It’s a fact that everything in life takes time. Achieving goals, enhancing workflows, refining candidate quality, and embarking upon many other endeavors in a hospitality business also takes time. Today, we will evaluate the hidden time costs of hospitality recruiting. Even with advancements in AI-driven recruitment tools, time expires with each step of the recruitment process. While job board posting fees and interviewing costs are easy to track, these hidden time costs may not be as easy to define.
What are the Hidden Time Costs of Hospitality Recruiting?
Some of these hidden costs start small and then get more severe the longer a hospitality company is understaffed. Some professionals may have to work longer hours to pick up the slack, which could result in overtime pay the company will have to distribute if there isn’t enough coverage.
This lost productivity can affect customer service quality and decrease employee morale from being overworked. Here are other hidden costs more related to the recruitment side of this equation.
Time Spent on Sourcing and Screening
If hiring managers and recruiters are utilizing an outdated applicant tracking system (ATS), this can lead to more time spent sourcing and screening candidates. Updating technology to meet modern expectations in recruitment efficiency and speed will reduce the time spent reviewing resumes and conducting initial candidate assessments.
The longer an application process is for candidates, the more likely they are to drop out of the running. High candidate drop-off rates should show recruiters and hiring managers that innovations are needed to source and screen candidates more quickly and efficiently.
Interviewing and Decision Management
Whether the recruiters decide to video interview or in-person interviews, there are hidden time costs of hospitality recruiting to consider for this hiring stage, too.
Onboarding and Training Lags
The hiring process doesn’t end when a candidate accepts a job offer. Onboarding and training can experience bottlenecks, too. New hires must complete new hire paperwork to remain in compliance with local and national hiring laws. They must also learn company policies and shadow a representative until they are comfortable doing their job independently.
Hence, new hire training could take one to two weeks as the new employee gets used to their new duties and work environment while handling these additional onboarding tasks. Streamlining training efforts by providing clear, digital onboarding materials and scheduling structured training sessions can decrease delays. Utilizing e-learning platforms or mobile apps for training allows new hires to complete modules at their own pace, which expedites onboarding.
Leveraging Hospitality Recruitment Metrics for Efficiency
Evaluating key performance indicators (KPIs) can showcase to recruiters and hiring managers how they can better enhance hiring efficiency.
Time-to-Fill
Time-to-fill is the time that expires from when a job is posted to when a candidate accepts an offer. A shorter time-to-fill in hospitality recruitment signifies that the current strategies are effective and streamlined. If the time-to-fill metric is too long, it’s time to assess the company’s hiring tactics to get this number down.
Believe it or not, the hospitality industry has one of the shortest average time-to-fill metrics of 14 days. The popularity of the industry and professionals’ interest in vacant roles usually contributes to how fast a recruiter can find a quality candidate.
Cost-Per-Hire
Keeping cost-per-hire within the hospitality industry average of $1,000 to $2,500 is a safe bet. These costs come from fees for posting on job boards, time spent training the new hire, a uniform purchase, if applicable, and other variables. Keeping cost-per-hire as low as possible ensures profitability and money that the business can put back into for enhancing candidate engagement for future hiring campaigns.
Employee Retention Rates
If current employee retention rates are low, it’s time to reevaluate how the company sources and screens candidates so there can be a boost in candidate quality. Higher retention rates showcase employee loyalty and better cultural fit aligning with the company’s mission and vision.
