Zmiany zatrudnienia w hotelach jako wynik transformacji ustrojowej

Abstract

Since 1970 Polish government has incurred debts from western countries to develop economy. Part of gained money was spent on the development of hospitality industry. Some of the new hotels were incorporated within the international hotel chains, mostly in Novotels. Professional trainings of Polish managers, which took place in France, had shown that the number of staff in Polish hotels is much bigger than in France. In 1990 the author received the feedback from some of the French Novotels which showed that the number of employees per one hotel room in Poland was from 2 to 6 times higher than in France. The aim of the research was identification of the reasons and changes of this situation. The number of hotel staff depends not only on the political system. The employment in the Accor Hotel Group in 2006 varied in different regions of the world depending on the local customs or, perhaps, on climate, e.g. 0,2 employee per hotel room in the North America and 1,4 in the Latin America and the Caribbean. The employment in Polish hotels has begun to decrease after the system transformation in Poland. As we can see by the example of the biggest Polish hotel enterprise “Orbis” (about 50 hotels), between 1989 and 2003 the coefficient of employees per hotel room decreased from about 1,5 to 0,4. Fewer employees do not mean lower cost of labour. In 1990 the labour cost in France was between 25 and 30 percent of the hotel income. The labour cost in the Polish hotels was on the same level, however, the number of staff was from 3 to 4 times higher. The same coefficient could be found in 2009 in “Orbis” and in some single hotels. The increase in the labour efficiency in Poland was possible thanks to the development of services, changes in the labour law and a better supply of food and other materials necessary for hotel activity. In the socialist system every enterprise including hotels had to employ their own craftsmen – electricians, plumbers, locksmiths etc. There should have been enough employees (waiters, dishwashers etc.) to satisfy the needs of the biggest number of guests a hotel can accommodate. Every hotel had its own laundry. Since 1989 people could have registered their own activity, especially in commerce and services. A hotel could find the right specialist for an occasional work more easily. Agencies of temporary work came into being and developed. During the big events or tourist season they provided the hotels with waiters, chambermaids, etc. In a situation of a shortage of all goods a few people and a truck were necessary to provide even a small hotel with food, beverages and other materials. Their task was to look for all the necessary things and fight for commodities. After 1989 the market changed and suppliers slowly began to offer all the goods. The socialist government provided employment for everybody. The change of the system made market come into being. In 1990 the term “unemployment” appeared in law and in the official statistics. It changed relations between an employer and employee. Not only increasing of labour norms but also changing hours of shifts and abandoning narrow specialization of employees became easier. Fewer employees mean fewer managers. During the last twenty years, except for the availability of goods and the change in the labour market there were also some external factors which had an influence on the employment in hotels, e.g.: – abolishment of state monopoly for money exchange, – diffusion of credit cards in Poland as well as in western countries, – small packages of food (butter, jam, cheese, etc.) enabled diffusion of breakfast buffets, – modernization of telephone system in Poland and mobile phones, – elimination of the positions which are not profitable, – combining separate positions into one, e.g. waiter-barman. Political system is not the only factor on which the number of hotel staff and efficiency of labour depend. The reduction of personnel helps to save on the labour costs only for a short period of time. During the longer periods the rise of salaries may be observed. Developed market of services for enterprises is an important factor in personnel reduction. Even in the services provided by the people themselves there are possibilities of staff reduction by better organization of activity. Some decisions of the government can also change the volume of employment in enterprises.