FROM RUNNING A BAR WHILE STUDYING TO WORKING FOR A MAJOR CORPORATION AFTER GRADUATING: HOW HEINEKEN IS SOLVING THE BAR SHORTAGE
At the Education Day organised by the European Hotel Manager Association (EHMA) for its members, in conjunction with the Annual General Meeting held in Venice in April, Petros Papageorgiou, On-Premise Director of Sales Heineken Italy, presented an original initiative put in place by the Dutch company to promote both employment and the hospitality industry.
FROM RUNNING A BAR WHILE STUDYING TO WORKING FOR A MAJOR CORPORATION AFTER GRADUATING: HOW HEINEKEN IS SOLVING THE BAR SHORTAGE
At the Education Day organised by the European Hotel Manager Association (EHMA) for its members, in conjunction with the Annual General Meeting held in Venice in April, Petros Papageorgiou, On-Premise Director of Sales Heineken Italy, presented an original initiative put in place by the Dutch company to promote both employment and the hospitality industry.
The hospitality industry has been hard hit by the health crisis, losing a large number of employees while at the same time rebounding strongly. In the UK, for example, 96% of business owners in the industry say they are experiencing staffing problems. In Spain, there are 135,000 fewer workers than before the crisis. In Italy, there is a 10% shortage of staff, or 50,000 workers...
Faced with this shortage of applicants, which was also affecting bars, Heineken had one objective: to promote and change attitudes towards a career in the hospitality industry. As you'll see, this goal has been brilliantly achieved!
For Heineken, the key was to get students to change their perspective: working in a bar should no longer be seen as a temporary step in a person's career, a stint that serves only to earn money, but as a valuable formative experience that fosters both personal and career development. The idea was therefore to improve the perception of our industry, to make jobs in the hospitality industry the start of a more substantial career, while enabling bars to overcome staff shortages.
To achieve this, Heineken has drawn up a plan based on three pillars
The first pillar is an advertising campaign by Heineken (video at the bottom) which highlights the positive aspects of the hospitality industry: having experience in a bar also means mastering communication, problem-solving, teamwork, logistics, conflict management... In other words, acquiring skills that are in demand in the professional world. The campaign slogan is: "There's no experience like the experience of a bar".
The second pillar was to involve the industry by setting up an alliance to have a greater impact, amplify results and offer more opportunities. A wide range of companies helps to demonstrate an attractive industry in which to pursue an interesting career. Heineken therefore established partnerships with some of the industry's biggest names, and today the alliance has 24 partners, including Coca-Cola, Unilever, Pepsi, Lipton, Fuzetea and Starbuck's.
The third pillar was the launch of a job platform to recruit staff for the hospitality industry, with information about the industry to show that working in the hospitality industry is a good step for their career.
Let's follow the applicant's career path: they spot the job on the platform, apply and are recruited in a bar. They then work for a minimum of three months. At the end of their contract, they receive a "Bar experience certificate” validating their period and the skills they have acquired. This certificate features a QR code. Once the QR code has been scanned, the certificate will be added to the LinkedIn profile.
Then, as soon as partner groups have vacancies, certified employees are automatically applicants for those jobs. The certificate therefore opens the door to major groups in marketing, sales and communications, speeding up the transition from studies to employment.
The campaign enabled participating bars to receive over 5,000 applications in the first two weeks in Ireland and the Netherlands.
Petros Papageorgiou concluded by reminding the audience that human capital is a responsibility and an effort that falls to the industry, asking the general managers present: how can we do this together? And make hospitality the best place to work!
Note to hotel general managers: join the EHMA association to find inspiration and exchange ideas with your peers!
Sylvie Leroy, enthusiastic publisher since 1999 Her passion for luxury hospitality, "a score perfectly performed by a fantastic orchestra" as she often says, led Sylvie Leroy to build in 2004 Journal des Palaces the sole online daily news dedicated to luxury hospitality with news, jobs, directories and resources.
