7. September 2023

How to improve Housekeeping's Collaboration and Communication

A well-run housekeeping team is essential to a successful hotel. With a team that is collaboration-driven and teamwork-oriented, the team can work together to achieve common goals. A good housekeeping team will be able to work effectively as a unit, communicating and coordinating their efforts to ensure that the hotel's housekeeping is of the highest quality.

As the manager of a hospitality business, it's critical to build a housekeeping team that delivers ultimate satisfaction to your guests. However, building a successful housekeeping team comes with its own unique set of challenges. Apart from multitasking, effective collaboration and efficient communication play a vital role in a housekeeping team’s success. A good housekeeping team is essential to a successful hotel, and by implementing the right strategies, it can be improved to meet the needs of the hotel. Here are some tips you can implement as a manager to improve collaboration and communication with your housekeeping team. 

Establish an inclusive communication process.

Housekeeping staff is what one would categorize as desk-less staff. These workers aren't sitting behind a desk or allocated a computer to work from. Chances are, most of these desk-less staff don't even have a company email ID to their name. To ensure your entire team is on the same page and prepared for effective collaboration, it's essential to establish an inclusive communication process – a central source of truth that is accessible by everyone across departments. 

When improving housekeeping team collaboration, ensuring everyone is on the same page is essential. This means that everyone understands the team's goals and their role. Additionally, team members need to be able to communicate clearly and efficiently. This way, everyone can work together to achieve the team's objectives. To achieve these goals, creating a cohesive environment that encourages teamwork and communication is essential. By doing this, housekeeping team collaboration can be improved significantly!

Improve work culture and boost morale.

A central platform where each staff member is updated with the latest developments, task assignments, and progress reports enables a healthy work culture where workers know precisely what needs to be done by whom and when. A central platform also eliminates the possibility of wrong multitasking and accidental duplication of work – which in turn propagates a stress-free work environment and boosts morale. Employees with an improved work environment are also more receptive to communication and easier to collaborate with. 

Provide easy access to training material.

A common obstacle faced when building a housekeeping team is staffing. Employee turnover is generally high in housekeeping teams, which requires frequent training of new and returning staff members. Organizing repeated training and orientation sessions can be cumbersome and distract you from more important tasks that may need your attention. Plus, new or returning employees may need time to absorb all the information being thrown at them, and a single training session may not be enough. Now, imagine an easy-to-access manual that you can update on the fly and have distributed instantly to all housekeeping team members. Any time an employee feels stuck, they can access the training material and continue their tasks without waiting or putting work on hold. 

A collaboration-driven housekeeping team can be improved by establishing clear communication channels and ensuring everyone understands their roles and responsibilities. Team members should also know the hotel's housekeeping policies and procedures to follow them correctly. In addition, team members should be trained to work as a cohesive unit to carry out their duties efficiently.

Explore new world-class team communication tools.

So how can you achieve all the above? By exploring a new world-class team communication tool designed specifically for building a better housekeeping team and a better work environment for them.  

To be effective, housekeeping teams need to be able to work together seamlessly. This is easier said than done, given that teams are often divided by departmental boundaries, and the individual members focus on their tasks. However, with the right tools and strategies, teams can overcome these barriers and achieve greater synergy. One way to accomplish this is through collaboration tools. These tools allow team members to share ideas and resources, and they also enable team members to communicate with each other more easily. In addition, video conferencing can help team members communicate face-to-face. These tools can help improve team collaboration and enable teams to achieve their goals more efficiently.

Set your housekeeping team up for success with Sweeply, an online tool that automates everyday tasks for all your desk-less staff. Sweeply's centralized organization and communication platform enable efficient collaboration, improving hospitality workers' productivity. This simple and easy-to-use platform creates an easily understood work environment and allows the hospitality manager to control their staff's workload better while getting feedback more efficiently.