One of the
good things (not the only one!) that I learned once founding and running Terra
Extremus Hostel in Santiago of Chile was that when the time of building the
company staff came, money wasn’t the only one variable that keeps people
motivated and willing to give their best out.
People
matter
I have to
be honest: I never paid well. That wasn’t a smart choice but as a young company
that always suffered from an endemic money shortage we didn’t have much choice.
However, the ironic thing is that hotel business is a service one and face2face
relationships are a critical element for building up a sustainable position on
the long term. People representing
your company (desk reception, room service, tour guides, etc) can make a great
impact: positively or negatively.
Our
business was a hostel concept. Our customers were primarily between 20-30 years
old, backpackers, and young groups. We decided to focus our hiring operation on
young people as well that could feel specially compelled to socialize with
travelers and were eager to live a great job experience. We never paid them fully
in cash (I mean that the good thing of working with us never was the wave) but we
tried to offer them a compelling package: getting the opportunity to practice
English (in Chile that’s quite valuable), socialize with interesting people, staff
benefits as joining barbecues, an egalitarian atmosphere, free-entrance to
party nights or excursions, and (for many) to become independent by leaving
home and move into the hostel. I think that I never got a cue about how much
valuable all those extra benefits turned up to be for many of our people. We
suffered many problems along the three and a half years of operation but
–curiously- one of the few situations that we never had to deal with was a poorly-performing
personnel.
Focus on a
motivational benefit package
Maslow was really right and, even though pecuniary reward is always a good way to
demonstrate that people matter for the company, ultimately it’s not the only
one way to make them get through all the innumerable situations that they will
have to deal with along the way. Think twice when thinking over a reward
package for them: think how many “others than money” things really matter and
can make your staff jump of happiness in their working day and, ultimately,
make them to be willing to give that “extra” amount of effort and commitment that
money never can get out.