Singapore - Interview: Margaret Heng, executive director, Singapore Hotel Association

The Singapore Hotel Association recently launched a casual labour initiative aimed at helping local hotels to resolve short-term staffing issues. HMA spoke with Margaret Heng, executive director at Singapore Hotel Association, to find out more about the initiative and how it is working so far.

The Singapore Hotel Association recently addressed the shortage of manpower by launching a casual labour initiative. What inspired you to do this?

One of the main challenges faced by hotels in Singapore is the shortage of manpower. In view of this labour crunch, the Singapore Hotel Association together with the support of e2i set up a registry of casual workers to provide hotels with a ready pool of skilled casual labour workers which they can tap into with a short period of notice. The hotels have been very supportive, they are excited about it. There are approximately 200 hotels in total in Singapore, of which we have 114 members. Of these, we currently have a total of 49 hotels that have signed up for the registry.

Which positions are most suited to this type of arrangement?

Banquet service staff; wait staff; room attendants; bellmen; or stewards. There are mainly two different pools of candidates. The younger ones are typically students while the others are older people who may or may not be holding a job at the moment. Training is not so much skills based, but more of a focus on how to interact with guests, so that the candidates have the comfort levels needed with casual work.

Have you had any feedback from the hotels on how the initiative is going?

We just started in July. So far the feedback has been OK, most of them have been very happy with the candidates.

The Singapore Hotel Association also recently announced it was launching a green initiative together with the National Environment Agency. Which are the greatest areas of wastage in hotels?

Organic food waste generated from the kitchens, Food and Beverage outlets and function rooms account for one of the greatest areas of wastage in hotels.

How have hoteliers' attitudes towards environmental wastage changed in the past 10 years?

Hoteliers are progressively working towards minimizing waste as part of a sustainable business practice. Cutting down on wastage brings a significant amount of cost savings for hotels. Eco-friendly practices would also appeal to environmentally-conscious travellers. Most importantly, hotels see it as part of their corporate social responsibility to safeguard the environment for future generations and the stakeholders. The 3R Programme for Hotels spearheaded by the Singapore Hotel Association and the National Environment Agency aims to encourage hotels to minimize waste via a structured approach.

What other challenges do Singapore's general managers have?

One of the major challenges is increasing competition. According to Horwath HTL, about 10,000 rooms are expected to come online during the period of 2011 to 2014. Of this, about 2,100 are slated to be ready this year.

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