Staffing Tourist Attractions - Hints & Tips

• Look at your rotas and consider the times your visitors visit. Is it possible to reduce the staffing levels and still operate safely at certain times?
• Can you open later?
• Can you close earlier?
• Can you offer a reduced service without affecting the visitor journey/experience?
• Do you need to change your Standard Operating Procedures in order to maintain a basic service?

Any changes to the operation need to be visible, and transparent – not just to the visitors who are visiting you, but you need to ensure that you have ‘buy in’ from the team of staff who will be delivering it.  Communication is key.  Be honest, and your team will support you at this time of crisis.

Changes to Standard Operating Procedures need to be agreed, trained in to your team, and formally recognised.  Be clear as to what is expected of persons and why, and when these are operating.  Also be very clear as to how you are communicating to the team and the general public about these changes. (See below).  This does not have to be onerous – a quick staff meeting out of hours, and clear instructions and a bit of time to get used to the changes may be all that is needed.

Later on, when the crisis is over or at least issues reduced, you may find that your new operating procedures and practices may well not have a devastating impact on what you are providing, and may well be the best practice going forward.  This is often not easy to realise at the time of crisis, so it is important that you have some time to evaluate how things have worked/operated and review.  Plan this if you can.

Once again, look at the detail of every aspect of what you are providing, the service you are giving.  In the short period of closure, you may also want to bring in your key members of the team to discuss their ideas for maximising opportunity in this time of staffing shortages and the need to change things on a temporary basis.  They will have different ideas to you, and as they are at the ‘coal face’ of the operation, they may have a better understanding than you do!

• Could the product be reduced or changed in any way to make it less labour – intensive? Clearly the safety element needs to be the priority, and no compromise can take place, but can there be elements which may be reduced or changed.
• Are there areas and sections of the experience which can be temporarily closed, or the visitors diverted away from to reduce staffing levels?
• Could you charge less for certain things and ensure that more visitors visit you to ensure that your revenues do not drop, despite changing things?
• Could you charge more for certain things and give more value to the paying guest/visitor for an enhanced, more personal service?
• Restaurants/F&B:Can you service more people with fewer staff by changing the method of service?  In COVID safe environments, often table service is the only option, so you can look at providing less choice or ‘easy order’ menu options which cut down deliberation time, and increase table turn.
• Retail/Shops/Outlets: Once again, look at the layout of your stores in relation to who needs to be servicing the outlet. Balance it to the immediate risk.  Perhaps on a temporary basis you can service the area with one till, and socially distanced queuing, and have areas servicing less popular items which are not available to purchase on a temporary basis.     
• Digitalisation Not easy to do quickly, but it is worth reviewing if you are making the most of every digital initiative you have put in place to help your business through this critical time.
  - Is the app working properly?             
  - Is your website saying the right thing?  (See ‘Communication’ below).        
  - Are you Customers doing what you want them to do?          
  - Are they purchasing /experiencing the product in the best way for them/you/your team? 
  - A tweak to the website or a minor change to how you service the app could assist in your operation and take pressure off departments/people /aspects of your operation.

Rota Planning: 

The way you do your rotas clearly needs to be reactive to the current situation, and often your ‘cover’ or ‘emergency’ shifts, your ‘mid’ shifts etc may not be sustainable in a staffing crisis.  That is why it is important to staff to the current situation and the current service provision to the hours which are possible. You may have delegated the rota plan to a senior supervisor or team leader, but at this critical time if is necessary for you to understand that every hour and every shift, and how you are planning to fulfil the service and the operation in the light of the current staffing shortage. Work with the above list and the changes to your operation with your rota plan and work out what is possible, and what is impact on the daily and hourly operation.

In a constantly changing workforce, it may be easier to rota staff to positions or job role not to people (i.e. names), and ensure that the core duties that need doing to sustain your operation are still filled and operating.

Cross training/Using your team effectively: 

In time of staffing crisis in a customer facing attraction or business, it will tend to be ‘all hands to the pump’ and if you have good collaboration and teamwork within your business, your team should be in the right mindset to help out wherever they can.  Remember to communicate well on this point, and be available to support and help out – have patience.  People who are not confident with the job role they have been given as they have not been trained properly will be more likely to leave you in the lurch, so how you arrange this and support your team doing things they are less familiar with will be key to making this work.

• Ensure you give staff the tools to do the job in hand – new ways of working, maps, explanations etc will help them be confident in ‘helping out’ in an area of unfamiliarity.
• Ensure you explain why you need them to support them in this way.
• Be available, or ensure they have someone who is available to support them when needed
• Communicate – before the change, during and after – be there for them, or make sure someone else is if you can’t be.

Not being able to provide the service or the standard that you pride yourself on will be heart-breaking, and if you are unable to deliver it, then it is important that you communicate well to your customers to ensure that – despite the issues, they still regard you as somewhere they will revisit and recommend.  This may take the form of a website area to explain what to expect in ‘current difficult times’, or email in advance of the visit, or even a phone call, if it is appropriate.  It is better to prep in advance of the visit, and people will not feel misled, and are more likely to be supportive of you and your business.

Be mindful in your messaging:

• Value for money – people will still expect Value, so consider what else you could provide to make up for the lost service/product etc.
• Don’t elicit sympathy – stick to the facts and be honest about the situation.
• Don’t give too much detail about your issues, just stick to the facts, and how it will affect your customers, and if they have issues, what you will do about them.
• You want their support/loyalty/feedback – be honest and clear about how you are tackling your issues.
• Keep to your ‘Brand Voice’ & your communication policies – should be aligned. Friendly vocabulary, friendly, apologetic and matter of fact messaging is more likely to create the desired supportive response.
• If dealing with Customer complaints – all the above apply. Be honest – if something has gone wrong in any way – be apologetic and offer a solution that you yourself would accept if you were in their shoes.

It is very easy to be overwhelmed by the difficulty of the immediate situation, and often easy to be affected by the crisis as much as your team.  Leadership and Communication in this difficult time are both key aspects of keeping the impact of the crisis on your team and your operation to a minimum.

Leadership/Communication

All of your leadership team need to be aligned in your thinking and react and support the team as well as you do.  Ensure you communicate with all your managers on this point, and ensure you are all working together and are ‘as one’ when dealing with situations.

• Be supportive of your team
• Communicate well – be transparent about the issues
• Lead from the front
• Thank your team constantly – gratitude and appreciation builds trust and loyalty by making people feel valued.
• When you do thank people, if appropriate, do it in front of the rest of the team – reinforce best practice, and build morale and teamwork in this way.
• Listen to your team – Ask questions - their ideas and their issues/solutions could be the key
• Act on the advice of your team
• Treat people as you would want to be treated
• Don’t let the crisis cloud your judgement – be consistent and fair in your approach to the every day issues.
• Admit your mistakes
• Stick to your plan and be consistent in your efforts to deliver it

• A Mission Statement defines the company's business, its objectives and its approach to reach those objectives.
• A Vision Statement describes the desired future position of the company.
• Values are how the entire company operates, and support the culture of your business.

Do not underestimate the importance of setting out these within your business.  If you have not already defined these, it is a good exercise to define these now for your business going forward, and the Business Development plan to grow your business.

Elements of Mission and Vision Statements are often combined to provide a statement of the company's purposes, goals and values.

This is not something just for large or corporate businesses – in a smaller business, a Vision and Mission statement may be combined, but it is vital that you share a clearly defined approach and purpose with your employees, so they know exactly what is expected of them.

This will make them more:

• Productive
• Loyal
• Supportive
• Engaged

However simple you perceive the job role to be, clear direction, and framework will ensure the employee is clear what is expected of them, and what good looks like.

It is also important to ensure that every member of your team – part time and full time employees, have clearly defined job descriptions, and annual objectives, which are then monitored at regular 1:1 meetings with their line manager, to ensure that they are accomplishing their tasks, and also they are engaged and supportive of the business and the way you wish to run it.

Objectoves are clearly defined goals that you set your employees in order to achieve your Mission and Vision.  They should be SMART – i.e. 

Specific -   Measurable   -  Achievable  -  Realistic  -  Time Bound

And should be built into an employee’s Appraisal, Review and Personal Development process, no matter what job role they do in your business.

Your HR strategy will have many facets, and will depend on your Mission, Vision and Values which will be at the core of the operation and the visitor experience. As detailed above, if you have not formulated your Vision, Mission and Values or an HR strategy document previously, then it is a good exercise to clarify the purpose of your business to your team – WHAT they are there for, WHY they are doing what they do, and HOW they should perform. 

Your HR strategy will establish the correct and sustainable approach to HR policy within your Attraction. will serve to formulate the process of set up, delivery and ongoing HR processes for the Attraction or Experience,  which will ultimately deliver the Mission and the Vision of the company.

An HR strategy document should include:            

• Organisation Strategy
• Vision/Mission/Values
• Resourcing/Recruitment Policies
• Communication/Recognition Policies
• Training Policies
• How the HR Process Delivers the Vision & Mission through Operational Excellence*

* Every single process element of the above must be detailed and confirmed in the Standard Operating Manual for the attraction, which will also incorporate every system and process for the entire attraction – this manual should be formulated at the beginning of the project, and built up using the Standard Operating procedures for every area of the business in preparation for employee training and to ensure Operational Excellence for a flawless Visitor or Guest Experience.