Labor Productivity–The Use of Staffing Guides and Other Productivity Methods in U.S. Hotels: A Survey Study

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper examines the issue of labor productivity in hotels. It elaborates on various measurement methods used by American hoteliers, including staffing guides, with a special focus on productivity standards. Advantages of physical, financial, and mixed methods such as percentage methods, revenue per employee, value-added, Data Envelopment Analysis, and Stochastic Frontier Analysis are discussed. While the use of percentages and staffing guides was found to be commonplace, results revealed that some fairly stable standards were already in place in the surveyed hotels. Results also revealed that, at least in the surveyed companies, few hoteliers attempted to monitor or improve revenue per employee, focusing instead on physical labor inputs and outputs or simple labor percentages.