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90% Employee Certification Achieved by the Pictou Lodge Resort

Since 1997, Alan Bossé has been the general manager of the Pictou Lodge Resort in Pictou, Nova Scotia. He found the Pictou Lodge resort while on sightseeing on vacation with his family. It was a love at first sight! Alan decided he wanted to stay and work at the resort permanently.

Alan explains that the resort prides itself in offering their visitors a unique and wonderful experience. That’s why for him, as the general manager, quality of service his guests receive is the number one priority.

Above and beyond the Call of Duty

Lisa Dahr is one of Alan’s senior employees. Lisa is an emerit-certified Tourism Trainer. She says that Alan values the importance of a friendly work environment and believes that managers often forget that people work better and more efficiently if they have fun and enjoyment at their workplace. 

According to Alan, his employee management philosophy is simple: never ask an employee to do something you are not willing to do yourself. He believes that this method puts things in perspective for himself and for his staff. His staff can always rely on him to help out in the kitchen, in the dining room, at the reception – everywhere help may be needed.

Alan’s model is “Go above and beyond the call of duty”.  It says everything about the level of service the Pictou Lodge resort strives to offer to their customers and guests.

Alan finds that the employees at the resort are as passionate about their work as he is. They truly understand and appreciate what hospitality is all about. Alan believes that a lot of it is has to do with the fact that the resort’s management has gone through the extra effort of getting their staff emerit-certified.

Alan on the Importance of Certification

Alan instills in his staff the importance of being emerit-certified. He is convinced that professional certification gives employees a sense of accomplishment and recognition. It helps people take pride in what they do.

Alan introduced the certification requirement at the resort when he first took over the property eight years ago. Today, the resort has 27 positions that are certifiable, and 24 staff members are certified. The remaining three are either in their first year or getting ready to be certified.

Alan attests to a remarkable difference in his employees’ performance once they go through the certification program. All employees who had gone through the certification program attest to learning much more that they initially expected. On-the-job training can never touch upon everything that there is to know.

Certification is a Simple Way to Motivate Employees

The emerit certification program is nationally recognized. Employees know that once they get certified, their certification is recognized for all of Canada, not only in Nova Scotia, and that makes a world of difference. People find that it is a great investment.

“Good management is about educating the employees on how important their tasks are and how much of a difference they can make. Once you’ve done that, you’ve won them for life, they’ll respect you,” says Alan.

Alan’s approach proved to be very effective. The Pictou Lodge resort averages an 8% turnover rate per year.

Not Investing in Your Employees is Expensive

Alan thinks that too many companies are making a mistake of not investing in their people. In Alan’s view, this is one of the main reasons why so many hospitality establishments constantly fight the battle of having to replace their employees and train new ones. The replacement and training process is extremely expensive. It is a lot of work to train a new employee from the ground up. And what’s more important, it has an adverse affect on the level of service your customers receive from hastily trained employees.

“Without a doubt, the main reason why we are so successful is because we enrolled in emerit certification programs for all our employees,” says Alan

Alan is convinced that if business owners and operators do not enroll in a professional certification program for their employees, they will not be successful in the hospitality industry in the long term.

To be successful in the hospitality industry, to provide a high level of customer service, and to keep your employees happy and reduce turnover, you need to be on the certification program. You need to use emerit.

Find out what you need to become emerit certified

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