Maintaining Training in Hospitality
Managing Training in Hospitality can be extremely challenging. You juggle a high turnover of staff, staffing rotas & recruitment, so where does training fit in to this?
Our hospitality clients are no different, so we’re sharing their experience of maintaining HSE compliance. Below we look at how Kevin, General Manager and Freya, Catering Manager, manage their training in hospitality.
How to train my staff in hospitality & be proactive?
Everyone loves the idea of being proactive, and this is achievable in the hospitality sector. General Manger, Kevin, has achieved this in his company by;
- Having a policy to train all new managers in Level 2 Food Safety, First Aid at Work, Personal Licence & Level 2 Fire Marshal. This series of induction courses have ensured a high level of compliance for each shift pattern.
- Planning ahead for new staff members. Before any interviews, Kevin makes a note of when training could take place if the candidate is suitable.
- As soon as an employee hands in their notice, Kevin is conscious of new staff training. However, by training all managers, they are never in any doubt as to their level of compliance cover & therefore have flexibility within their rotas.
How to train my staff & catch up with our compliance?
Not all companies can be as proactive as Kevin above, but this doesn’t stop them from doing training. Yes, they will occasionally have low levels of compliance, however, this is better than doing nothing at all and leaving your company open to HSE & FSA incidents, which can involve huge fines. Catering Manager, Freya, is by her own admission within this group of clients. She completes staff training by;
- Training large groups onsite to include the full cohort of staff. Freya plans this at a time to suit quieter working periods. For her catering department, she covers her staff in a range of courses, including Level 2 Food Safety, Level 3 Food Safety, First Aid at Work, Personal Licence & Manual Handling.
- Catching up on training for individuals who have expired/left. This can lead to compliance being lower than their usual standard for a short period of time, although they use our scheduled courses to arrange this as soon as possible in line with shift rotas.
- Running the company short staffed while training takes place. Unfortunately, over time, training becomes essential to avoid the risk of incidents, therefore meaning Freya has no other option but to send candidates on training courses.
Methods of Training in Hospitality
Hospitality Clients use a range of training methods to suit their business.
- Proactive clients use open & virtual courses to ensure swift training as soon as employees start, or train in larger groups onsite when mass recruiting.
- Clients catching up on their training similar to Freya above often shut down operations for a short time in order to train all staff at once. Onsite training is therefore their best & most cost effective method.
Take a look at our training methods & their benefits on the right…
Maintaining Refresher Training
As our clients, we notify everyone two months before any refresher training is due. Those that can plan ahead use this notification to book straight away so they know their compliance will still be in place.
Those who cannot plan ahead often have a gap in their compliance for a short time. We always try to ensure plenty of availability for those who need short notice courses, however some courses only have a brief window for refresher courses to take place & you can miss out. Unfortuantely,this means undertaking initial training again, costing more & taking longer, so planning is best where possible.
