How to Prevent Burnout Among Your Hotel's Employees: 4 Tips

Employees in the hotel industry face a variety of challenges, including excessive workloads, long work hours, significant customer service demands, and more. All of this can contribute to burnout, which leaves employees feeling drained emotionally and physically.

If left unaddressed, burnout can even lead to turnover. And with the hospitality industry turnover rate already sky-high (78% in 2023), many hotel employers may feel concerned about how they can improve their work environments and pave the way for business success.

Luckily, there is a surefire way to stop burnout and subsequent turnover: By preventing it in the first place. In this post, we’ll walk you through four tips for improving the employee experience at your hotel so that you can have happy, engaged employees who stay with your organization for the long run.

1. Foster a positive work environment.

Your employees want to come to work every day knowing they’ll be in a supportive environment where they feel comfortable and valued. Here are a few effective ways to foster a positive work environment:

• Prioritize open communication. Encourage honest dialogue between all levels of staff to promote transparency and trust. Employees should feel comfortable talking about the highs and lows of their day-to-day work and feel like they can get to know their coworkers during the day.
  
• Invest in employee safety. Employees who work by themselves, like hotel staff, are vulnerable to threatening behavior and even sexual assault. By proactively preparing for emergencies and demonstrating an ongoing commitment to staff safety, employers can build trust with their teams and further build positivity in the workplace.
• Arrange team bonding activities. For your hotel to succeed, your entire team needs to be in sync. Set up frequent opportunities for your employees to interact with each other, both during and outside of the workday. For instance, you might have a weekly all-hands meeting or set up quarterly social outings to local restaurants or escape rooms.
• Start an employee recognition program. Set up a clear system for recognizing and celebrating employees’ achievements and contributions. Note that some employees may prefer public forms of recognition (like a shoutout on social media), while others may prefer something more private (like a personalized thank-you letter). 

No one wants to feel like another cog in the wheel. Take the necessary steps to make every employee feel like they’re a valued part of your organization and that you’re invested in their success. This will help motivate your employees to continue performing at a high level.

2. Provide employees with the right tools for the job.

One of the best ways to make your employees’ jobs easier and to increase their satisfaction with their work experience is to ensure they have the right tools supporting their job functions.  

While software tools and physical equipment represent an investment of money and time on your hotel’s part, the right resources can make all the difference in an employee’s day-to-day experience on the job.

Though every employee’s needs will differ depending on their department and responsibilities, in general, you should ensure that your staff have access to the following:

• A robust property management system (PMS) for handling reservations, guest communications, payment processing, and inventory management.
• A workplace safety tool to empower employees to stay safe in vulnerable or emergency situations.
• Team communication tools such as smartphones to stay in touch with each other throughout the workday.
  
• Cleaning equipment and supplies such as mops, vacuums, and cleaning solutions to make housekeeping more efficient and effective.
  
• Maintenance equipment and toolkits for making repairs around your hotel.
  
• Scheduling software to manage employee shifts and work schedules.
• A feedback system for collecting comments and suggestions from guests that your team can use to improve.
  

The list for your own hotel may go on, especially if you have an extensive list of amenities (such as a restaurant, spa, or pool). No matter the particulars, however, the main idea remains the same: when your employees have the right tools for the job, they feel confident and empowered to succeed in their roles.

3. Offer opportunities for professional development.

While employees may experience burnout for a variety of reasons, one of the most common is that they don’t feel they have an opportunity to grow in their current job. To prevent your hotel employees from feeling this way, offer enticing opportunities for professional development that will show your team members that they can grow professionally at your hotel.  

Here are a few opportunities to consider offering:

• A mentorship program where newer employees can learn from more experienced team members.
• Membership in professional associations such as the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA).
• A chance to attend professional conferences, keynote speeches, and workshops.
• Online training or courses to build skill sets.
• Leadership training to prepare a new generation of management.

Each employee will have different professional development priorities and goals. The best way to learn about and cater to your employees’ needs is to have frequent conversations about career pathing and growth. These can take place during regular one-on-one meetings between employees and their managers, and plans and goals can be formalized (and checked in on) during the performance review process. Also, your career pathing guidance should be clearly mapped out and standardized to reduce confusion.

4. Encourage healthy work-life balance.

Even though most of your hotel employees likely can’t work from home, they may still be taking work home with them in the sense that their work stress bleeds over into their personal lives. Without clear work-life boundaries, employees may soon start to feel burned out.

This is why you need to create a culture in your workplace that demonstrates how much you value work-life balance. Make sure that your team members know that while you expect them to work hard at your hotel, you also want to ensure they have time for themselves and their family and friends.

Here are some tips for implementing and adhering to work-life balance:

• Encourage employees to take full advantage of their time off. Whether your employees are on vacation, out sick, or taking a mental health day, ensure they know that you expect them to use that time for themselves.
• Urge employees to disconnect when they’re not at work. Your employees may feel pressure to respond to emails, calls, or texts from other team members even when they aren’t on the clock. Set clear guidelines about response times that allow employees to create healthy boundaries with work communications. Encourage implementing tools like a geofence, which allows you to create a virtual fence around your hotel and helps your team leave work at work.
• Lead by example. An email reminding everyone to really enjoy their time off or an impassioned speech about taking sick time seriously will ring hollow if you don’t lead by example. Ensure that you practice what you preach so that employees will take your efforts at encouraging work-life balance seriously.

When your employees can return to work from a vacation or even after a full night’s sleep having not thought about work for a while, they will feel recharged and more enthusiastic about jumping back into their work. Plus, they’ll be more fulfilled in their personal lives as they have time to devote to other interests and pursuits, as well as their loved ones.

The success of your hotel depends on your internal team, and one of the biggest issues plaguing the hotel industry today is burnout. Use the tips above to stop burnout in its tracks and prevent it before it starts.