ABSTRACT
The tourism and hospitality industry worldwide has been confronted with the problem of attracting and retaining quality employees, which has led to a shortage of skilled personnel to staff the large number of tourism and hospitality businesses (Deery and Shaw 1999; Dermady and Holloway 1998; Emenheiser et al. 1998; Ferris et al. 2002; Freeland 2000; Heraty and Morley 1998; Hinkin and Tracey 2000; Tourism Division 2002). This problem is complex with many different contributing factors, and it has been argued that there are a number of industry-specific characteristics that exacerbate this skills shortage. These characteristics include a young transient workforce, low levels of pay and formal qualifications, high levels of female, student, part-time and casual workers, a high proportion of low-skilled jobs, a large proportion of hours worked outside normal business hours, a negative industry image in the eyes of potential employees, a large number of migrant staff, poor utilization of student labor and high levels of staff turnover (Baum 2006; Brien 2004; Fraser 2003; Freeland 2000; Riley et al. 2002; Service Skills Victoria 2005; Tourism Division 2002). These characteristics all add to the complex problems associated with the recruitment and retention of quality employees for tourism and hospitality companies in the new millennium.
