PEOPLE MANAGEMENT
Singapore - Anna Tong, general manager of local boutique hotel klapsons, says cross-pollination of job functions is one key way of keeping the operations lean and her small team of 40 nimble.
When klapsons decided to close its restaurant operations on Sundays, her front office employees are trained to take in-room dining food orders, on top of their usual responsibilities. In a way, cross-pollination of work tasks also helps the boutique hotel to keep up with the "big names in the hospitality industry". It's critical for the hotel to maintain the same service quality without disrupting its guests' comfort, Tong explains. Similarly, by "allowing employees to be more versatile individuals", Tong says they get to "improve their marketability."
Tong adds the dual responsibilities each employee has "are meant for their betterment and help them to gain additional experience for career progression". Every new recruit's expectations are also well-managed as they are informed prior to joining that they should expect cross-functional training and duties. But it helps that training wasn't a tricky affair.
The room service training sessions were conducted over two days by the restaurant manager for two front office employees at each time. They had to learn about the food menu, setting up the service tray and which utensils go with which dish to ensure minimal service shortfalls.
Likewise, management staff are tasked to handle dual roles as the hotel does not have a traditional HR practitioner taking care of the people issues at the hotel. While there is an executive taking care of administrative duties and staff welfare, Tong says it's up to the department heads to step up and handle all HR aspects from recruitment to training and even talent management.
Besides expecting leaders to be "more pro-active" and "multi-task beyond our own job scopes", Tong practises an open-door policy at work where employees can feedback to their supervisors or to her directly. "Most of the time, the heads-of-department will resolve these issues themselves by providing counselling or getting the staff the necessary assistance."
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