Training Needs Analysis 2008
Moving on
A research based report on the findings of the 2008 Training Needs Analysis carried out by Gallu.
Gallu is a people development programme for employees within the Tourism and tourism related sectors. The aim of Gallu is to be demand led by the tourism sector; to facilitate the delivery of the necessary skills to the people employed within the sector who need them with the overall aim of improving the visitor’s experience.
Gallu has been in existence now for over 4 years and continuously communicates with the trade to establish their needs. The most recent formal feedback concerning the sectors needs took place 2 years ago and as such it was time to complete a new tranche of Training Needs Analysis (TNA) with the sector, this would help Gallu stay at the top its game and ensure the skills being facilitated remain focussed on the trades needs and desires.
The TNA was compiled to take into account the main issues concerning the sector currently i.e. Recruitment and Retention and Customer Service. As each TNA was carried out on a face to face basis there was plenty of scope for all skills needs to be discussed therefore not limiting the training to our speculative ideas.
Over an 8 week period some 49 business owner or managers were interviewed. The breakdown of businesses types are:
| 10 | Hotels |
| 3 | Caravan Sites |
| 12 | Bed and Breakfasts |
| 7 | Visitor Attractions |
| 5 | Guest Houses |
| 1 | Restaurant with rooms |
| 4 | Self catering venues |
| 6 | Activity Providers |
| 1 | Night club |
Geographically there were 10 businesses who took part from Swansea Bay, 15 from Pembrokeshire and 25 from Carmarthenshire. Whilst we would have preferred a more even geographical split availability of the individual with in the business dictated who could be interviewed within the given time frame.
It is important to get a good split of businesses that have been in operation for a varied amount of time as the needs will be different.
Of the 49 businesses interviewed 11 had been in operation for less than 3 years, 10 for more than 4 years but less than 6, 9 businesses had been operating for more than 6 years but less than 10 and 19 businesses had been in operation for more than 10 years.
As part of the TNA’s staff employee figures were discussed and the following was discovered. Jointly these 49 businesses employ 615 people including the person being interviewed. 261 on a full time basis, 295 part time, 53 seasonal and 8 volunteers. Of these employees 53 are overseas workers.
As Gallu is demand led it is important to establish that there has not been a change in the months that training can be received by the sector. The TNA results confirm that the most convenient months for training remain the same with over with over 75% of the businesses preferring January, February and November followed closely with more than 50% happy to attend workshops in October, December and March.
The next part of the TNA looked at plans and policies and asked whether the business would like help in creating them if they did not have these in place.
Marketing Plan – some 27 businesses had a marketing plan 22 did not and 3 asked for help.
Business Plan – 32 businesses had a business plan 17 did not and 4 would like help in making a business plan.
Training and Development Plan – 12 businesses had a plan for Training and development 37 didn’t and 6 asked for help.
Jobs specifications and performance targets had equal results of 21 businesses having the necessary plans and paperwork 28 businesses didn’t and only 2 expressed an interest in developing either of these areas.
Having recruitment standards was the least popular with the trade only 11 business employing to any standards and just 1 business requesting help putting something into place.
Customer Service
To try and identify how the sector gain feedback from their visitors we asked them if they had a Customer Satisfaction Questionnaire (CSQ) whilst 18 of the businesses used CSQ a majority of the businesses preferred a visitor’s comments book and informal conversation to measure their visitors enjoyment. The amount of time spent evaluating their visitors responses varied greatly from business to business some stating they reviewed it every day others say they looked at them every 3 years. When discussing customer service with the businesses the new customer service initiative was discussed and all businesses wish to be kept up to date and informed with what is going on and be able to take the workshop as soon as possible. Gallu is capable of and will do this in coordination with the Tourism Training Forum for Wales (TTFW).
Recruitment and Retention
Throughout the TNA it became apparent that a majority of businesses still identify their staff training needs on an adhoc basis (24 Businesses) some 16 businesses identify their skills needs through formal appraisal and adhoc. 2 businesses felt they had no training needs at all.
When asked a majority of those businesses who employ staff carried out staff inductions although some 21 businesses either did not employ any staff other than family or felt their induction process could be improved. 21 of the businesses interviewed had taken some form of training in the last 12 month 14 of those had used external training provider as well as training in house. The most popular forms of external training were Gallu, Trade days, Welcome Host and NVQ’s.
We asked the businesses if they felt that there was a particular part of the organisation that was underperforming and if so what did they think the reason for that was.
Surprisingly there was a 50/50 split between those who thought they were and those who thought they were not underperforming. There were a variety of reasons for this, some entirely personal, or structural and not related to training. However, those that were related to training covered topics such as marketing, sales, customer care, profit, staff and their attitudes, understanding of guests needs. The reason for most underperformance was due to a lack of experience and time, this is by the businesses admission; thank fully, Gallu can help with both of these issues.
As a result of the TNA’s, Gallu has drawn together a list of workshops to be run between September 2008 and March 2009 (Appendix 1). This list has been created where possible to meet the needs of South West Wales Tourism Partnerships Human Resource Development Strategy. The workshops will where appropriate be run in partnership with other organisations and training providers to maximise budget. Workshops will be focussed and aimed at a particular staff level within the organisation and marketed as such. A full list of courses requested can be found in Appendix 2, Gallu will work to influence partners to deliver what they are able from this list.
There have also been some requests for Statutory workshops ie. First Aid, Basic Food Hygiene which Gallu will negotiate good prices for these with training providers on behalf of the sector
Appendix 1
Workshops to be organised by Gallu with partners
- Marketing on a budget
- Food (Buffets and Canapes)
- Sense of Place for overseas workers
- Sales, making a profit and reviewing pricing margins
- Employee and Employer right and regulations (Mock Employment tribunal)
- Neural Linguistic programming – to include behavioural science, motivation, communication and team building
- Indoor Photography and publishing to leaflets and website
- Customer Satisfaction monitoring and performance management
- Develop your Training and Development plan – an insight to IIP
- Search Engine Optimisation and Social Media
Appendix 2
Workshops that Gallu will try to influence others to deliver
- Holiday Package Travel Regulations
- Sustainable Tourism
- How to fill in your Tax return
- Persuasive Marketing
- How to complete a variety of risk assessments
- Advanced presentation techniques – micro phone usage,
personal image and charisma - Creative writing for PR
- Understanding and meeting your customer needs
- Anything to do with Horticulture
- Interior design
- Housekeeping
- Time management for managers/owners
- Wine appreciation
- Food presentation skills
- Website design using Dreamweaver and front page
- Dealing with awkward customers
- Creating a brand image for you internal and external customer