Ill-trained graduates plague
sea-based hospitality business
The Philippines is losing the best people in the hospitality business faster than it is training one.
While the local supply of HRM and culinary arts graduates is abundant to the point of being saturated, not all are trained enough and are dedicated enough to build a career in the business, especially those who will do it at sea.
Chef Giovasco C. Barlao, vice president and head of operations of Magsaysay Institute of Hospitality and Culinary Arts (MIHCA), said that while the Philippines churn out graduates by the thousands in the hospitality business, not all are trained properly for the job especially those who want to work on board cruise ships.
"They sometimes lack the hard skills," said Barlao, adding that some of them are ill prepared for the stressful demands of the job on board.
"Working on board tends to be tougher in comparison to working in hotels. The volume is more and is relatively more consistent because guests stay with them longer as short as 7 days to as long as 3 weeks," Barlao said.
At any given time, a cruise ship that has about 3,500 guests on board would require some 1,500 staff on board, including entertainers, and casino dealers. This is almost 1:2 ratio of staff to guests which are usually on vacation enjoying the perks and want to be served hand and foot.
Barlao estimates that 500 to 2,000 Filipino crew per cruise company are pooled. Filipinos make up about 20 to 30 percent of the staff of Carnival Cruise Lines, one of the world’s biggest cruise companies.
According to Barlao, demand for competent workers is growing and each company is seeking more and more for Filipinos. Filipinos are now prolific in the deck and engine, hotels services, housekeeping, kitchen and restaurant departments, or practically in all of the departments.
"Generally, not just for ship workers, Filipinos are sought after. Based on our experience, we rank amongst the most sought-after employees on board the ship because we are good natured, hard working and we have a very good command of the English language. There is a shortage of jobs locally but there is a growing demand outside the Philippines," he said.
Barlao said there is constant demand for hospitality workers such as housekeeping, restaurant and kitchen personnel. Some of the crew would end up in other countries such as Austrailia, Canada and the US predominantly because of their need to find a better life with their families that they don’t experience when they are on board.
Depending on the department and the company, on average the highest turnover are from the kitchen department because of the stress related to the job.
Barlao said poaching of talents is not new in the industry but it has been especially more prevalent now that the economies of other countries are picking up. Demand from countries like Singapore, Australia and China is back.
Barlao also cited lack of standards both on the training side and the facilities side as factors that hamper the capabilities of workers on deck.
"Training is not as extensive as before. Some have tended to glamorize the hospitality business when it is actually not, especially if one is working on a cruise liner," he said.
"The problem really is how to select people. Even if we have a saturated market, we lose the best ones," he added.
Pay-wise, the rates of Filipino crew are higher than their local land-based counterparts. Cruise liners usually pay more to cover for their staff on board’s cost of living.
But compared to land based, sea-based workers almost live for free and their salaries are tax-free.
By standards, Barlao said, contracts are short as six months to eight months then the crewmember takes a vacation for a month or two . Because of the crisis, some of the contracts now are longer.
Consider the odds. A cook’s salary on board is double than his land-based counterpart.
A sous chef in a five-star hotel earns about P50,000 per month, plus service charges that could run up to more than P30,000. A sous chef on board can earn 2,500 euros. According to Barlao, not many Filipinos land the high officer rank, which are usually reserved for Europeans.
There are few executive chefs and executive maitre. Filipinos also compete with other nationalities for jobs on cruise ships such as the Indians, Southern Americans and Eastern European. In Asia, some of the competitors are the Chinese and the Malaysians but Filipinos are still dominant.
Barlao said to build a career in hospitality, especially for sea-based, the candidate should be firm and must have the discipline to survive the challenges of shipboard work.
Over at MIHCA which is one of the pioneer institutes set up for sea-based workers, training is focused on the position, very basic and career geared.
Offering courses in hospitality, food and beverage, housekeeping and culinary, MIHCA takes in about 70 to 80 students per month. A program runs as long as 7 months for culinary and as short as 5 months for hospitality such as room attendants, bar waiters etc.
At MIHCA, about 80 percent of the students are set to build a career on board.
Eighty-percent of the training time is spent in laboratories, real-time through a regimented set of modules.
"We’re very downline," Barlao said.
MIHCA is a 3-year-old company that has been very focused on upgrading the Filipino worker to better survive the competitive global industry.
The Johnson and Wales University certificate programs at MIHCA ensure that students apply their learning immediately.
MIHCA’s affiliation with the other learning units of the Magsaysay Group of Companies ensures that graduates can avail of supplemental upgrading and certificate courses for the maritime profession at the Magsaysay Training Center and the Magsaysay Institute of Shipping (Cavite). Available through Magsaysay Global Services in Manila and Star of Asia in Bacolod are healthcare certification programs. MIHCA also offers tourism courses certified by the International Air Transport Association.