Flexibility and travel initiatives to lure hotel workers

New employees at the Intercontinental Hotels Group will be able to work at more than 40 hotels across Australia.

IHG Hotels and Resorts Australasia and Japan managing director Leanne Harwood. Picture: John Feder

New employees at the Intercontinental Hotels Group will be able to work at more than 40 hotels across Australia under an initiative designed to combat labour shortages and appeal to workers who want to travel around the country as Covid restrictions ease.

Casual workers employed under the IHG Hotels and Resorts’ myFlex program will be able to work at different hotels provided they commit to working 10 shifts a month.

Rather than lodging a job application for each hotel, workers would go through a hotel and brand onboarding process. Workers will be able to pause their hours and availability.

Leanne Harwood, managing director of IHG Hotels and Resorts Australasia and Japan, said the hospitality industry had traditionally taken a rigid approach to employment but the pandemic had shown there was an ability to be much more flexible.

She said the program would let team members achieve a work-life balance while still pursuing a ­career in the hospitality industry.

Not only would workers be able to determine how and when they could work, they would be able to apply to work at different locations from Hayman Island to Adelaide.

They would get the award rate.

Ms Harwood said IHG currently had 600 job vacancies across Australia and would need an extra 3000 workers by the end of 2022 as new hotels opened.

Existing IHG full and part-time employees rostered by their manager will be able from February to bid through an app for shifts they prefer. IHG has also made available a series of leave benefits including birthday leave where workers do not have to work on their birthday.

Ms Harwood said workers would be able to draw up to five days of personal or carers leave without having to produce a medical certificate “to proactively focus on your wellness or your family”.

Australian Hotels Association chief executive Stephen Ferguson said the IHG program should appeal to young and older workers who wanted to see the country.

He said labour shortages were emphatically the No 1 concern for the hospitality sector going into 2022 as NSW, Victoria and the ACT came out of lockdowns.

“The biggest issue we’ve had has been that the volatility of lockdowns has caused people to leave the industry, especially in the part-time, full-time ranks,”’ he said.

“That lack of certainty of employment and income has caused people to look outside hospitality and seek employment in sectors able to stay open. The biggest thing that can help us is stability … which will then encourage people to consider hospitality as a stable employment opportunity.”