HR in Hospitality: Painful state

Do you know the biggest problem that the Hospitality Industry faces as of date; Human Resources.

Well, I was aghast to find out that hotel operators are facing tremendous shortage of human resources (non-managerial) to run the operations at their hotels. In a country that has sky high unemployment, and hordes of people living below the poverty line, why might this be the case?

Indians do not like to work. We are probably the laziest people. 'The path of least resistance' applies to Indians more than any other. This is primarily the reason corruption is so prevalent in India. All you need to do in order to get a bribe is make things slightly harder for the opposite person.

Now, in order to work effectively within an organization, it is extremely important to be disciplined and to work hard. With the support staff that is recruited, most often the case is that they want life to be easy. When pressed to deliver, they normally disappear. They leave the job without even informing the employer. The reason that there is no incentive for the employees to stay employed is because of the number of freebies that the state gives away.

I am pretty sure, few would understand how freebies help. In order to secure votes during the poles, the politicians give away all sorts of things from clothes to TVs. Now the people are have-nots. They do not have the basics of life, they cant feed themselves regularly enough. To such people a TV is absolutely useless. They sell it and get a few thousands which is like suddenly awarding a Crore to you. They feel, there is no need to work and that the money generated will take care of them. They settle into a very easy life.

Money tends to eventually run out. At such time, they are in no position to work, because the government has taught them to be useless. They try to work, but resort to quitting eventually. The poverty in the country is not due to lack of jobs; it is artificially created by doing all of the above mentioned.

Empowering someone or eradication of poverty will not take place by distribution of wealth. The communist model has never worked. You must teach people to create wealth for themselves, that is the only way to eradicate poverty. There is no substitute to hard work and this is something that has to be made clear.

Till such time that political parties mend their ways, this issue will not find resolution. I pray for the hospitality companies till such time.