Current Skill Gaps in the Hospitality Industry

The study shall also analyze the skill gaps and shortfalls and how these affect the performance of the hospitality industry. Similarly, it is important to discuss the current practices within the industry with regards to training and development which are supposed to contribute towards the enhancement employee skills and talents. The assignment shall also study the state of services provided within the industry in UK wherein customer satisfaction would be discussed and the researcher shall find out about the needs of the customers within the industry.

The three main objectives of this assignment are as given below: To investigate the current needs of hospitality industry in the United Kingdom To analyze the current skill gaps and training requirement within hospitality industry. To recommend suggestions for improving the existing or upcoming skills development issues within the industry. Executive Summary The assignment is related to the hospitality industry of United Kingdom which is a major contributor to the economy.

The assignment shall analyze the current skill gaps and training requirement within the hospitality industry need to study and recommendations need to be made to improve this situation to improve their economic viability. Introduction to the Hospitality Industry in UK The Hospitality industry in the UK is among the broadest and varied industry with a variety of organizations within the sector, comprising of single person organizations to worldwide multinational companies.

This industry is constantly growing and developing in the 21st century and encompasses hotels and other different accommodations, fast food retail, bars and catering. The entire industry has been characterized in the recent decades through development of a growing range of highly segment services and products. It is overlapping with tourism and leisure services, with a growing business services element; it is very competitive global industry (Rowley et al, 2003). Hospitality is a primary force within the UK economy to create opportunities of jobs and growth by employing 1. million people in about 300,000 establishments and has a turnover more than ? 64 billion (BHA, 2010). Hospitality and tourism has become the world’s largest competitive sector. Hotel industry is the main core of UK’s leisure related service sector having big businesses with large growth potential. The industry also contributes to the country’s beautifulness as an international business destination (Lovegrove et al, 1994). But, the other end of this picture is the truth which is not effectively being able to cope up with the changes posed by the requirement to enhance skills of the workers.

The hotel industry continues to remain a low skill area of employment wherein skills are increasingly needed to adapt to changes within the technology, range of products and the social, legal and commercial environment (Rowley et al, 2003). Additionally, the sector has been always in the problem of suffering from chronicle deficiency of recruits having food presentation skills, wastage from sector of those having high vocational skills and qualifications which are needed. Similarly, there exists a widespread evidence of vacancies that are hard to fill.

The country receives approximately 25 million overseas tourists annually, spends about ? 13 billion, however these numbers have been widely static for many years, bringing up problems of competitiveness which are to be addressed by the industry and government (BHA, 2002). However it doesn’t imply that hospitality industry is doing nothing to improve this situation. As per the BHA, with the help of assistance from the government, it is planning to address problems of skills gap through variety of routes which includes annual careers festival and special schemes under the new deal.

It is the main contributor to social inclusion and broadening participation. Further, it urges hotels to focus on financing mechanisms. Financially supporting vocation education in hospitality, particularly in further education colleges, should be increased to reflect the fact which the industry is generating jobs of the future, the simplification of the qualification structure for hospitality can be addressed and knowledge of food and practical cooking talents must be a requirement of all stages of National Curriculum (BHA, 2002)

According to the statement by Teixeira and Mishel (1993) “If we build the workers, jobs will come” it implies that enhancing the skills of work force would generate high-performance workplaces, consequential increase in productivity, high-wage growth in economy etc. Through this assignment we shall examine how skills shortage in the UK hotel industry affects the services provided by hotels.

Several senior management representatives from Europe’s leading hotels conclude that one of the largest challenges being faced currently by the hospitality industry originates from recruitment and retention of skilled employees if the sector has to avoid a major skill gap in the coming few years. The most serious issues being faced by the hospitality industry at the moment are recruitment, retention and career development (Andersen, 2000).

Also, the staff turnover in the hospitality industry is increasing over the past few years due to the lack of appealing careers within the industry for young, dynamic individuals (Andersen, 2000). Literature Review Changes in the way in which workers acquire qualifications are evolving and thus, are increasing the demands for skills simultaneously (Bowers & Swaim, 1994). There is a shift in the mixture of qualifying skills towards those learnt in school or formal company programs indicate demands are shifted towards more general and cognitive skills.

Highly skilled and educated workers are more probable to hold their jobs which need less educated employees. Largely, the results just reflect the significance of educational credentials for professions and other jobs needing college degrees. However, the relationship between schooling and job qualifications is more costly. Workers having a high school diploma or college degree are more probably than less educated workers who are learning skills through the help of enterprise based training after completion of their schooling (Bowers & Swaim, 1994).

As skills required in workplace are important to any kind of industry, the British Hospitality Association recognizes business related variables which drive the changes in skills requirements (Rowley et al, 2003). This comes under the four main categories- changes within the customer bases, increase in competition, concerns with sustainability and changes in process of production.