Service with a smile: Hospitality employees among happiest in UK
New research from the iOpener Institute for People and Performance, which analysed responses from over 30,000 professionals, revealed that foodservice and hotels are among the top sectors when it comes to the components of ‘Happiness at Work’, which includes energy levels, time engaged and general feelings of happiness.
Jessica Pryce-Jones, author of ‘Happiness at Work – Maximising Your Psychological Capital for Success’, said: “Whilst broad correlations between Happiness at Work and productivity have been recognized for some time, this detailed method of analysing the components of Happiness at Work offers organizations actionable insights to formulate practical plans to improve their productivity.”
Looking at the sectors with the highest productivity ratings, foodservice came out on top. The report notes that this is ‘surprising’ in that ‘the catering industries do not have a reputation for high pay or employee enthusiasm’.
This study would tend therefore to reject that received wisdom, given that foodservice firms not only report high productivity, but also present top rankings for happiness, engagement and energy levels. This would suggest that the sector has been quietly implementing effective strategies to boost employee happiness and productivity, but has been little recognised for it.
Productive hotel workers
The international average for ‘time on task’ is 58.8 per cent, but significant differences were found between the various industry sectors. Hotels are one of the best performing sectors with 61.8 per cent time on task.
“The sector and country results offer companies a contextual starting point; those in the Hotels sector can ascertain how they measure up when compared to their sector and country averages, and tailor their productivity initiatives accordingly,” added Pryce-Jones.
“Whilst the industry can take encouragement from scoring highly, there is still potential for further improvement. This is particularly important as hotels look to make the most of the sector’s bounce-back from recession, signified by improving occupancy and average daily rates.”
The report concludes that ‘there are wide disparities in the productivity levels currently being achieved by different sectors’ and that ‘within each sector or country context, happiness, well-being and motivation have been shown to have a marked effect on employee performance and productivity’.
View the full report below.
