AGGREY NSHEKANABO: Should organisations continue to train staff? What if you train them and they leave?

I will use a personal business example to drive the point home. On 1st June 2023, Naalya Motel will be three years! Probably you know that already. One of our biggest challenges has been human resources retention. When we consulted senior colleagues in the industry, they said; “You aren’t seeing anything yet!” We were told the hospitality industry is dependent on young people who are agile, energetic, outgoing but also impressionable. While they have these good qualities, they are very mobile and job stability is not their thing.

In fact, one industry player used the analogy of a male pig. “You see, young people are like pigs. And we have all been young. When God was creating the pig, there was a mirror before it. God had not finished its creation. He was still moulding it. But when it saw itself. When a voice came from its snout, it bolted out of God’s workshop. That is why, it squeals and grants. God had not completed its voice but it felt that was enough. It has the tiniest tail and then its testicles are on top of hindquarters. It was running away without them, and God just tossed them, and they landed on top of its anus. Otherwise, most animals have their testicles between their legs. They will not wait until they are refined” He said.

Yet even those who come from training institutions do not come with the requisite skills. They are certificate hawkers. You will be lucky to find one with the required skills who will keep the job for more than six months. If you have gone to a lodge or motel or hotel (oh! all these are different by the way), and in the last 6 months you have met the same staff; waiter, housekeeper, chef, then give it to management for a stellar job and that hotel or lodge is not young.

So, if that is the case, where the industry has less skilled people and are difficult to retain, what does one do? The answer was brutal; “Keep training! Do not get tired” But we have trained so many and the moment they get a quarter of the skills required in service, they leave. “No problem. Recruit more and train” And where will the chain end? It drains. 

“What if you do not train and they stay?” Was the brutal response. “You rather train, and they leave than not training and they stay and have horrible service” said Peter Rujabuka of Kibaale Riverside Camp and Nguse Riverside Camp. Rujabuka has been in this business since 2017.

According to Robert Byakutaga of Kazinga Wilderness and Safari Camp in Katunguru, if you are this business and you are not hands on, you better have deep pockets to hire people to do the dirty work for you. “I was at one time a chef, a cleaner, a waiter and housekeeper. Good enough, I knew what to do. And so, when an individual comes around, I train them, when they want to leave, I let them go”

My unanswered question was “When will this end?” And Robert’s answer was extremely comforting. “They may not say how grateful they are to Naalya Motel, but wherever they go they will know you made them or contributed to who they have become. That is the power of small enterprises like yours. You are a conveyer belt that skills the unskilled and polishes the unpolished,

“I am sure, you are not employed by your first employer when you were rough. Someone polished you and then you moved on. But also, these young people have needs that a place like Naalya Motel cannot meet. It means you are outgrown not that you are a bad a employer or you are not good enough,”

And its true. Some of our former staff are happily employed in bigger hotels and lodges and recently, when I went to a city-based Country Club, one of our former Chefs was manning the food points. And she was happy to see me, and she said, “Papa, you are here?” She ensured our table was well catered for. Before I forget, even some of them will not respect the contracts. They will move.

Aggrey is the team leader at Naalya Motel, retired travel journalist; aggrey@kyamburasafaris.com

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