Work out a people plan to retain your best staff
According to the Employment Review (IRS) report published last month by the Internal Revenue Service, two-thirds of employers had difficulties filling vacancies in 2002-03, and almost half reported problems retaining key people.
Readvertising and using head-hunters are the most popular ways to solve the recruitment issue. But they are also among the most expensive options. Many companies are realising that the most cost-effective way forward is to keep good people in the business.
Organisations serious about reducing recruitment costs invest in existing people. They produce recruitment, retention and exit strategies, which incorporate a holistic approach.
A company with a good employee relationship management strategy assesses how to communicate effectively with, not at, its people. It places importance on managing, motivating, and developing people. It encourages leadership skills at every level and outlines how people can develop their careers both inside and outside the organisation.
Few companies appear to have really worked out their people plan.
Finance people often work late to finish the figures, sales people burn the midnight oil to get the proposal out, IT people come in on Sunday to fix a problem. How many apply the same urgency to people issues?
JANE SUNLEY
MANAGING DIRECTOR, LEARNPURPLE, LONDON WC2
Small family businesses shouldn't fear tax clampdown
The story "Small operators face crackdown on tax" (Caterer, 19 June, page 12) illustrates the latest wheeze that the Inland Revenue has come up with to denude taxpayers of any money they may have left.
What is now being embarked upon is an attack on the long-established practice of families being able to spread ownership of their business interests among family members as they please. The typical victim of this new approach will be the individual who provides services to his or her clients through a personal service company. Individuals supplying IT services and activities where personal skills and expertise are required are likely to be under attack.
Although this is a frightening development, the outcome of which is unclear, it is unlikely, in my opinion, that small hotel and restaurant owners will find themselves targeted. Most businesses falling into these categories are genuinely family businesses and are certainly not the prime target of this new Inland Revenue initiative.
There may be isolated cases where the Inland Revenue spots a likely target but these will be few and far between and I don't think readers should be unduly worried.
STEVE WRIGHT
WHEAWILL & SUDWORTH, CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS, LONDON
Many customers prefer to deal with local suppliers
With reference to your feature "Local heroes" (Caterer, 19 June, page 48), as an established seafood specialist in Yorkshire, we have supplied local hotels, restaurants and catering establishments for 30 years.
During recent years we have faced a continual battle with hotels that are part of a wider group as many have a group purchasing strategy and opt for nationwide suppliers offering uniform product.
Our experience is that it's the hotel chain's head office that benefits from the discounts it receives, whereas individual hotels have to put up with average products and poor service. In this situation, there is very little motivation for the supplier because he has the contract in his pocket.
Many hotels and chefs in this situation simply do not wish to be dictated to about their choice of suppliers and prefer to deal with local suppliers with whom they have established relationships.
JONATHAN BATCHELOR
DIRECTOR, RAMUS SEAFOODS, YORKSHIRE
Impersonal 'Dear Guest' letters represent a missed opportunity
If I'm welcomed into one more hotel bedroom with a bland "Dear Guest" letter, I'll go mad.
In this age of market segmentation and intelligent data, why does the hotel industry continue to bombard its best clients with untargeted, unpersonalised letters?
I challenge UK hoteliers to do better - to address their welcome letters to the guest by name, and even to have different letters for different guests (new or repeat clients, business or leisure guests, etc). And if this really is too much for some hoteliers, then at least instruct housekeeping that dog-eared and tea-stained letters simply have to be chucked out.
We hear a lot about offering five-star service at three-star prices, and exceeding, rather than just meeting, guests' expectations.
And yet, with impersonal welcome letters, we shoot ourselves in the foot and miss a real customer-care opportunity, not just once, but thousands of times a day across the UK.
MARTIN EVANS
THE TOURISM BUSINESS, YORK
Confusion over role of Tourism Alliance
On reading the Tourism Alliance's first-year review, I fear many people will assume that the alliance represents the UK's tourism industry. It doesn't.
The alliance fails to make it clear that it represents only England's tourism industry. Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own trade bodies, none of which is a member of the alliance.
The way in which the alliance's review is written, and the inclusion of figures relating to all the national tourist boards, implies that it speaks for the whole of UK tourism. In reality, it's England's tourism alliance with, for example, Welsh tourism being represented by the Wales Tourism Alliance.
Someone should ask Tourism Alliance chief executive Richard Tobias or chairman Digby Jones why they persist in not making clear the alliance's role in relation to England versus the other nations that make up the UK.
I believe both gentlemen have expressed concern over the confusion created by the English Tourism Council/British Tourist Authority merger into VisitBritain, but they continue to create confusion by implying that the alliance represents the tourism interests of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
It's bad enough that half the world seems to think Wales and Scotland are regions of England, so we don't need Richard and Digby being sloppy in the way they present their organisation
GRAHAM TAYLER
DIRECTOR, HOSPITALITY MARKETING, BONCATH, PEMBROKESHIRE