May 9, 2017 – In response to requests from industry operations professionals, human resources executives and hiring managers, AETHOS Consulting Group has launched an unprecedented global study to uncover the "X-factor" in hospitality employees using the latest psychometric testing. In this dynamic era of consolidation and disruption, it is anticipated that the most successful non-management employees in hospitality have a unique and specific combination of core competencies, characteristics and attitudes compared to other team members or even to the skill sets of earlier workforces. AETHOS is testing these ideas with the cooperation of a multidisciplinary research team, industry advisory board and multiple hospitality organizations around the world, including Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts, Penn National Gaming and Extended Stay Hotels. The research studies organizations in the hotel, restaurant, casino-gaming, travel-tourism and timeshare sectors.
Study lead and AETHOS Consulting Group Managing Director Jim Houran, Ph.D., said, "'Hire for attitude and train for skill' is a common HR mantra, but to date no one has cracked the psychometric code for attitude, or what we call the ‘X-factor.’"
The new study also intends to use the psychometric results in the development of new predictive algorithms based in AI (artificial intelligence), which will help organizations screen and select candidates more efficiently and effectively than is possible today.
Adds AETHOS Managing Director Michael Kainatsky, "this is a one-of-a-kind solution that aims directly at solving one of the biggest issues plaguing the service-hospitality industry – a 70% turnover rate. Our findings will give critical information to employers at earlier stages of the hiring process, which can reduce the time-to-hire and avoid the financial costs of bad hires. Once this study is complete, the findings are certain to be a game-changer."
AETHOS expects to have the study complete and results available in Q3 of 2017.
20|20 AssessSM, a wholly owned subsidiary of AETHOS Consulting Group, is the proprietary suite of hospitality-specific HR and leadership software for performance management. The 20|20 AssessSM surveys include: 20|20 SkillsTM – a hospitality-specific competency assessment for use across the employment cycle and different employee levels; Employee Opinion Surveys – the industry-validated and benchmarked survey gauging integrity, partnership, entrepreneurship, service-branding and reality issues; and the 360-Degree Review – an evaluation that compares an individual's self-assessment to performance feedback from multiple sources.
For more information, contact Dr. Jim Houran at jhouran@aethoscg.com or Michael Kainatsky at mkainatsky@aethoscg.com.
