Answer these following questions based on the case-

1. What factors could potentially have led to Fontainebleau experiencing higher levels of customer service skills gaps than Oxygen?

2. What perspectives on recruitment discussed in the chapter can be used to analyses oxygens superior performance in terms of skills gaps and staff turnover?

3. Are there any apparent contradictions in terms of the recruitment approaches of Fontainebleau and their subsequent experiences with turnover and skills gaps?

4. Are there any potential drawbacks with Oxygens approach to recruitment?

5. What recruitment approaches have organizations used during the Covid-19 pandemic to bridge the customer service demands?

Fontainebleau and Oxygen are two leading multinational through regular training. Employees were expected to hotel chains with a strong focus on customer service. interact with customers in a highly formal manner and Two of their UK outlets, however, reveal contrasting for- be 'polite', 'clean and tidy'. Fontainebleau provided an tunes in terms of workers' customer service skills. industry-standard uniform and had strict staff appearance The exact nature of the hotels' service brands dif- guidelines. fers considerably. Oxygen staff described the hotel as Managers in one branch of Fontainebleau reported 'young fresh' and 'stylish'. The building itself had won that a number of current staff were not fully proficient design awards and had a minimalist interior comple- in customer service skills (known as skills gaps). Man- mented by modern art prints. There was an emphasis agers reported such gaps in approximately 25 per on informality when serving customers with employees cent to 30 per cent of front-line service staff; rising allowed discretion over service encounters and their to 60 per cent on the reception desk (although many appearance at work, to supplement their designer uni- receptionists were new). In Oxygen, no customer form. Oxygen employees were required to be 'funky' service skills gaps were reported. Fontainebleau had "friendly' and 'individual'. a staff turnover rate of 75 per cent in the previous Fontainebleau's service brand was much more for- year and Oxygen 42 per cent. mal, and characterised as 'traditional and professional'. Both hotels used a variety of recruitment methods. The hotel had opulent dcor, with antique-style fur- Oxygen, however, relied more heavily on recruiting niture complemented by classical art prints. Employ from university campuses and was also slightly more ees had to adhere to rigid brand standards, reinforced reliant on recommendations from current employees, 100 CHAPTER 3 RECRUITMENT The rationale for staff recommendations also differed between the hotels. In Fontainebleau the HR manager believed that recruiting through employee recommen- dations fostered a happy team environment, whilst in Oxygen there was more emphasis on the fit between people and the establishment. Formal job adverts also differed. Whilst Fontainebleau tended to emphasise details about the job and benefits of working for the company, Oxygen emphasised the brand. One advert, for example, gave a picture of the inside of the hotel alongside the words distinctive', 'unmistakable', and 'unique' before add- ing 'but enough about you' and then describing what Oxygen offered to employees. This advert mirrored a customer advertising campaign, with near identi- cal wording. Oxygen (unlike Fontainebleau) also took applicants on an establishment tour as part of the recruitment process. The reception manager reported that he found the tour especially useful to allow can- didates to assess the reality of their expectations of the hotel. Source: Adapted from Hurrell and Scholarios, 2014