UNIT 1 CALCULATION STAFF STRENGTHS

 Calculating staff strength: 

Compared to other hotel departments, the housekeeping department employs the largest workforce in most hotels. Manpower thus becomes a major operating expense. Good management of the housekeeping department depends on achieving a balance between the workload and the staff strength. When calculating staff strength, it must be remembered that each property will have its individual requirements. The factors to be considered here are:

• The type of hotel it is
• The location of the hotel
• Traditions and customs of the locality
• The size of the hotel (in terms of number of rooms)
• The occupancy rate of the hotel Management needs Company policies
• The quantity of work to be done
• The quality of work expected, that is, the standards to be met
• The time needed to do the work
• The frequency with which the work needs to be done
• The time when the work area is available
• The amount of traffic in the area

 

The staff strength of the housekeeping department mainly depends on the size and structure of the hotel, that is, whether it has a compact structure with clusters of rooms, the number of rooms per cluster or floor, the expanse of the public areas and landscaped areas, and so on. The general rule of thumb that aid in determining staff strength in the housekeeping department is given below:

 

 GUIDELINES FOR THE DETERMINING STAFF STRENGTH

 

Managers and Supervisors
Executive Housekeeper         Deputy/Assistant Housekeepers            Floor supervisors                 Public area supervisors            Desk Supervisor           Linen Room Supervisors ·        Uniform  Room Supervisors	1 for a 300 room property 1 Per property   1 per 50 rooms in morning shift; 1 per100 rooms in the evening shift; 1 in the night shift.   1 per 10,000  Sq. ft. public area per shift 1 per Shift 1 in morning shift 1 in morning shift
Housekeeping Attendants
Guest Room Attendant         Public Area Attendant   Horticulturist Head gardeners  Gardeners	1 per 14 rooms for the morning shift; 1 per 50 rooms for the evening shift (if turn down service is provided) 1 per 100 rooms in the night shift   1 per 2,500 Sq. Ft. public area per  shift 1 per property 1 per 20 horticulturists 1 per 4500 sq. ft. of landscaped area

 

PROCEDURE FOR DEVELOPING A STAFFING GUIDE

Understand how to a staffing guide is put together with hypothetical examples:

There is a property called Hotel Coral Island, a 500-room luxury hotel, and that we need to have a staffing guide for the position of guest room attendant. How do we proceed?

STEP 1 (Calculate the Labour Hours for GRA at Various Occupancy Levels)

Determine the labour hours to be scheduled at various occupancy levels of this 500- room hotel, using the productivity standards for the hotel’s room attendants (refer productivity standard). Assume that the productivity standard for the guestroom attendant is 30 minutes (0.5 hours) to clean one guest room. Using the productivity standard, we can calculate the various hours required for room attendants at various levels of the hotel.

Labour Hours = No. of Rooms x Productivity Standard

Example:

At 100% Occupancy

Rooms to clean next day                        = 500 x 1.0= 500 rooms

Labour hours to clean 500 rooms          = 500 x 0.5= 250 hours

 

At 90% Occupancy

Rooms to clean next day                        = 500 x 0.9= 450 rooms

Labour hours to clean 500 rooms          = 450 x 0.5= 225 hours

At 85% Occupancy

Rooms to clean next day                        = 500 x 0.85= 425 rooms

Labour hours to clean 500 rooms          = 425 x 0.5= 212.5 hours

rounded 213hr.

 

STEP 2 (Calculate the full-time GRA at Various Occupancy levels)

Now determine the number of Full Time Employees (FTE) who must be scheduled to work when the hotel is at specific occupancy levels. Since the productivity standard is 30 minutes (0.5 hours) to clean one guest room. A room attendant is expected to clean 16 rooms during in 9 hours shift (for calculation refers to productivity standard method). Given the information, the number of full-time room attendants who must be scheduled at different occupancy levels can be determined by dividing the number of the occupied room by 16.

Full-Time Employee = No. of Rooms to Clean / No. of Rooms to be

Clean by 1 GRA

Example:

At 100% Occupancy

Rooms to clean next day                        = 500 x 1.0= 500 rooms

Number of full-time GRA’s needed       = 500 ÷ 16 = 31.25

         = 31 (rounded off)

At 90% Occupancy

Rooms to clean next day                        = 500 x 0.9= 450 rooms

Number of full- time GRA’s needed       = 450 ÷ 16 = 28.12

         = 28 (rounded off)

At 85% Occupancy

Rooms to clean next day                        = 500 x 0.85= 425 rooms

Number of full- time GRA’s needed       = 425 ÷ 16   = 26.56

           = 27 (rounded off)

The actual number of room attendants scheduled by the Executive Housekeeper will finally depend on the number of full time  and Part-Time room attendants are available to her. For example, at 90 % occupancy, 28 full-time attendants may be scheduled; or 20 full-time room attendants, each working 8 hours, and 16 part-time room attendants, each working 4 hours, maybe scheduled.

STEP 3 (Calculate the Labour Expense at Various Occupancy levels)

The Executive Housekeeper should also incorporate into the staffing guide table, the labour expenses required at each occupancy level. This helps in zero (0) base budgeting. Whether the executive housekeeper scheduled only full time or some part-time employees as well, the total labour expense for the room attendants should not exceed the calculated amount at a specific occupancy level.

  The Labour expenses are calculated for room attendants by multiplying the labour hours by the average hourly rate for room attendants. Assuming that the average hourly rate for room attendants is Rs.10, the next day labour expenses will be calculated as follows:

Labour Cost = Labour Hours x Av. Hourly Rate

Example:

At 100% Occupancy

Labour hours for GRA’s                          = 250 hours (step-1)

Labour Expenses for GRA’s per day     = 250 x Rs. 10

                                                                   = Rs. 2,500

At 90% Occupancy

Labour hours for GRA’s                          = 225 hours (step-1)

Labour Expenses for GRA’s per day     = 225 x Rs. 10

                                                                   = Rs. 2,250

At 85% Occupancy

Labour hours for GRA’s                          = 213hours (step-1) 212.5

Labour Expenses for GRA’s per day     = 213 x Rs. 10

                                                                   = Rs. 2,130

The staffing guide should be completed for all positions and all occupancy levels in a similar way, taking productivity standards for various positions into account. 

A sample staffing guide for the hotel coral island, a five-star luxury hotel

 

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