HR Practices:Recruitment in the Slovak hospitality sector is oriented towards local

resources, with retired employees often employed. Responsibility for the

recruitment of new employees often lies with the owner or general manager.

Training is not perceived as a priority for Slovak hospitality establishments

with the majority of organisations not possessing a training budget. Strategic

planning is not commonly found within many organisations due to their

small size. The employee relations structure of the Slovak tourism and

hospitality industry can be characterised by instability, non-transparency

and vaguely defined relationships and lines of responsibility. In terms of

key representative bodies at a national level, these include: Slovak Tourism

Board; Slovak Association of Travel Agents, Slovak Association of Hotels

and Restaurants, Slovak Association of Spas and Springs and Slovak

Association for Rural Tourism and Agri-tourism. Key policy initiatives in

recent years include: Strategy of tourism development in Slovakia for years

2007 – 2013; National Development Plan and Scheme of Support of Tourism

Development in the Slovak Republic.

For further information on the STEP products please contact:

Haaris Sheikh, Chief Executive orFinola Sisk, European Projects Manager

Interesource Group (Ireland) Limited48 South William Street | Dublin 2 | Ireland

[t] +353 1 677 1957[f] +353 1 677 1329 [e] info@interesourcegroup.com[w] www.interesourcegroup.com

[skype] interesource

The Greek Hospital i ty Sector:Background:The Greek hospitality sector comprises principally of 9,111 hotels and

114,880 restaurants, cafeterias, bars and entertainment centres. Seasonality

is a key characteristic of the sector with many hotels, restaurants and bars

closing in the off-season. Employment in the sector is estimated at 640,000;

but the seasonality of the sector acts as a disincentive to establishing a

career in the sector. 62% of employees in the hospitality sector are men

and 38% are women. 44% of employees in the sector are under the age of

30. Educational attainment in the sector is low with only 28% of employees

having attended a higher education institution.

HR Practices:A number of legislative provisions exist pertaining to employment in the

Greek hospitality sector. Three star hospitality providers and those of

a higher standard are compelled to fill vacancies with graduates of the

Faculty of Tourist Professions. Legislative provisions also exist related to

the reenlisting of personnel in seasonal establishments. State bodies play

an important role in employee relations, particularly in respect of work

scheduling, employee roles and duties, the distribution of work, and the

improvement of employee terms and conditions. Employee training in

Greece is provided by the Faculty of Tourist Professions; the Technological

Institutions; government owned and private Institutes of Professional Training

(IEK); as well as various Centres of Professional Training (KEK). Trade unions

in Greece are categorised along first, second and third degree associations.

The superior association of second degree, named “Pan-Hellenic Federation

of Workers and Employees of Tourist Professions” has a remit of protecting

the rights of workers in the hospitality sector. The superior third-degree

trade-union body is the “General Confederation of Workers of Greece”

(G.S.S.E.). In terms of key representative bodies at a national level, these

include: Ministry of Touristic Growth; Greek Organisation of Tourism (EOT);

Hotel Chamber of Greece and Agrotouristic Inc.

The Slovak Hospital i ty Sector:Background:The Slovak hospitality sector comprises of 17,162 businesses with 50,870

employed in hotels and restaurants. Employment in the sector comprises

7.2% of the national workforce. 98% of hospitality businesses are small

enterprises and 94.4% even belongs to micro enterprises. 59% of employees

in the hospitality sector are men and 38% are women. Slovak law requires

every employer with more than 20 employees to ensure that at least 3%

of the organisations workforce is comprised of people with disabilities.

The prevailing feature of the employment in Slovak hotels is full-time

employment. Slovak hotels don’t often use part-time employment for fear

of declining service quality; an under-developed labour market for part-time

employment and attitudes of people to employment having attended a higher

education institution.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARYCoUnTRY PRofIlES

STEP - Service Sector Training in European Employment Practices is a European Commission project that examines HR practices in the European hospitality sector and is a project that is promoted by Interesource Group (Ireland) Limited. It builds upon the previous STREAM project through producing a range of training products to develop the skills of hospitality managers and supervisors across Europe. STEP will identify and collect examples of good HR practice in hospitality organisations in Ireland, UK, Spain, Germany, Greece and Slovakia. This leaflet will summarise the key characteristics of the hospitality industry and provide an overview of HR practices in each of the six countries.

The Irish Hospitality Sector:Background:The Irish hospitality sector is fragmented; dominated by small and medium

sized enterprises (SMEs) and indeed micro-enterprises (MEs) making it

an industry of every parish. It employs a workforce of 249,338 - hotels,

restaurants and bars account for 82% of hospitality employment. A total of

68% of staff in the hospitality sector are Irish; a further 23% of the workforce

are from the European Union (EU) and 9% are from non-EU countries. A

distinctive feature of the Irish hospitality industry is that 42% of staff are

employed on a year–round part-time basis.

HR Practices:HRM practice in the Irish hospitality industry is neither strategic nor uniformly

practiced across the sector. Larger hospitality enterprises are more likely

to have a systematic approach to HRM. Recruitment practices within

the hospitality sector in Ireland are variable. Graduate programmes exist

amongst the largest hotel chains, but word-of-mouth and advertisement

in local newspapers remain popular recruitment sources. National level

collective bargaining commonly referred to as social partnership is the

most significant feature of employee relations. A national minimum wage

of €7.65 per hour exists across the hospitality sector. HRD practices have

been identified as a key challenge which needs to be addressed to improve

business performance. Hospitality Management Skillnet is an important

industry HRD initiative which is 70% subsided from the national training

fund. In terms of key representative bodies at a national level, these

include: Failte Ireland, Irish Hotels Federation, Irish Hospitality Institute,

Restaurant Association of Ireland and Vintners Federation of Ireland. Key

policy initiatives in recent years include the establishment of the Tourism

Policy Review Group and Competing Through People 2005-2010 strategy

document.

The UK Hospital i ty Sector:

Background:The UK hospitality sector is dominated by small businesses, with 81% of

hospitality establishments employing less than 50 staff. It employs just under

2 million people and represents almost10% of the UK workforce. -

and immigrants; the development of employer branding; the strengthening

of leadership and training programmes. Statistics show that 93.8% of

employees in the hospitality sector have received no training whatsoever. In

terms of industrial relations, the right to collective negotiation is enshrined

in the Spanish constitution with 10.6% of workers in the Spanish hospitality

sector being members of trade unions. In terms of key representative

bodies at a national level, these include: Institute for Studies in Tourism; the

Spanish Tourist Institute and the Spanish Hospitality Federation. Key policy

initiatives in recent years include Spanish Tourist Movements (Familitur),

Tourist Movements at Frontiers (Frontur) and Survey on Tourism Expenditure

(Egatur).

The German Hospital i ty Sector:Background:The German hospitality sector is largely composed of small companies.

89.8% of establishments employ no more than 9 employees and 47.9%

of all employees work in these micro-establishments. Approximately

900,000 people work in the hospitality industry contributing 2.2 percent of

the German Gross Domestic Product. The sector employs a large migrant

workforce with 20.7% of all employees coming from overseas. 40.2% of the

workforce are under 30 years old. 25% of all employees in the hospitality

sector are employed on a “minijob” basis, i.e. they work only part-time

and do not earn more than €400 per month and are not covered by social

insurance. Finally, 55.9% of employees in the hospitality sector possess

limited qualifications.

HR Practices:Research into recruitment practices highlights the internet as the most

popular means for conducting job searches with 40 online job engines

in place for recruitment in the hotel, restaurant and catering industry.

Outsourcing is becoming an increasingly common trend with cleaning and

other support functions being serviced by external organisations. Training

provision differs greatly across employee categories in the hospitality sector.

While administrative staff in hotels or larger restaurants receive regular high

quality training, groups such as room maids or part-time workers receive

little or no training. Performance related pay is a feature of many hospitality

providers and has improved productivity levels. In terms of industrial

relations, different agreements for each federal state exist between trade

unions and employers. However, there is evidence that 50% of western

and 70% of eastern companies do not follow concluded agreements. Trade

union density is very low (3%), whilst the German average is 30%. In terms

of key representative bodies at a national level, these include: Commission

for Tourism; German National Tourist Board; German Hotel and Restaurant

Association and German Tourism Industry Association.

The industry has a higher than average ethnic minority workforce, estimated

at 11%. 56% of the workforce is full-time and 7% are self-employed. Migrant

workers play an important role in this sector, 17% of the sector’s workforce

are from overseas (in London this figure is 60%). The hospitality sector has a

young workforce, with just over third of staff under the age of 25.

HR Practices:Interest in HRM in larger hospitality organisations is high, where the

employment of specialist HR managers within the industry is becoming

more common – however, knowledge of HR issues in smaller hospitality

establishments remains poor. Overall, human resource management in the

hospitality sector is under-developed and lacking in sophistication. Research

into recruitment and selection in the UK hospitality industry highlights a

continuing image problem of long and anti-social hours, low pay and a lack

of opportunities for career development. In terms of industrial relations, trade

unions have found it difficult to operate in the hospitality industry and the

industry has cast a wary eye on both trade unions and progressive employee

practices. Trade union density in the UK hospitality industry currently stands

at 2% compared to 34% in all other industries. The small and micro level

nature of most UK hospitality organisations means that it is often difficult

to find time for training activities. Many managers and supervisors in the

hospitality sector do not possess the minimum level qualification for their

position. In terms of key representative bodies at a national level, these

include: British Hospitality Association, People 1st, Institute of Hospitality

and Springboard UK. Key initiatives in recent years include the Hospitality

Assured Programme, Investors in People and Welcome to Excellence

courses.

The Spanish Hospital i ty Sector:Background:The Spanish hospitality sector comprises of 351,284 establishments,

employing 1.38 million individuals (approximately 6.9% of the total

workforce). The majority of employees in the hospitality sector are employed

in restaurants (35%) or bars (34.5%), with only 23.9% employed in

accommodation-related establishments. Approximately 30% of employees

in the Spanish hospitality sector are employed on a temporary basis.

One in four temporary workers hold a contract of less than three months.

Consequently, seasonality is a critical factor affecting the hospitality sector

with total employment increasing by up to 10% in the summer season.

Almost 30% of employees in the Spanish hospitality sector are under the age

of 30.

HR Practices:Human resource management in the Spanish hospitality sector has been

influenced by two main factors: the rapid growth of the hospitality sector; the

widening range of the services offered in some hotel chains and the larger

number of small businesses or autonomous business-owners. The has led

to the elaboration of a Libro Blanco (White Book) on human resources in

the tourism sector which recommends the creation of a more flexible legal

employment framework allowing for the hiring of young people -