Make sure your staff know the boundaries
The hotel industry is an intimate one. We probably all know couples who have met and married while at work. We probably also know people who have fought with their colleagues, physically or verbally. It is true to say that all emotions are found within the hotel working environment. After all, we spend more time with our fellow staff than with our families.
It is common knowledge that laws exist governing sexual harassment, but there seems to be a very high level of ignorance within the hotel sector about how these rules affect our daily lives.
Chefs harassing waitresses, porters trying to date receptionists, customers viewing barmaids as easy prey - it happens daily. Not that it is a one-way street. Our industry attracts some friendly, flirtatious women who will manipulate their male colleagues to gain some advantage. The banter may be innocent enough if - and it is a big if - it is invited and wanted. The problem comes when it is unwanted.
A recent report described a group of chefs with French bread sticks between their legs, which was the cause of great hilarity to them - but not, alas, to two female members of staff near by, who happened to be a mother and her 16-year-old daughter.
Employers have a duty to act on a complaint that is made by one employee against another, and in the high-profile world of sexual harassment, even if the case is dismissed, the stigma continues to stick. If the case is proved then the offending employee will probably be dismissed without a penny, regardless of their length of service or how innocently they feel they have behaved.
My advice is that if you have respect for your colleagues and for yourself it will soon become clear when someone really wants your attention.
Managers set standards
Managers have a particular problem in this jigsaw of human relations. Their very position makes them attractive to some, but the manager who responds to the jocular attitudes of the team in a similar fashion could be setting themselves up for serious trouble. The manager must rise above this kind of behaviour and set the standard for the rest of the team - even if they enjoy a risqué joke as much as the rest.
So, is there no place at work for fun? Has humour become job-threatening? Have we reached a time when a touch in a sincere gesture of support can be regarded as a threat? Let's hope not, because it is these things that bond individuals into caring teams, that bring forth their greatest performances and give customers the pleasure of being served in a really human environment.
But it is important that the vulnerable are protected from the manipulative. There needs to be clear information and education for all employees so they can enjoy freedom within the rules knowing the boundaries of what is acceptable and what is unreasonable.
I challenge all the major hotel groups - and individually owned hotels, too - to set aside time for training in this often-passed-over area. They should put it on the agenda of the next regional or national conference, talk about it at the next staff meeting, and make it a part of the induction process for new staff.
If the hotel sector gets proactive, the need to mop up the human misery of ruined careers, damaged marriages and low self-esteem should happen far less frequently. n
