ABSTRACT
In recent years the importance of an undertaking’s human resources has become much more apparent as employers look for competitive advantage through improved service and because of the considerable costs of labour and the growing staff shortages in some sectors of the hospitality industry. The ‘demographic time bomb’, i.e. the reduction in the number of young people available for work in the new century, will contribute to the scale of the problem for many employers. The arrival too of new employers on the labour market will create new demands on an evermore competitive labour market.
