Raising Quality

Your Staff

This information is part of the Making a quality plan topic.

Your most important asset

Especially in tourism, the way your staff interact with your customers and how well they do their jobs has a big effect on how positive your customers' overall experience is, and how well they view your business. When looking for quality improvements consider how you can help your staff improve their approach, skills and customer service, particularly through training.

Culture

Do you make an effort to pass your culture onto your staff - the way you want to do business? Do you make sure they know right from the recruitment stage what's expected of them and how you want your customers to see your business? Do you have an induction pack and initial training routine so staff know straight-away how you like things done, and the standards? Do you have a customer service principles list and a mission or quality statement?

How much do they know?

Customer-facing staff need to be knowledgeable about your business, your products and services and your destination. They should be ambassadors for your business and for your area, helping customers to get the most out of both.

If you are a food business, do your staff know how your dishes are cooked, what ingredients they are made from and whether they are locally sourced? Have they tasted the food? Do they know how the dish can be altered to suit dietary requirements? If you're an attraction do they know the history of your building or business, do they have interesting anecdotes to tell, do they encourage customers to explore all your features, knowing which ones are best for which ages or customer types?

Approach and customer service

Are your staff friendly and approachable? Do they make time to talk to guests and smile? Do they listen and deal with queries promptly and directly? Do they help customers get the most out of your business and your destination? Are they willing to go out of their way or take on tasks that aren't strictly 'theirs' to help customers? Do your staff answer the phone and emails with a pleasant manner? Do they do what they say they're going to do?

Do they have the right skills?

In small businesses staff often have to cover a number of different areas. Whilst they make be strong at some parts of their jobs, are there other parts they are less sure of? Lacking skills makes staff less productive and more stressed. Having a regular program of reviewing staff skills and creating a training and development plan - even if it's just for a regular half an hour of on the job training alongside you - will help to make sure everyone is positive, productive and comfortable. Check their organisational skills too - they may be less productive than they should or appearing to lack skills just through being disorganised or not having a good routine.

There are lots of courses, both vocational and academic, that can be done part time, during evenings or remotely. Check the Training section of the Toolkit for ideas. If your staff are being held back by basic literacy or numeracy skills don't let them struggle on. It's a difficult conversation to have, but your support and encouragement might be just what they need to take action. There are lots of free, local courses for basic skills, and for basic IT skills too.

Attendance

If you have regular attendance problems with a member of staff then deal with this appropriately. If you have regular attendance problems with many staff then you need to look more closely at the working conditions you've created. Do you have a positive and supportive culture? Are there things you can do to make your staff more comfortable at work, or to let them know they're appreciated? Do you regularly keep all staff informed of what's going on inside the business - and the tourism industry in your region - so that they feel part of the whole? Are your staff and working areas more than adequate? Is pay an issue?

Most people want to do a good job and feel they are valued. Creating the right conditions, where they know what's expected, know who to get support from and know how they fit into your business will generally help them to feel more satisfied. Happy staff have a much more positive impact on customers.

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• Your premises

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