WITH Myanmar struggling to attract more tourists, hoteliers in Yangon are focusing on recruiting skilful and qualified employees who will leave visitors with a good impression and earn Myanmar the reputation of a country whose travel industry provides international-standard service.

“Human resources departments in big hotels play a very important role in finding the right people to train and develop into skilful, qualified employees with a good attitude,” Daw Chit Chit Naing, the human resources (HR) manager at Yangon Parkroyal Hotel, told The Myanmar Times.

“Because hotels provide a service to travellers, all employees need to be service-oriented to ensure that our customers are satisfied,” she said.
“HR departments in every type of organisation are responsible for finding people who are skilled, obedient, faithful and devoted, but this is especially important in the hotel industry,” said U Khin Maung Thant, the administrative manager at Central Hotel.

Daw Honey Thazin Aung, the HR director at Dusit Inya Lake Hotel, said the concept of human resources has evolved with the emergence of new technologies and the growth of the global marketplace.

“HR acts as a liaison between staff and management,” she said.

“Among the roles of HR are maintaining staff motivation, establishing a positive work environment, resolving employee problems, training and counselling employees, ensuring fair distribution of rewards, orienting new workers, and evaluating and providing feedback to employees about their work performance,” she said.

While travel industry sources agreed on the importance of establishing competent HR departments in the hotel industry they also concurred on the need to improve on the current standards.

U Khin Maung Thant pointed out that only bigger hotels could afford to have an HR department at all.

“Big hotels can provide international-standard training to staff but smaller hotels owned by local people cannot,” he said.

He suggested that seminars, workshops and training programs be held frequently to help hotels fill gaps in human resources knowledge.

Meanwhile, some hotels complained of shortages in skilled staff as those with proper training and experience often go abroad to get international exposure and advance their careers.

“Our main problem is that we have staff turnover nearly every month so we have a shortage of qualified personnel,” Daw Chit Chit Naing said. “It is hard to find qualified people to replace those who have resigned.”