Core and Peripheral Employees in Hotel Operations

Abstract

This article discusses approaches to work flexibility and the use of core and peripheral workers in the hotel industry. It argues that hotel companies have traditionally neglected building a core workforce and resorted to using “peripheral” workers in key operative jobs. It distinguishes between three groups of core workers that can be found in hotels: company core staff, who make their careers across a range of units in a hotel group; unit core staff, who are limited to the single hotel unit; and operative core staff, who may develop their careers within one hotel or across a number of hotels. The problems of developing such an operative core are discussed, as are the consequences of not developing it.