Selling hospitality careers is vital, says McKeever’s director

Northern Ireland Hotel Federation President Eddie McKeever has told the Yearbook improving the perception and reality of careers in hospitality is key for the industry going forward.

“We have massive advantages in seeking staff as you can work a range of hours and do so much in hospitality.

“The industry had a reputation for long hours and poor pay but that is no longer the case. All our guys are doing 40 hours, usually four days a week and once they are trained after three months they move up from minimum wage and go up to being a supervisor and take further training to progress while getting paid to do so.

“We have two guys now who came to us with no qualifications who are now doing their degrees. One is a duty manager and the other is a supervisor looking for a management role which we will be happy to give him if it comes up.

“We had a 97% retention rate which we were delighted with. We have staff that are with us 20 years and many more who have been with us for 10 and if you speak to any of those they will tell you about forging a career in hospitality and all the benefits of it.

“I have friends all around the world in management jobs who I studied with, and hospitality lets you do that. I could walk into a bar in Australia and get a job straight away… it is like being able to speak another language.”

The McKeever Hotel Group director learnt the lesson about important retaining the right staff is from his father Eugene, who built the business from scratch.

“Covid was an example of the family values at the heart of our business as while dad had never known a situation like it the first thing he said was, ‘We have to look after our staff’. We tried to keep them informed throughout and do the best by every one of them.

“We invested in an online training tool and kept them abreast of any changes, including to furlough, and tried to instil the confidence that here was a job to come back to and not to be worried.

“Now here we are talking about cost of living. It is a balancing act, and we are looking at the ways we can avoid passing costs to customers while at the same time keeping the quality up.”

Read the full interview HERE.