlined communication between higher ups and front-line workers.

“One of WorkJam’s goals is to provide employees the opportunity to develop skills, improve sales acumen and maximize earnings to help advance their economic well-being,” said Steven Kramer, CEO and co-founder, WorkJam. “The need for consistent schedule deployment was another factor that led to WorkJam’s creation. One of our studies found that 53% of managers admitted to regularly making last-minute staff shift changes as necessary. WorkJam allows employees to input their own availability and streamlines the shift trading and shift pickup process. This provides a stable work-life balance for hourly employees, which could help avoid burnout and turnover down the line.”

As hospitality is a continuously developing sector, the need for seasonal employees grows in tandem, and efficient solutions for employee training are increasingly paramount, explained Kramer.

“In an industry that relies heavily on positive customer service, training initiatives should emphasize consistent messaging across locations in order to accurately represent the brand,” he said. “Employee engagement platforms can deploy consistent training modules through videos and assessments across all workers to ensure that no location or employee is off track. This way, as the hospitality industry grows increasingly competitive, hotels and resorts can build brand loyalty among customers and differentiate themselves through dependably positive customer service no matter the location.”

The proof is in the employee roster, so to speak. Hoteliers seeking to determine ROI for employee engagement platforms like this one can look to their own retention rates.

“For every worker who leaves a job in which they make $30,000 or less, employers pay 16% of that salary to replace them,” he said. “Therefore, employers can calculate ROI through decreased labor costs associated with employee recruitment, training, off-boarding, etc. Employers can also determine ROI by calculating overtime spending savings, since employee engagement platforms help management avoid the bad communication and understaffing issues that otherwise result in costly overtime expenses.”

The team at WorkJam is working to continuously innovate and integrate technology-forward capabilities. The company recently launched an artificial intelligence-enabled employee self-service module, powered by Rollio.

“This AI tech will allow employees to have a conversation with WorkJam’s portal to get information as though they’re talking directly to an employer,” he said. “For example, the app could answer a common request from a hotel worker, like checking their latest schedule or requesting a shift swap. This will help hospitality employees and managers increase productivity by streamlining communication and reducing manager workloads considering the large number of employees hotels and resorts must accommodate.”

Corris Little / Hotel Business

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