As an EHL assistant professor in HR management and organizational behavior, Bertrand Audrin outlines the challenges faced by hospitality workers, focusing on new working methods and AI’s role in employee selection.
What is your assessment of the current hospitality labor market?
The labor market in the hospitality industry remains disturbed due to the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic, affecting tourism. Consequently, career shifts and layoffs have resulted in a situation where many positions remain vacant and unfilled. This, in turn, creates tremendous pressure on the current workforce as understaffing inevitably increases their workload. Therefore, addressing this shortage is crucial to prevent further negative impacts, such as additional departures from the industry.
What are the most important skills hospitality students need to succeed in a rapidly changing industry?
There is considerable debate about future skills, particularly in an era marked by rapid technological advancements and innovation. Research generally emphasizes two complementary strategies for success: developing skills to prevent automation and acquiring skills to collaborate with technology. In hospitality, the first set of skills emphasizes human interaction specificities, focusing on crafting unique, human-centric experiences. On the other hand, the second set of skills focuses on interacting with technology, including digital and AI skills. Moreover, these skills extend beyond technical knowledge to encompass critical thinking, decision-making and collaboration with both humans and AI agents.
How is the industry addressing the labor shortage?
The consequences of the shortage are not always apparent to guests because hospitality professionals do an amazing job finding solutions. However, these solutions are often temporary or last-minute, indicating more efforts could be directed toward long-term people management strategies. Therefore, these strategies could focus on upskilling and reskilling the workforce, building talent pools with transversal skills and expertise. Additionally, offering varied forms of employment and career paths would further enhance these strategies, improving the employer branding of hospitality actors. Consequently, this would attract potential workers, even from other industries, by strengthening the industry’s overall appeal.
https://www.ehl.edu/en/faculty-research/our-faculty/audrin-bertrand
