It is time to place away the myths about service and make stronger arguments for it's importance.
We will have all heard the arguments that the UK sees service as not respected enough.
In a report by the mental health foundation in Scotland, it was noted that 75% of adults believed that it is important we build a kinder society. More than 60% noted that kindness has a positive impact on mental health.
66% noted that their own actions can have a positive impact on the mental health of others. As over 25% of young people all across the UK do suffer from anxiety; this is important.
All valid points so the natural extension is to suggest that great service too can impact on the anxiety and stress of those they care for. It has, for too long, been a piece of the jigsaw not understood well enough. We will have all heard the arguments that the UK sees service is not respected enough; that service is seen to be almost servile. It is an easy and simplistic argument to make as service can play an important role in how it impacts on others.
As EP noted last week, there are growing reports that those businesses which invested in their welcome and reception services were seeing the higher numbers of returns. Great service plays an important role which goes beyond the visible and maybe now is the time to recognise this once and for all. It is time to place away the myths once and for all.
It has long been seen as a sadness that so many students are lost from the great hospitality schools to other industries. It is seen as the industry losing those talents, rather than other industries wanting to compete for those skills. Hospitality skills, - maybe most especially empathy, care for others and service - are seen as a premium skillset for the modern market.
Hospitality, of course, is being badly impacted and damaged by the pandemic but it also has an opportunity to really show its value in how it acts as all rebuild. Covid will not be going away anytime soon but how the industry shows care for others can have a lasting impact. Research is also suggesting that many want to live in the moment and have experiences. How people are served will create those moments and experiences.
Service is anything but servile. Real care and kindness invests in the future maybe better than discount vouchers. It is time that many stand up for its importance for the skills of those who serve others and recognise that hospitality can impact in ways few others are able to.