Staff Training

by Frank Mitchell

The Argument for Training

Most household training strives to improve attention to detail, teach the correct technique, or increase the speed and quality of service. Savings are also achieved through reducing food waste, chemical usage, and damage to delicate linens, silverware, art and antiques. As the workforce becomes older, training can also help aging staff members use emergent technology entering the modern home.

The ‘Millennial’ generation expects training from their employer and it is a requirement to attract them to the workplace. The hospitality industry sees a four-fold increase in staff turnover when training was promised and not delivered. Millennials accept that training is expensive and will accept a lower salary to start, if they see opportunities for development into a more senior and better-remunerated role in future.

There are enormous costs associated with staff turnover. Since the strongest team members with the best prospects are the most likely to leave, it is easy to see how important employee retention is to team composition and morale. Reducing staff turnover will save money that can be spent on better recruiting practices and improved staff training.

Lastly, if we consider the potential risks of not conducting safety training mandated by legislation, we can make a strong case for training in the workplace.

In next month’s newsletter, we will look at some principles of adult learning.

Frank Mitchell’s background is as a private-service butler who then became a head butler at a hotel, and then a butler trainer with the Institute. While he continues to train butlers for the Institute occasionally, his focus for the last decade has been on training hotel and resort staff. He has written several columns for the MBJ over the years. 

The Institute is dedicated to raising service standards by broadly disseminating the mindset and superior service expertise of that time-honored, quintessential service provider, the British Butler, updated with modern people skills, and adapted to the needs of modern employers and guests in staffed homes, luxury hotels, resorts, spas, retirement communities, jets, yachts & cruise ships around the world.