Attracting and Retaining Skilled Workers in Hotels and Restaurants

On the 4th December 2015, the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association (MHRA) in association with HVS, ETC, MTA, ITS and The University of Malta, presented the findings of a research study dealing with Attracting and Retaining Skilled Workers in Hotels and Restaurants.
As the Maltese tourism industry continues to expand in terms of its volume and value across all twelve months of the year, one of the major challenges that is being faced relates to the ready availability of a skilled work force which is willing to look at employment within the hotels and restaurants sector. This sector’s attractiveness as a long-term employer is currently facing some stiff competition from other areas of Malta’s diversifying economy and it was in recognition of this that the need was felt for a Research Study to be conducted.
The Research Study was commissioned by the MHRA to identify a number of proposals and success factors that will be incorporated into a Strategic Action Plan for the purpose of attracting and retaining a steady stream of skilled workers interested in long-term employment with hotels and restaurants.
The Strategic Action Plan aims to contribute concrete proposals which have been established on the basis of a scientific and practical approach and achieve the goal of increasing the tourism industry’s attractiveness, further ensuring that it is appropriately staffed in line with the Tourism Vision for year 2030 set by the Maltese government.
Achieving this goal requires strategic change management (in terms of skills development opportunities), industry-wide cooperation and commitment and leadership by relevant tourism stakeholders. This study therefore not only brings together key tourism stakeholders through social and civil dialogue to set a common strategy to address a challenge that is also shared by a number of other EU member states, but also serves as a foundation to create new job prospects especially amongst younger members of the workforce and ensure long-term sustainability of the hotel and restaurant industry in Malta which is a key variable of the wider economy.
The objective of this Research Study was to evaluate the factors affecting the tourism labour market in Malta for the purpose of assessing the current situation and making recommendations on the future actions that should be designed and implemented with the aim of increasing the hotel and restaurant sectors’ attractiveness and consequently, attracting and retaining a good proportion of the most talented employees available.
This research study was commissioned by the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association (MHRA), conducted by HVS Greece Office and Part-Financed by the European Union European Social Fund (ESF) – Operational Programme II – Cohesion Policy 2007-2013 Empowering People for More Jobs and a Better Quality of Life. Project partners included the Malta Tourism Authority, the Institute of Tourism Studies, the Employment and Training Corporation and the University of Malta. Refer to www.mhra.org.mt for the full study.