Standard operating manuals-Job procedures (SOP’s)

Standard operating manuals-Job procedures (SOP’s)

A job procedure specifies the way in which a task is to be performed. Job procedures should be used during induction and training sessions and ought to be incorporated into the department’s procedure manuals. Updating job procedures is necessary as and when changes in equipment, cleaning materials, and so on, occur. They are most popularly called ‘SOP’s’ or standard operating procedures. They are also referred to as ‘work cards’ or ‘order of work’ documents.

SOP’s comprise the following information:

· The job to be done

· Equipment and materials required

· Procedure of work

· Safety factors

· Time required to do the job

The goals in establishing SOP’s are as follows:

· To aid standardization

· To help in training

· To preserve surfaces and materials

· To ensure the completion of a task successfully

· To effect a saving on cleaning equipment and agents

· To prevent accidents

· To aid the compiling of work schedules and help in staffing requirements

v Developing a Staffing Guide for Room Attendants according to sops

Step 1. Determine the productivity standard for the task that will be performed by the employee.

E.g.

• productivity standard to clean a guestroom is 30 minutes (0.5 hours)

Step 2. Determine the total labor hours when the hotel is at specific occupancy level by using productivity standards.

E.g.

• there are 250 rooms in the hotel

• the occupancy is 90%

250 rooms × 0.9 = 225 rooms to clean

225 × 0.5 hours = 112.5 ≈113 labor hours

Step 3. Determine the number of employees that must be scheduled to work when the hotel is at specific occupancy levels.

E.g.

• 8 hour shift

• productivity standard 0.5 hours

8 ÷ 0.5 = 16 rooms can be cleaned by a room attendant

225 ÷ 16 = 14 full-time room attendants are

needed (or 10 full and 8 part-time)

JOB ALLOCATION

specifies the area being allocated to the workers called on duty in a given shift.

Following points are taken into consideration at the time of allocation:-

· Occupancy patterns

· Traffic in public area

· Group/crew movement

Prioritization Allocation is done for

· Rooms

· Lobby

· Cloakrooms

· Restaurants

· Banquet halls

· Heart of the house

Housekeeping Work Schedule (Weekly)

This example still assumes a five-day workweek (Monday to Friday) and a small team of housekeepers.

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Task Descriptions:

- Rooms: Cleaning and preparing guest rooms.

- Lobby: Cleaning and maintaining the hotel lobby area.

- Cloakroom: Attending to guest belongings and coat check.

- Restaurant: Cleaning dining areas and setting up for meal service.

- Banquets: Setting up and cleaning banquet halls for events.

WORK SCHEDULES

The work schedule

(Job schedule, cleaning schedule)

Once the time allowed to provide the required type and standard is calculated work schedule can be prepared. It’s an important stage in the planning process. Its main advantages are that it can be used to:

1. assist in the establishment and the maintenance of the standard of service required

2. Assist in organisation and allocation of work.

3. Determine equipments ant material required.

4. Determine labour requirements.

5. Provide the basis for controlling the cost and quality of work.

6. Aid communication by making information available to all staff.

7. Assist in training of staff.

8. Assist in implementation of incentive bonus schemes.

· Area or work location.

· Tasks to be carried out.

· Frequency of tasks.

· Time allowed.

· When each task will be carried out.

· Cleaning agents.

· Cleaning equipments.

lists the actual work to be carried out by one member of staff during a particular period of the day. It should include break times, setting pantry, trolleys etc. The number of schedules necessary is an indication of the number of staff required to clean any one area on one day.

While scheduling tasks points to be consider

· size/number

· nature of surface

· complexity

· enclosed or open/traffic

· availability of staff/requirement

· availability of areas

· resources used-cleaning agents & equipments

Daily/Weekly /Monthly schedules will include

· Area to be cleaned

· Sub sections of each area

· Work details

DUTY ROTAS

A duty rota is a work schedule or roster that outlines when employees or workers are assigned to perform specific duties or tasks during their shifts.

A duty rota can be drawn up only after the work schedules have been prepared. A duty rota helps to ensure that there are sufficient staff members to cover each schedule.

Information required for compiling duty rota:

· Number of hours worked by each staff

· Number of shifts per day with number of hours in each shift with breaks

· Bulk of staff should be on duty at peak periods of week and day

· Personal commitments of staff should be considered as far as possible

Planning And Organising Housekeeping Department

· Over-time and compensatory offs should be kept to a minimum

· Only two people should be off for each area to ensure efficiency

· Each area should have at least one person who is familiar with the area and its routine

· Allocate adequate relievers to each area

Duty roaster break up

	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
Room Attendant 1	OFF	Morning	Morning	Morning	Morning	Morning	Morning
Room Attendant 2	Morning	OFF	Morning	Morning	Morning	Morning	Morning
Room Attendant 3	Morning	Morning	OFF	Morning	Morning	Morning	Morning
Room Attendant 4	Morning	Morning	Morning	OFF	Morning	Morning	Morning
Room Attendant 5	Morning	Morning	Morning	Morning	OFF	Morning	Morning
Room Attendant 6	Morning	Morning	Morning	Morning	Morning	OFF	Morning
Room Attendant 7 ( Reliever)	Morning	Morning	Morning	Morning	Morning	Morning	OFF

# For every 6 room attendant, 1 room attendant is required as reliever ( considering 6 working days a week)

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.

Thumb rules for determining staff strength

· Executive housekeeper: 1 for a 300 room property

· Assistant housekeepers: 2 (1 per morning and evening shift)

· Floor supervisors: 1 per 60 rooms for the morning shift; 1 for the evening shift; 1 for the night shift.

· Public area supervisors: 1 for each shift

· Linen/uniform room supervisors: 1

· Room attendants: 1 per 16 rooms for the morning shift; 1 per 30 rooms for the evening shift (if turn down service is provided)

· Linen and uniform room attendants: 2

· Housemen: depends on the size of public areas and functions expected, but on average, 1 per 60 rooms

· Desk attendants: 1 per shift

· Tailors/upholsterers: 2 (may differ depending on the size of the hotel)

· Horticulturist: 1

· Head gardeners: 1 per 20 horticulturists

· Gardeners: 1 per 4500 sq. ft of landscaped area

1) Plan the requirement of room attendant and floor supervisor for a 300 room 5 star hotel with 80% occupancy .Give the staff requirement for all 3 shifts by considering the following:

a) It is a business hotel

b) Located in the city

c) 14 rooms are done by a room boy and floor supervisor checks 60 rooms per shift.

Assume and indicate any other factors to justify your answer.

Answer :

TOTAL ROOM COUNT : 300 ROOMS

80% OCCUPANCY = 300 x 80/100 = 240 OCCUPIED ROOM.

Morning Shift :

Room attendant : 14 rooms per shift (given).

240 room property = 240/14 = 17 room attendant

( considering 6 working day in a week , 1 reliever is required for every 6 room attendant )

Reliever : 17 room attendant / 6 = 3 room attendant

Supervisor : 60 rooms per shift.

240 room property : = 240/60 = 4 supervisor.

( considering 6 working day in a week , 1 reliever is required for every 6 Supervisor )

Reliever : 4 supervisor / 6 = 1 Supervisor ( over lapping with afternoon & night shift)

Afternoon shift :

Room attendant : 50 rooms per shift (only turndown service + required departure)

240 room property = 240/50 = 5 room attendant

Reliever = 1 room attendant

Supervisor : 80 rooms per shift.

240 room property : = 240/80 = 3 supervisor. (checking turndown service+ clearing departure+Public area round + laundry Check)

Night shift :

Room attendant : 80 rooms per shift . ( only departure + GUEST CALL & Amenities request)

240 room property = 240/80 = 3 room attendant

Reliever : 1 room attendant

Supervisor : 120 rooms per shift.

240 room property : = 240/120 = 2 supervisor. (clearing departure + public area round)

Total room attendant : (Morning Shift+ Afternoon shift+ Night shift )

= 17 +5 +3 = 25 room attendant + 5 reliever = 30 room attendant

Total Floor supervisor : (Morning Shift+ Afternoon shift+ Night shift )

= 4 +3+ 2 = 9 Supervisor + 1 reliever = 10 supervisor

INCASE Number of rooms done by a room attendant not given ,

Do necessary assumption.

Example :

Morning Shift

9 working hour for room attendant = 540 min

Break timing (briefing+tea+lunch+handover) = 90 min

Actual working hour (540 min – 90 min) = 450 min.

Assuming that it takes 30 min to make a departure room.

Total rooms made by a room attendant = 450min / 30 min = 15 rooms.

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Standard operating manuals-Job procedures (SOP’s)