James Cook Hotel

Overview

The James Cook Hotel Grand Chancellor is a four star, full services hotel with 260 rooms and suites, located in central Wellington.  Opened in 1972, the hotel has undergone a major refurbishment during the last five years.  It has a diverse workforce of 181 staff, of which 10-15% are union members.  The hotel was a finalist in the Best Places to Work Awards 2006, the first year of entering.

The Productivity Challenge

In an industry that often suffers from high staff turnover, the core challenge for the James Cook Hotel is staff retention.  The cost of recruiting and employing a new staff member is estimated at $10,000 and it takes approximately six months to recruit, induct and train one.  Staff turnover affects the standard of service provided to guests.  It also impacts on staff job satisfaction, as constantly
training new staff adds to the work of more experiences staff, which can be frustrating, especially during busy periods. The growth of the business also brings challenges for managers of how to keep staff energised and engaged so they perform demanding work to a high standard and how best to communicate with staff who work in shifts in different areas of a large hotel, to ensure that high levels of customer services are maintained.

The Productivity Achievement

To cope with the growth in business and peak periods, cross-training has enabled staff to be deployed in different areas. This brings greater flexibility in staffing, better communication between workers and improved service levels for customers. Staff are also encouraged to participate in training courses such as the Hospitality Management courses.

• Quality of guest experience is crucial when organising work to manage service delivery.
• A positive work environment encourages teamwork.
• Sharing information empowers staff in their work.
• Reporting systems provide clear benchmarks for performance and improvement, and sets clear standards.
• Effective communication is essential for a motivated workforce.
• Teams work best with a shared sense of purpose and people develop cohesion when they can have fun and feel valued.

The full James Cook Hotel productivity case studies are available as HTML and PDF

• James Cook Hotel: Measuring What Matters [HTML]
• James Cook Hotel: Measuring What Matters [PDF, 2 Pages, 1,095kB]
• James Cook Hotel: Networking and Collaboration [HTML]
• James Cook Hotel: Networking and Collaboration [PDF, 2 Pages 892kB]