Hotel Chain: Strengths-Based Selection

Several years ago, a luxury hotel management firm operating 41 properties in six countries contracted Gallup to improve its business performance in key front-line and management positions. Gallup consultants recommended a long-term selection and hiring strategy aimed at hiring more associates with talents similar to those of their best associates and upgrading the levels of talent within the following roles:

• Sales managers
• Food and beverage managers
• Food and beverage servers
• Property managers
• Front-desk staff

Working closely with client management, Gallup consultants created a strengths-based selection profile for each position that was tailored to the client's business needs. Gallup consultants began by studying the client's structure and business strategy. Consultants reviewed the client's job performance criteria and studied the best performers in each role to identify the talents that contributed to their success. Gallup consultants then developed success models, which were used to construct customized, structured interviews to assess job applicants.

Follow-up Gallup Business Impact Analysis determined that Gallup's process and system delivered a higher success rate for new hires who achieved high scores on the Gallup selection interviews.

Sales Manager Hiring Successes

Analysis of four years of performance data for sales managers who were hired using the Gallup process showed, among other things, that:

• The interview total score predicts actual job performance as measured by how well sales managers met their goals for hotel room bookings. Those sales managers who scored highly on the Gallup selection interview sold more room bookings, relative to their sales goal, than sales managers who scored much lower on the selection interview. In terms of revenue, on average, the highest scoring managers outperformed lower scoring managers by more than $300,000 in room bookings annually, and they outperformed the lowest scoring managers by more than $1 million in room bookings annually.
• Although many factors can influence an employee's decision to leave a position or organization, the interview total score of sales managers who were hired using the Gallup system was shown to be predictive of voluntary employee attrition. Over the four-year period studied, Gallup's analysis revealed that 40% of the lowest scoring managers voluntarily left the company, compared to 15% of the middle scoring managers and 14% of the high scoring managers.

Food and Beverage Manager and Server and Front-Desk Staff Hiring Successes

The Gallup selection interviews predicted a new hire's performance in these positions as well. Highlights of Gallup's Business Impact Analysis included:

• High scoring food and beverage managers outperformed lower scoring managers by $33 per square foot in revenue; they also worked more efficiently, working fewer hours while serving more beverages and meals.
• Food and beverage servers with low scores on the Gallup selection interview had, on average, two to three times more health and safety incidents than did their high scoring counterparts.
• Front-desk staff members with high scores on the Gallup selection interview produced, on average, two to three times more revenue -- by selling upgrades in hotel services at the time of check-in -- than their lower scoring counterparts.

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