Hotel & Motel Management - June 16, 2008 - (Page 19) www.HotelMotel.com/digital_edition HotelMotel.com | H&MM June 16, 2008 Guest Column where merited. hmm@questex.com Peter T. Tomaras, CHA, FMP, principal of Apollo Hotel Consultancy in Champaign, IL, managed small hotels for 27 years, and later directed the hospitality management program at Champaign’s Parkland College. Innkeeper44@comcast.net 19 Trashing traditional front-desk shifts cuts down overtime IN THE details Overtime a major expense Use different shift pattern Communication is key Employees react well By Peter T. Tomares H&MM Guest Columnist 3 p.m. makes little difference to second-shifters, who like getting off at 9:30 p.m. rather than 10 p.m. Knowing they may punch out after updating logs and sharing information, first- and second-shifters willingly stay a few minutes extra and may clock an extra hour a week, but still will not approach the overtime threshold. Guests are always well served when the incoming shift knows what occurred during the previous shift. The four-nighters are scheduled just 36 hours, but to fully communicate what has transpired overnight, they usually will clock 37-39 hours a week— still no overtime. Finally, bringing first-shift desk agents in at 6:30 a.m. is advantageous be- cause they are fresh and typically more skilled at guest relations than night auditors at shift-end. Generally, managers find that resistance among current employees to this non-traditional scheduling quickly fades. If an existing hourly employee insists on the income of a 40-hour schedule, he or she may be compensated by a higher pay rate he relentless upward creep in operating expenses reported by leading hospitality research firms underscores the need to rethink traditional practices, especially the challenge of controlling labor cost without compromising guest service. One element of controlling this major expense is persistently minimizing the big O.T.—overtime. Major hotels often require overtime be requested and approved in advance, which is cumbersome but effective. Large hotels do enjoy certain benefits of numbers: Their customer flow necessitates multiple guest service agents, enabling the overlap essential to inter-shift communication without incurring overtime. Managers of smaller hotels, however, often surrender to overtime. Conventional shifts inhibit newer approaches, such as flextime and four-day weeks. Other than at peak check-in, they may staff the front desk with just one agent per shift. For these hotels, adopting an unconventional front-desk schedule can promote communication while eliminating overtime. Schedule the first shift 6:30 a.m.-2 p.m., second shift 2 p.m.-9:30 p.m. and third shift 9:30 p.m.-6:30 p.m. Five-day first- and second-shift people are scheduled 37.5 hours per week. Hire third-shift people for four days (36 hours per week) and three days (27 hours per week). In my experience, a high percentage of employees react favorably to this approach. First-shift employees do not resist coming in a half-hour earlier when they will get off a full hour sooner. Coming in at 2 p.m. rather than T CIRCLE NO. 110 http://HotelMotel.com http://www.HotelMotel.com/digital_edition http://www.foxcable.com/specialmarkets http://www.foxcable.com/specialmarkets
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