2023-09-04 22:00:00
Authoritarian was once, empathy is announced. In the hotel industry, managers learn how to deal with apprentices in a contemporary way.
What do companies that have enough and excellently working employees do differently from those whose complaints regarding the lack of personnel and “terrible employees” never end? They continue their education and acquire finer social skills. Which sometimes means discarding traditional authoritarian leadership thinking and reflecting on yourself.
“Companies that continue their education have enough staff,” says Brigitta Brunner, head of the educational campus of the Austrian Hotel Association (ÖHV).
Contemporary handling of apprentices in the hotel industry
In courses, managers learn in particular how to deal with apprentices in a contemporary way. Because their number has halved since the turn of the millennium: from 13,233 trainees at the turn of the millennium to just 6949 in the previous year, according to the industry report of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber on the tourism and leisure industry 2022.
The reasons for this: The reservoir of 15 to 20-year-olds has shrunk since the baby boomer generation from 782,000 people (1980) to 534,000 most recently. In addition, the turbulent industry is surrounded by an image that unions and chambers of labor sum up in a nutshell: bad pay, little appreciation, unattractive working hours.
What do people want from a job in the hotel or catering industry?
The recruitment of junior staff is elementary for the hotel industry, says campus manager Brunner. The trick is to keep them. “We ask ourselves: Why are young people leaving the industry? It’s not just the money. It might always be more. It’s regarding making the work attractive.”
From surveys we know what (not only) young people today want from a hotel or restaurant job: Appreciation from the boss, discussions and team meetings, predictable and reliable working hours, free food at work, the opportunity for further training and – the big difference to the previous generations – young people do not want their job to overwhelm their family, friends and leisure life, according to studies by the Institute for Educational Research of the Economy (ibw) and the Market Institute.
Apprentice trainer academy: the focus is on the generation difference
The hotel association’s apprentice trainer academy focuses on exactly these things. The course program revolves around practical questions, such as how to integrate the apprentices into the work process and the hotel team, or what modern application management looks like.
For one day, a lawyer from the Salzburg Chamber of Labor talks regarding labor law regulations – they want to let “the brainwax” of all sides flow together, explains campus manager Brunner.
The focus, however, is on “the history of the generations” with its turbulence, the changed relationship to authority and hierarchy and the young people’s fears for the future. “Apprenticeship training has never been so challenging. Today’s young people are less aware of the educational framework that family or school used to give. It’s a tightrope walk. You’re not parents, you’re not a friend, but you have to cover a little something,” says Brigitta Brunner.
And so the trainers first learn themselves in role-playing games: How do I give feedback without completely demotivating? How do I solve conflicts in a less authoritarian way and more emphatically? How do team dynamic processes work? What happens to young people during puberty? Why are there slower and faster apprentices? A game content can be the question: “Why does the apprentice have to peel so many potatoes in the kitchen? Not because he is worth less, but because every job is important and has to be learned” (Brunner).
How good leadership is created
In the course, HR consultant and coach Martin Battig teaches how to develop a good leadership style. “It’s regarding self-reflection, regarding being a role model. I can only lead a person to where I stand myself. You can’t create motivation artificially, you can’t order it. Real appreciation doesn’t show by paying lip service on the homepage. I have to do that concretely in everyday life translate,” says the management consultant from Eggersdorf near Graz. Battig asks the experienced industry people impulse questions such as: “What was it like when you were 16 or 17? What did you look like? What inspired you? What did those around you say? What would you have needed?” And there are inputs from modern brain science: “To put it mildly, an apprentice can be stupid for a week or two because crazy things are happening in his head and body due to hormones.” In addition: Every company has its own culture, in family-run businesses things often “have grown over the years”, there are unclear role allocations, family tensions.
Work is fun, but it can also be hard and exhausting
However, the new, softer management methods should not hide one thing: work is fun, but it can also be hard and tiring, and at the end of the day it is regarding delivering performance. One shouldn’t tell prospective apprentices fairy tales, advises Battig. “Pour your people pure wine. Say: The kitchen is a brilliant place, you can realize yourself there. But it gets hot and in between you will curse it. You will find yourself in exceptional situations, the stress will push you to your limits. But if you want to learn something, I’ll take you by the hand and walk with you”, Martin Battig describes the essence of mastery and the point “where the wheat separates from the chaff”.
Yara Langthaller is deputy hotel manager of the Jufa family hotel in Salzburg-Nonntal with 48 employees. She has benefited greatly from the ÖHV course, says the young manager. “You often get annoyed with the apprentices. They’re late, they’re moody. Now I’m more forgiving. I also had trouble sleeping and my boyfriend was the most important thing.” Recently, the hotel has a new “HGA-Lehrling”, which stands for Hotel Hospitality Assistant. 18-year-old Emma-Lina switched from a hairdressing apprenticeship to the hotel industry because of an allergy. She likes her work and is all smiles. “Yes, I like it. It’s fun,” says the young woman, conveying that very special magic that only youth has.
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