The effect of training on the turnover of hotel staff in Malta

Abstract

In today’s hospitality industry, the turnover of staff has grown to be an issue of significant impact. The impact can be felt not only abroad, but also in the Maltese islands, where the tourism and travel industry contributes 26.7% to Malta’s Gross Domestic Profit (GDP) (Knoema, 2017). As a result, the large turnover is having an impact on the profit of hotels, especially since some hotels end up with a great number of staff that is outsourced from other companies. It can be said that employees are not motivated, appreciated, or shown the true value of their work, which makes them leave their workplace to pursue other opportunities. However, a primary reason for this is the lack of training provided by the companies, which also affects the competence level and knowledge of the employees, thus not meeting the needs of tourists visiting the Maltese islands. This research will contribute to the solution of the problem by investigating the effect or effects (if any) of providing training to employees on the turnover of hotel staff. If positive outcomes are achieved, it will strengthen the importance of Human Resources as a department in a hotel, particularly the role of training and development. This study is a deductive (confirmatory) analysis, which will help confirm (or reject) the notion that training impacts the turnover of staff. The study was directed towards employees in 4-star and 5-star hotels in Malta. The reason for choosing this area of study, lies behind my previous experiences as an employee and an intern in Maltese hotels, where I met my mentors and managers who believed in me and managed to bring out the best of me. They inspired me to not only believe in myself, but to believe in others as well: I had the opportunity to train fellow co-workers, which was of great satisfaction to me, seeing them progress, improve and grow, and at the end gaining their respect and trust.