A New Business Climate the HR Challenges

Tourism and hospitality human resource professionals and managers were today challenged to lead the way for businesses weathering the current changes in the economic climate at the Tourism and Hospitality Human Resource Management Conference 2008, which was held in the Clarion Hotel, Liffey Valley, Dublin.


More than 160 Senior Managers and HR professionals from the tourism and hospitality industry today attended the annual Human Resources conference, organised by Hospitality Management Skillnets and Failte Ireland.
 
Various HR experts highlighted a number of strategies which would be of assistance in weathering tougher times, including:
 
Creative and cost effective employee assistance programmes;
Investment in management development;
Succession planning;
Effective coaching and mentoring strategies;
Innovation in recruitment and retention;
Promoting a positive employer image.
The challenges of the current economic climate were reflected in the variety of presentations from service industry practitioners, experts and key national agency representatives. The key role human resources play in meeting these challenges was emphasised by Natasha Kinsella, Chief Executive Officer from Irish Hospitality Institute in her opening address. Ms Kinsella pointed out that –
 
“As an industry, it is imperative that we harness what works and share that knowledge throughout the tourism sector. In the field of HR there is so much innovation and new thinking at present, it is important that we take advantage of this to weather-proof our business concerns from the current economic changes”
 
Aiden Pender, Director of Industry & Policy Development at Failte Ireland, pointed out that –
 
“Fáilte Ireland values its constructive working relationship with the Irish Hospitality Institute, as evidenced by this very Conference. Given the tough trading environment in which the tourism and hospitality industry now finds itself, it is critical that we have well informed practitioners and business leaders, supported by learning from the best practice in the sector, to successfully negotiate and steer businesses through the challenging period ahead”
 
Alan Nuzum, Chief Executive Officer of Skillnets Ltd, agreed as he noted how these challenging times for Irish businesses, means that “there is a greater need for business professionals to share best practice and learning through organised networking events, such as the 123 networks, Skillnets can offer.”
 
More detail on the conference proceedings can be found in the note below.
 

ENDS

For Further Information
Please Contact:
 
Louise Tolerton
PR Officer, Fáilte Ireland
 086 6086578/01 8847135
 

Notes to Editor:

 
Conference Proceedings
The morning’s contributors included Ger Deering, Director of the National Employment Rights Authority (NERA), followed by Anne O Callaghan of Graphite HRM. The role of NERA as an information service and resource to employers was stressed in the presentation by NERA which also highlighted the various aspects of employment law that Industry employers must lead the way on implementing, while Anne presented some valuable insight on how best to deliver on these obligations.
 
Martin Shanahan of Forfás, as keynote speaker highlighted how “the current changes in the labour market present opportunities as well as challenges for the hospitality sector. Like other sectors, the hospitality sector must work to attract and retain skilled individuals and build the capability of their workforce.” This view was echoed by Lisa Birthistle, HR Director with Greenstar, who expressed how, the need to harness, invest, grow and manage talent wisely, was never more pertinent than today, and perhaps never as demanding, in the fast changing environment. Lisa shared with the audience some of the approaches and techniques used in Greenstar to cope with this challenge.
 
Michele Ryan, HR Director from McDonalds spoke about how McDonalds looked at ways to improve people’s perceptions of their business and how they could innovatively recruit and retain employees.
 
Triona Brangan followed with how the Four Seasons Hotel Dublin implemented an Employee Assistance Programme and gave advice to the audience on how they could do the same.
 
Later, Lisa Birthistle from Greenstar spoke about how to develop effective people policies and practices in a fast moving change environment, followed by Amanda Cahir-O’Donnell who presented on the value of coaching and mentoring programmes for management development and succession planning in the current environment and reflected on those that have proven very successful in a range of service industry businesses.
 
The conference ended on a very practical note with an interactive session by Deirdre Cronelly from aFresh on how HR Managers can provide useful tools and support to management and employee team on handling stress in the workplace.
 
Background note
Fáilte Ireland, the National Tourism Development Authority, plays a key role in recruitment, training and career development for Ireland’s largest indigenous industry which provides employment for more than 320,000 people.
 
Hospitality Management Skillnets provides Tourism & Hospitality businesses with numerous development programmes in direct response to the analysis of Industry training needs. A continuous demand exists for trained professionals to work in a variety of careers within the Tourism sector, which creates an estimated 6,000 additional new jobs per year.

Sponsors and supporters for the conference were: Noel Recruitment (main sponsor), The Irish Times, Kenco Coffee Company, Cuisine de France, Graphite HRM, Invisio, Pensions Board, Equality Authority and Mazars.

Pictured at the conference were (L to R) Aidan Pender, Fáilte Ireland; Niamh Desmond, Programme Network Skillnets Ltd; Natasha Kinsella, Irish Hospitality Institute & Ger Deering, National Employment Rights Authority.
 

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