Motivating hotel employees: Beyond the carrot and the stick

Abstract

To learn what hotel employees want out of their jobs, the authors asked 278 workers at 12 hotels the U.S. and Canada to rank the following ten work factors: good wages, tactful discipline, job security, interesting work, feeling of being in on things, sympathetic help with personal problems, opportunities for advancement and development, good working conditions, personal loyalty to employees, and appreciation for work accomplishments. Overall, hotel employees reported that the three things they most wanted from their employers were: (1) good wages, (2) job security, and (3) opportunities for advancement and development. There were differences among the hotel workers, however, based on their age and the area which they worked. While all respondents ranked good wages as the single most important job factor, younger employees reported opportunities for development and interesting work as the second and third most-wanted job factors. In contrast, employees over 30 reported job security and working con...