The culture of service
The service industry...particularly hotels and restaurants is constantly critised for providing bad service, be the service slow, too fast, arrogant, too submissive, not confident, inept, unwilling or inhospitable - it comes down to two real basics; either a lack of training/knowledge or an in built 'attitude' whether it be cultural or individual.
In Jordan a lack of basic training and knowledge was their biggest drawback, the hotel school there tries very hard with pitiful resources, the teachers try their best but are almost fighting a loosing battle with broken and mismatching chinaware, damaged linen, insufficient equipment etc. Fortunately for them all these are overcome by the Jordanian culture of hospitality - which is second to none...service staff smile willingly and easily and from my experience are really eager to work - their sense of responsibility is huge...a quick example - when it snows in Amman (which it does heavily) the city comes to a grinding halt, nothing moves - during one such snowstorm one of my staff walked 18 kilometers in the heavy snow to get to work - because he didn't want to let us down...others also walked - but the furthest was this particular guy - he arrived tired, wet and pretty miserable but once he was on duty he was all smiles and raring to go...
The other aspect of service work in Jordan is that it is 'work' and it pays money...not great money...but in Jordan any income is better than none. When we were recruiting for our property we had guys travelling two or three days by hitchhiking to come for interviews, guys who had slept outside our office door to ensure that they would get a look in for our interviews - it was tough on them and we really had some hard decisions to make as we would have to choose only a realtive few from the hundreds that we saw...only a few that would go home secure in the knowledge that at some time in the near future they would have a Jordanian rarity - a steady income. Fortunately for the guys we recruited we weren't looking for technical skills (that you can train) we were looking for a positive attitude..and the average Jordanian has that in bucket loads!
So, reading through today's Jordan Times I was very sad to read an article about the lack of interest in the service industry in Jordan's 'youth'. Particularly given that Tourism is one of Jordan's main income earners and also given that there are so many tourism projects coming on line in Jordan with thousands of jobs being created.
Authorities in Aqaba are struggling with the so-called “culture of shame” that hinders young people from seizing the opportunities made available by the influx of investments in the area.
...
We even saw fathers who refuse to allow their sons and daughters to work in these jobs,” he added.
However, ASEZA is in contact with local community leaders to change this attitude, which puts at risk the raison d'être of the Aqaba Special Economic Zone.
Dahabi said these projects are ensured special privileges in return for employing local residents. The Tala Bay resort, for example, will offer 7,000 job opportunities, which will be filled with foreign workers if Aqaba youth continue to reject them.
Tala Bay Chairman Ziad Abu Jaber said many highly skilled Jordanians worked in the construction of the luxurious resort, but the problem is their rejection of ordinary menial jobs.
An Aqaba resident and one of the workers at Tala Bay, Abdul Latif Mohammad, is the head cashier at the resort's beach club. Only two Aqaba residents work there, out of 18 Jordanians from elsewhere in the Kingdom. Dozens of Asian and Arab workers work for the megaproject.
“I know that the culture of shame is a fact. I have friends who refuse to work in the service or tourism industries. They do not want to work in the kitchen or clean rooms,” the employee said.
He advised his peers to accept such jobs and be ambitious in order to move up in the company hierarchy.
“I myself started with these `inferior jobs' but I proved my capabilities and was promoted to chief cashier,” Mohammad explained, adding that Tala Bay announced the vacancies in local newspapers and promoted them in the Kingdom.
The part about daughters not being allowed to work in hotels I can vouch for, it is not 'seemly' as hotels seem to be seen as 'dens of iniquity' by the lower levels of society, out of a team of about 150 people we had about 6 girls...and I might add - they were great; driven, intelligent, outgoing and I would be happy to employ them anytime - unfortunately at some point 3 of them were 'pulled out' by their parents who had been hassling them the whole time they had worked there and then unfortunately laid down the law and they had to leave.
It seems a crying shame that in a country in which genuine hospitality is embedded in the culture (Bedouin culture), that people are not wanting to 'serve'. Is this the price of progress?
In Jordan a lack of basic training and knowledge was their biggest drawback, the hotel school there tries very hard with pitiful resources, the teachers try their best but are almost fighting a loosing battle with broken and mismatching chinaware, damaged linen, insufficient equipment etc. Fortunately for them all these are overcome by the Jordanian culture of hospitality - which is second to none...service staff smile willingly and easily and from my experience are really eager to work - their sense of responsibility is huge...a quick example - when it snows in Amman (which it does heavily) the city comes to a grinding halt, nothing moves - during one such snowstorm one of my staff walked 18 kilometers in the heavy snow to get to work - because he didn't want to let us down...others also walked - but the furthest was this particular guy - he arrived tired, wet and pretty miserable but once he was on duty he was all smiles and raring to go...
The other aspect of service work in Jordan is that it is 'work' and it pays money...not great money...but in Jordan any income is better than none. When we were recruiting for our property we had guys travelling two or three days by hitchhiking to come for interviews, guys who had slept outside our office door to ensure that they would get a look in for our interviews - it was tough on them and we really had some hard decisions to make as we would have to choose only a realtive few from the hundreds that we saw...only a few that would go home secure in the knowledge that at some time in the near future they would have a Jordanian rarity - a steady income. Fortunately for the guys we recruited we weren't looking for technical skills (that you can train) we were looking for a positive attitude..and the average Jordanian has that in bucket loads!
So, reading through today's Jordan Times I was very sad to read an article about the lack of interest in the service industry in Jordan's 'youth'. Particularly given that Tourism is one of Jordan's main income earners and also given that there are so many tourism projects coming on line in Jordan with thousands of jobs being created.
Authorities in Aqaba are struggling with the so-called “culture of shame” that hinders young people from seizing the opportunities made available by the influx of investments in the area.
...
We even saw fathers who refuse to allow their sons and daughters to work in these jobs,” he added.
However, ASEZA is in contact with local community leaders to change this attitude, which puts at risk the raison d'être of the Aqaba Special Economic Zone.
Dahabi said these projects are ensured special privileges in return for employing local residents. The Tala Bay resort, for example, will offer 7,000 job opportunities, which will be filled with foreign workers if Aqaba youth continue to reject them.
Tala Bay Chairman Ziad Abu Jaber said many highly skilled Jordanians worked in the construction of the luxurious resort, but the problem is their rejection of ordinary menial jobs.
An Aqaba resident and one of the workers at Tala Bay, Abdul Latif Mohammad, is the head cashier at the resort's beach club. Only two Aqaba residents work there, out of 18 Jordanians from elsewhere in the Kingdom. Dozens of Asian and Arab workers work for the megaproject.
“I know that the culture of shame is a fact. I have friends who refuse to work in the service or tourism industries. They do not want to work in the kitchen or clean rooms,” the employee said.
He advised his peers to accept such jobs and be ambitious in order to move up in the company hierarchy.
“I myself started with these `inferior jobs' but I proved my capabilities and was promoted to chief cashier,” Mohammad explained, adding that Tala Bay announced the vacancies in local newspapers and promoted them in the Kingdom.
The part about daughters not being allowed to work in hotels I can vouch for, it is not 'seemly' as hotels seem to be seen as 'dens of iniquity' by the lower levels of society, out of a team of about 150 people we had about 6 girls...and I might add - they were great; driven, intelligent, outgoing and I would be happy to employ them anytime - unfortunately at some point 3 of them were 'pulled out' by their parents who had been hassling them the whole time they had worked there and then unfortunately laid down the law and they had to leave.
It seems a crying shame that in a country in which genuine hospitality is embedded in the culture (Bedouin culture), that people are not wanting to 'serve'. Is this the price of progress?
posted by Madame Chiang at 10:59 pm
2 Comments:
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