Diversity Training in the Hospitality Workplace

Years ago in the 1960s, the word 'diversity' started to gain traction. Starting in the 1980s, many major corporations, government agencies, and nonprofit organizations began holding diversity training and rolling out diversity initiatives.

Today, diversity training is more important than ever, due to demographic changes; added dimensions and depths of diversity to include gender, race, ethnicity and
sexual orientation; and the '#MeToo' movement.

If you haven't already done so, it’s time for your organization to start laying the groundwork for a formalized policy that embraces and celebrates diversity and promotes inclusion.

As a minority, I have always looked to work for organizations that embrace diversity and have a proven method of ensuring that the culture of the company is committed to diversity; that their philosophy fulfills its obligation under the law as well as company policies and procedures.

Risks of Not Having a Diversity Strategy

If you don’t implement a formal diversity strategy, you run the risk of being viewed as a company that just isn’t in tune with the times. Equality in the workplace is top of mind for businesses, governments, regulators, society, and – most important of all – the vital talent that will drive our future success.

The hospitality world tends to be slower to move on these types of initiatives, especially in smaller organizations. Additionally, many programs designed to change cultures sometimes take longer than initially planned to implement - or they fail completely.

There may also be costs associated with legal compliance: Potential costs include record-keeping systems, staff training, and communicating new policies. However, the extent of these costs for a specific business will be minimal in comparison to the potential future cost (or loss) to your entire organization due to issues that could arise from not having such a policy in place. 

Benefits of Having a Diversity Strategy

There are many benefits to implementing a diversity plan. Today, people are constantly inundated with anti-bias attitude and behaviors. By generating awareness of diversity issues, it will bring about more cohesiveness in teams.

A formal diversity strategy also helps your company increase retention and reduce turnover. Businesses that fail to promote an inclusive work environment tend to have higher turnover rates. The failure to retain qualified employees results in avoidable turnover-related costs at the expense of a company’s profits. Having a diverse and discrimination-free work environment helps businesses avoid these costs.

The hospitality industry is also suffering from a recruiting epidemic. It is so difficult to find good, qualified talent. Diversity fosters a more diverse candidate pool. The ability to source candidates from the largest and most diverse set of candidates is increasingly necessary to succeed in the Hospitality market today.

Here are steps you can take to roll out your very own diversity initiative:

1. Assess your present company diversity awareness. Make sure you have a strong understanding of where you are, where you want to go and where you want to be as it relates to a full diversity strategy and your company.
2. Clearly outline expectations you have of yourself and others in the workplace in terms of creating a respectful, inclusive, and non-discriminatory environment.
3. Gain knowledge and identify personal and work goals to help build a diverse and inclusive workforce.
4. Ensure you have the buy-in of top management and the entire work population.
5. Appoint a 'Diversity Champion.' This person will lead the charge on the diversity initiative and will assist you in meeting deliverables.
6. Form a committee with lead members from every department.
7. Establish a formal project plan. Ensure the project plan addresses questions such as:
   1. Where are we now?
   2. Where do we want to be?
   3. How will we get there?
   4. How will we know when we have got there?
   5. How will we know if we have been successful?
   6. Set S.M.A.R.T. goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-Bound)
8. Know your audience. Not all work environments are the same. Different people require different types of training and materials. Avoid trying to adapt training materials created for other companies and not specific to your goals.
9. Ensure you have established and rolled out initiatives that are engaging.
10. Be sure to have weekly updates and wrap-up assessments after the training sessions.
11. Ongoing examination of employment practices and policies that promote diversity.
12. Continuous employment equity and diversity training and awareness programs.
13. Ensure your workplace diversity policy is a living document.
14. Lastly, be sure to utilize technology, as it will assist you in rolling out the training initiatives.

Remember: This is a process and will not happen overnight! You must be patient and trust the process. The companies that successfully implement diversity training and education of their staff are the ones constantly working to identify and address systemic barriers embedded within policies, practices, programs, and services that inadvertently exclude individuals or whole communities (bonus: they're also usually the companies that add to their bottom line). 

The guidance I've outlined above includes just a few of the tools and support you'll need to help you identify and address systemic diversity barriers to build a diverse and inclusive workforce broadly representative of the employees you employ and communities you serve.

So, go ahead and make your company a better place to work!

About the Author: Cleo Clarke is the Vice President of Human Resources Strategy & Development at Harri. Cleo is a senior HR professional and has held an executive role in the hospitality industry for more than 15 years. 

Above All, Remain Calm!

How to Put Out Workplace Fires Without Losing Your Cool

by Cleo Clarke, VP of HR Strategy & Development at Harri

This article originally appeared in the April 2018 issue of Hospitality Trendz

How many of you have been in situations where you start the conversation with, “You won’t believe this...”

Well, in this month’s article, I would like to share with you three stories that you won’t believe.

As you may already know, I have been in restaurant and hotel Human Resources for more than 20 years, and I’ve seen it all. Below, I’m sharing some of my stories in the hopes that I can help others (please note: real names, hotel, and restaurant locations have been left out to protect identities).

Recruiting: You won’t believe this...

It was a hot summer day in New York City. I was a junior HR professional conducting an interview for a Restaurant Manager. I was down to my last two back-to-back interviews, with both candidates sitting in the waiting area.

I am a huge advocate for candidate experience. I believe it is important to ensure that you are providing a positive and memorable experience for your candidate. (Remember: people share their experiences with their friends, review websites like Glassdoor, and their social media followers!)

I completed the welcome and handed the one candidate a clipboard so he could fill out the application (yes, I said clipboard and application - it was a long time ago and the wonderful technology we have today wasn’t available back then).

The candidate proceeded to fill out the application while I went back in to my office to prepare for the interview. About 5 minutes later, I heard loud music playing (I have to admit - it had some good bass). I walked out of my office to the waiting area, only to find one of the candidates with his shoes and socks off, and a mini stereo system setup.

My first instinct was jump in and get my dance on - but that would be inappropriate.

I can only assume that he took his shoes and socks off because he was extremely hot. I asked him to put his shoes back on. His response? “I’m trying to set the atmosphere, so I’m ready for my interview.”

I explained to him that it was not appropriate and unfortunately, we would not be moving forward in the interview process. As I am sure you could imagine, he was not happy and refused to leave, forcing me to call security to have him escorted out.

The Fix: In these types of situations, it is important to stay calm and ensure that you treat the person with dignity. You never know how fast these situations can go south! Be sure to reach out for assistance and to take a moment to think through your response.

Progressive Discipline Matter: You won’t believe this...

I had an employee at a hotel who was a poor performer. We’ve have all dealt with the “Poor Performer,” but this situation was different because he refused to accept that he was a poor performer.

As you know, it is important to ensure you follow your progressive discipline policy. This gentleman was coached, counseled, and managed throughout the entire process. Finally, he was put on a Performance Improvement Plan, or PIP. Unfortunately, his behavior and performance did not change. Not only that, he was also a very vocal employee who appeared to have some aggression issues.

The day came when we made the decision based on his choice not to correct his behavior or performance that it was time to sever the employment relationship. We were concerned that this situation would escalate….and escalate it did. The manager of the department had asked me to sit in on his termination. Normally as an HR professional you don’t sit in on terminations unless they are egregious or if you have a concern it may escalate. This method allows you to remain unbiased or give the perception of being so.

With the concern that this situation would escalate, we had a Hotel Security officer situated outside the HR office. We were extremely detailed in all the steps: We reviewed the file, had all pertinent documents ready, and made sure that we were also prepared to hear mitigating circumstances that we may not know about.

As we began to go through the details and talk to this employee, we could see the anger begin to grow in his behavior. The moment we shared with him that he was terminated, he jumped up and used both of his hands to clear everything off my desk. With one swipe, from my left to the right, he cleared my desk - computer and all. He began to scream how we were horrible people and this was all our fault. Fortunately, we had the security officer outside, who immediately came in and subdued the employee, who then began to lunge toward me. At that point the employee calmed down and the security office walked him out of the building.

Fortunately, this situation ended with no one harmed - except for my computer.

The Fix: The important thing to remember here is to remain calm and make sure you are prepared. Trust your instinct and know the facts. As I mentioned earlier, this employee had a history of aggressive behavior, so we were prepared.

Payroll Pay Period: You won’t believe this...

We had over one hundred employees who did not get paid!

As employees, the last thing any of us ever wants to hear is, “Sorry, but we don’t have a check for you.” If you have ever been in this situation you know how daunting it is. Paying our employees and ensuring they’re taken care of them is our number one priority. After all, they are our internal customer.

On a cold winter day, we had just opened this particular operation and we were running the very first payroll (I was not at the location as I was traveling for work). I was in the middle of interviewing a senior candidate for another location for the restaurant group and felt my phone vibrating in my pocket nonstop. I realized that something was wrong, reached into my pocket, and saw that I had about 20 missed calls from members of my HR team, payroll, and ownership. I immediately realized something was really wrong and responded to the calls to  learn that that over 100 people were not paid, and that we had a mob of upset employees.

The Fix: If any of you have ever been in this situation, you know how unnerving it can be. It was extremely difficult for the team to not only face all theses upset employees, but to also not completely understand how this happened.

It turns out that it was a technical issue between our applicant tracking system and our payroll system. We had just rolled out a new applicant tracking system, and there were issues that had not been addressed during the implementation.

We definitely learned a few things from this situation:

1. Always make sure that you follow a detailed implementation process

2. Ensure you follow through on a pre-implementation process.

3. Check both sides and make sure the data is transferring.

4. Complete in-depth testing of your system and the payroll system, just to make sure that everything is functioning correctly.

5. Lastly, check any small details, just to make sure that your ATS is running exactly how you want it to.

These are just a few stories to share the challenges I have faced over the years. There are a few lessons to learn from all of these situations!

The most important thing to remember is this: Always remain calm. This will allow you to think through the situation and come up with the best plan to resolve it.

Be sure to be respectful in whatever the situation is. Remember that you are dealing with people, and they are the your most valuable asset!

Keeping these steps in mind will ensure you avoid having a story that begins with “You won’t believe this...”

About the Author

Cleo Clarke is the Vice President of Human Resources Strategy & Development at Harri. Clarke is a senior HR professional and has held an executive role in the hospitality industry for more than 15 years. 

The "Touchy" Kitchen

Preventing Workplace Harassment in These Modern Times

by Cleo Clarke, Senior VP of HR Strategy & Development at Harri

This article originally appeared in the March 2018 issue of Hospitality Trendz.

Keeping in line with the relevant and important topics in the news today, I think it’s time to talk about the really “touchy” subject within our own industry; harassment in the workplace - both sexual and hostile.

Talking about this is challenging for many people, myself included, as I have been a part of the hospitality industry for as long as I can remember. In fact, my mother and father, both West Indian immigrants, came to the U.S. and opened several restaurants and businesses so I joke that I was born in to a pot of food.

My love and passion for the hospitality industry is unmatched, as I spend both my professional and personal time enjoying restaurants and sampling and sharing new, delicious and innovative food – which can be seen on my Instagram feed full of food selfies.

With that being said, the hospitality industry is not perfect. There has been a long-standing history of inappropriate behavior - not only in the kitchens of free-standing restaurants, but in hotels as well.

We’ve all heard stories of pots, pans, and knives flying through the kitchen, or chefs yelling at their line cooks. What we haven't spoken about and need to address is the inappropriate sexual predatory behavior that has been going on for years. Inappropriate behavior or sexual misconduct can be as simple as unwanted hugs or repeat kisses on the cheek.

With heavy hitters like Harvey Weinstein, Matt Lauer, and the hospitality industry’s very own Mario Batali being exposed as a serial sexual predators, there is a necessary change coming as his type of behavior has been brought into the spotlight and is now on the radar of many industries.

Not only is inappropriate behavior in the form of sexual harassment on the radar, but I predict that the next wave of change will involve general harassment and hostile work environments.

Ladies and gentlemen, the time to take a stand is now. As leaders within the hospitality industry, it is our duty to ensure that we create, promote, and foster a safe working environment that is fair, equitable, and free of harassment of all kinds for all people. We have all said regrettable or off-color things, but we have to draw a line as there comes a time when enough is enough and the industry itself can be at stake.

As a human resource professional in the hospitality industry for more than 15 years, I have heard, seen, and addressed many of these types of issues. I want to leave you with some actionable tips and ideas to ensure:

1. You implement best practices and policies to prevent a hostile work environment and harassment.

2. You maintain a working environment that promotes fair, positive, and equal treatment.

Let’s begin.

The first thing you need to do is train a critical eye on your own organization. Ask yourself the following questions:

1. Do you promote an environment that advocates for fair, positive, and equal treatment of all employees? This truly stats from the top down and relies heavily on upper management, both General Managers and Executive Chefs alike setting the tone and expectations.

2. Are your policies clear and concise? Establishing an anti-harassment policy doesn’t guarantee a complete absence of harassment complaints. However, implementing an effective policy and procedure, coupled with anti-harassment training for all staff, will assist in preventing harassment and support individuals who are being harassed to come forward and ensure problems are addressed quickly and effectively.

3. Are your policies clearly communicated to all employees? Make sure you dedicate a section to harassment in your company handbook, and consider posting important policies in your establishment where your team will see them.

4. Do you offer annual anti-harassment training with follow-up refreshers and re-training? With everything happening in the news, there is no time like the present. These should be as regular as your alcohol awareness classes that take place on a yearly basis in some states.

5. Do you closely monitor questionable behavior? Don’t turn a blind eye to inappropriate comments, pictures, or conversations that can be construed as inappropriate in a workplace setting. Ignoring once sets a precedent that can lead to more issue in the future. 

6. Do your employees have a process for addressing harassment and other workplace issues in a confidential, sensitive manner? It is of the utmost importance that they are provided with the means to do so through a well-constructed and well-implemented plan and process. This may stop inappropriate conduct before it escalates and ultimately creates more problems for individual employees or the company as a whole.

7. When a complaint is filed with HR or management, do you do your due diligence and take steps to resolve it? My advice is to take everything seriously - until you take the time to investigate, you won’t know the truth. Good HR practices can end up saving your restaurant and/or hotel in the future and help prevent future lawsuits.

8. Do you set expectations before all employee functions? You are responsible for clearly communicating that people must maintain respect and decorum. This is incredibly important to reversing the culture that has taken hold in the industry and ensure a new one is born.  

9. When an issue arises, do you seek legal advice? It is highly recommended that you do so, especially if the situation involves violence. HR and legal services can work in tandem to address the situation and resolve the matter quickly while protecting the business.

10. Do you lead by example? If you want to ensure your environment lives and breathes respect, make sure you are the beacon leading the charge.

A hostile work environment is not conducive to productivity, creativity, or career longevity. Therefore, because of the legal and moral predicaments that arise when harassment or assault happens in the workplace, it makes good business sense to adhere to strict protocols.

Yes, harassment in the workplace can affect your bottom line. The emotional and mental toll it can take on your employees can be quite costly. Each year, millions of dollars are lost due to absences, decreased productivity, high employee turnover, low morale, and legal costs - all stemming from harassment. A happy, healthy employee means more profit towards the bottom line and healthier industry as a whole.

At the end of the day, it is your responsibility to make sure you do right by your employees by fostering an environment free of harassment and ensure you don’t have a “touchy” kitchen.

About the Author

Cleo Clarke is the Vice President of Human Resources Strategy & Development at Harri. Clarke is a senior HR professional and has held an executive role in the hospitality industry for more than 15 years. 

The Need for Speed in Recruiting

by Cleo Clarke, VP of HR Strategy & Development at Harri

This article originally appeared in the January 2018 issue of Hospitality Trendz.

In today’s workforce, we are plagued with so many of what I have come to call “blockers.”

As a recruiter or a single-unit owner, one such blocker is being tasked with the overwhelming and time-consuming burden of staffing your operation with just ordinary staff, but quality staff who will grow with your company.

There are usually two points at which this task becomes a necessity: when your business begins to scale, or when you are dealing with standard turnover -- which is higher than 70% in the hospitality industry.

Not only is the pressure on the find someone quickly, but you must also be sure to find the right person for the job. In this day and age, good candidates are extremely hard to find. This perhaps rings most true in the hospitality industry, where we face additional challenges such as the chef shortage and high turnover, and where candidates get snatched up in a millisecond by the competition.

These are just a few of the challenges that you’re faced with when it comes to acquiring and retaining employees.

Now, I am not going to say  that finding the right candidate, creating a strong recruitment strategy, hiring top line players, and creating an environment that speaks to an outstanding culture are all not important-- because they are. However, the need to hire the right candidate expeditiously is of the utmost importance to survive in the hospitality industry.  

I can speak to this because I have been on the other side of the table. I’ve waited for that call from the recruiter who said, “Thank you for coming in today. We’ll be in touch.” It is probably the most frustrating sentence one can ever hear when looking for a new position. Then, there’s the grueling wait, hoping they will call you back. Most often, you’re simultaneously trying to juggle interviews and several potential offers, hoping your number one choice comes through.

As the hiring manager, it’s up to YOU to make the right hire - and quickly.

Here are some tips to make sure you are hiring the right candidate:

1. Be sure to have a strategy:  Make sure you are planning for your company’s future growth and are building a true talent pool.

2. Use an applicant tracking system to choose your candidates: Where traditional ATS tend to be clunky and outdated, streamlined digital solutions, like Harri, seamlessly connect with sourcing channels, making it easily customizable for any recruiting process in minutes. A good ATS should not only track applicants, but ultimately help to reduce drop-off in the hiring funnel  which, as we already pointed out, is currently higher than 70% in the hospitality industry.

3. Make sure you have a solid, widely-known employee value proposition:  In short, these are the offerings provided by your organization in return for the skills, capabilities, and experiences an employee brings to the table. Ideally, this would focus on five key areas: Benefits, Work Environment, Career, Culture, and Compensation. Ask yourself why a candidate should align themselves with your organization over others, and what would attract them to join your organization and influence their job satisfaction. Maybe you’re looking to advance your team from within so you promote growth and development opportunities. Maybe you want to retain staff so you offer stellar benefits that allow for employees to enjoy a healthy work-life balance. Whatever it is, don’t be shy about shouting it from the rooftops.

4. Post the job advertisement -- and make sure it’s not boring: It should be clear, concise, and interesting. The experience and skills must be specific as well. A simple, key way to reduce 90-day turnover is by outlining clear expectations of the role from the get-go. And remember -- make it fun.

5. Review resumes quickly as they come in: I advise you do this daily and make sure you bring the qualified candidates in quickly. If you don’t, someone else will. If you’re always on the go, using a mobile-friendly sourcing and hiring platform can help you view and vet applicants, message potential candidates, schedule interviews, and more -- all from your mobile device.

6. Don’t let the applicant get lost in the application process:  Tech-based solutions like Harri have hiring flows that allow you to proactively flag top talent, add them to a shortlist of top candidates, and keep the process moving along efficiently for both parties. Showing that you’re engaged makes employees feel invested in the process and builds affinity with your organization.

7. Plan ahead and decide who will conduct the interviews: Make sure the interviewer knows what to ask, and that the interview process is not long and drawn out.

8. Take notes in your interviews so you can remember the details: An easy way to do this is plan your questions in advance, and leave space in between for notes (this works whether you’re taking notes manually or electronically). Limit your note-taking to a candidate’s most important or revealing words or phrases (after all, your ultimate job is to listen). If a candidate says something that stands out, mark it with an asterisk so you can follow up on it later in more detail or recall why that particular person stood out to you.

9. Keep your candidates warm through the process: Given the stiff competition and the pace at which the hiring process moves in the hospitality industry, hiring managers should be sure to  follow up with candidates to let them know their is still interest. Ideally, this should be every few days or at least once per week, depending on the role. If a candidate follows up to thank you, take the time to write a note back.

10. “TBNT” (‘Thanks, But No Thanks): If you’re passing on a candidate, do them the courtesy of sending them a “TBNT” email or letter,  Not only does this add a personal touch and help humanize your hiring process, you never know when another position might open up -- and if you’re doing all of the above, a smart candidate will remember your organization and may be interested in applying again. Plus, if they had a positive experience, they may think to refer your other open positions to friends.

11. Make sure you always keep speed in mind: Time is always a factor in the hospitality industry. Whether it’s quickly servicing a customer, or finding the right candidate, if you act too slowly, you will miss out and wind up paying (quite literally) for it later.

Hiring may not be a constant within your company, but you should always be recruiting and building a pipeline of candidates. Talent is constantly moving in and out of your organization, so you need to be on top of your recruitment game. Technology is key to helping you in this process, so always be investigating the best in talent recruitment and management software to give you the competitive edge.

Speed in recruiting is key--but remember, a strong recruitment strategy will help you with your need for speed.

About the Author

Cleo Clarke is the Vice President of Human Resources Strategy & Development at Harri. Clarke is a senior HR professional and has held an executive role in the hospitality industry for more than 15 years.