Inspire Travel, Transportation and Hospitality workforce engagement through digital technology
Author: Duncan Alexander
Digital transformation is a pre-requisite for every organization planning to compete and survive in the 21st century. Most organizations, however, focus on the technology portion of that transformation, when cultural and organizational factors are just as critical.
In a survey of 600 senior executives at large companies worldwide that was commissioned by DXC Technology and conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit, more than 40 percent of respondents said encouraging cultural and organizational change as well as developing breakthrough strategies to recruit and train digital talent are important parts of their digital transformation effort. When it comes to recruitment, training and retention, no market segment faces a bigger challenge than travel, transportation and hospitality (TTH).
As one of the world’s largest economic sectors, the TTH industries employ almost 10 percent of the global workforce, representing 313 million jobs, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council. In an industry that must deliver an excellent customer experience, people make the difference between success and failure.
Unfortunately, demographic and cultural trends are working against the TTH industries. As the overall workforce ages, experienced employees are leaving. For example, by 2024 the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that 25 percent of the U.S. workforce will be composed of workers over the age of 55, and a third of those workers will be older than 65.
Similarly, according to the market analysis agency Global Data, the old age dependency ratio, which measures the number of elderly people (population aged above 65) as a share of those of working age (population aged between 15 and 64), is projected to increase from 31.2% in 2017 to 35.3% by 2025 across the EU-28.According to the European Commission, in 2018 the EU-28 had the highest employment rate since 2005 and is progressing towards its 75% EU target. At the same time, many countries have a falling fertility rate and a rising life expectancy.
Unfortunately, younger workers are not lining up to fill the talent gap. Instead, they are more interested in joining the gig economy, taking on short-term stints instead of committing to a career in the TTH industries. Today, more than 57 million workers freelance, about 36 percent of the U.S. workforce, with almost half of millennials freelancing, according to Upwork’s recent study entitled “Freelancing in America: 2018.” The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that there were more than a million job openings in the leisure and hospitality sector in 2018, compared to 350,000 in 2009.
The problems are twofold: how to deliver exceptional, personalized customer service amid severe worker shortages and how to create an engaged, effective workforce when large numbers of companies’ employees are transient, seasonal workers.
Creating the human platform
Companies are recognizing they can’t build 21st century digital organizations without 21st century digital humans. The idea of developing the “human platform” is becoming increasingly popular as a way of recruiting and retaining the talent needed to provide the type of customer service companies must deliver.
We’re all accustomed to highly engaging and personalized digital experiences in our private lives. We have seemingly unlimited options as we select the productivity and collaboration tools, the social media apps, and the video streaming and gaming platforms that suit our personal preferences.
To successfully attract and retain workers, companies need to provide a similarly satisfying experience for employees when they interact with workplace technology. Employees have to be fully digitally enabled to perform their roles, with complete views of product information, service delivery and customer information, in any place and at any time.
For example, an airline industry customer service representative stationed at the ticket counter in a busy airport should have access to real-time information on factors that affect customers, such as severe weather conditions or flight delays. That person should be plugged into scheduling and ticketing databases in order to arrange alternative flights for people, should know whether that customer is a frequent flier, and should be empowered to make fast, independent decisions that solve customer problems and translate into top-notch customer service.
In addition to ensuring staffers have the skills, mindset and motivation to develop their digital capabilities, organizations should personalize the employee experience. Employees want to have the right devices, software, applications to bring the best of themselves to work. It’s all about creating a digital working environment where everyone feels connected and totally engaged.
For example, in a training scenario, an employee might want a classroom experience and face-to-face interaction with a trainer and co-workers, while other employees might want to take the training online at their own pace and in their own environment. Some employees might want to collaborate over a Slack channel, while another team might prefer Yammer or Microsoft Teams.
In the Economist Intelligence Unit survey, 72 percent of respondents say a change in culture is critical to implementing a successful digital transformation. Topping the list of critical initiatives, 38 percent of respondents said they would be implementing revised business processes and introducing organizational changes to accommodate their digital strategy. Those changes include flattening the hierarchy to make it easier for employees to collaborate between functional and business areas.
Forward-looking organizations will also encourage employees to collaborate with their peers at other companies that are part of the same industry ecosystem. Nearly half of companies said they encourage cross-functional collaboration to better understand their digital requirements.
Successful companies are the ones that put individual people and their personal workstyles at the heart of everything they do.
Workplace and workforce strategies
An integrated approach to both workplace and workforce platforms that is driven by experience and business outcomes can create an effective roadmap to achieve digital workplace transformation and workforce engagement.
For the workplace, we advocate three steps:
- Invest in and complete an advanced analytics-based review of HR and IT operations and platforms to deliver improved employee experience at reduced cost.
- Complete a persona-based service review of “as is” and “to be” opportunities, and pilot new tools and technology.
- Adopt an agile/DevOps development and delivery approach for employee services to deploy self-service, engagement, collaboration and automation tools.
A modern workforce strategy provides the processes and technology to support people, including:
- Creating engaging and excellent employee experiences with technology at work.
- Attracting and retaining talent by leveraging technology.
- Ensuring digital readiness through upskilling and reskilling.
- Smart use of advanced analytics supporting smarter workforce planning decisions.
- Augmenting human intelligence with technology.
Companies in the travel, transportation and hospitality industries that embrace this strategy will be putting themselves in a position to thrive in a highly competitive and challenging environment.