Why do hotel teams in Seychelles leave their jobs?
People leave Seychelles hotel jobs for ordinary reasons that pile up: rosters that change at the last minute, no clear path to the next role, a supervisor who only speaks to them when something goes wrong, and a rival property offering a slightly better package across the bay.
Ask leavers at the end of their notice period and the word salary comes up, of course. Keep listening. A housekeeping attendant on Mahé will talk about the shift that changed three times in one week, and the ferry or the family dinner she missed each time. A commis chef will mention the sous-chef post that went to an outside hire, without anyone telling him what he was missing for the job. On an island where colleagues meet at church, at football, at the market in Victoria, these stories travel fast. A property gets a reputation, and recruitment gets harder long before the next vacancy is posted.
Does raising pay solve hotel turnover?
Pay matters, and a property that pays below its neighbours will lose people whatever its managers do. A raise on its own rarely holds a team for long. Once salaries are broadly comparable, staff compare rosters, respect, training and promotion chances, and those comparisons decide who stays for the next high season.
A general manager cannot rewrite the pay scale every quarter, and in Seychelles the package includes things money only partly covers: transport after a late shift, meals on duty, staff housing for colleagues from Praslin or La Digue. What a frontline manager controls is the daily experience around the pay. Two hotels can offer similar money and keep very different numbers of people, because one manager publishes fair rosters, says thank you by name, and fights for a training place for a promising colleague, while the other cancels days off by text message.
Which non-financial levers motivate a hotel team day to day?
Recognition that names the person and the act, rosters published early and kept stable, a visible route to the next role, training that leads somewhere, a say in how the work is organised, and a manager who removes obstacles. Our motivate and engage programme works through twelve non-financial levers, and properties usually find their weakest two within an hour.
Take recognition. « Good job, team » at the end of a banquet costs nothing and changes nothing, because nobody knows what they did right. « Marie noticed the guest was nervous about the boat trip and walked her to reception to rebook it, that is the standard » takes twenty seconds, and the whole team hears what good looks like. Or take rosters. Publishing them ten days ahead lets a colleague plan a christening, a medical appointment, a trip to see family on another island. Stability is a form of respect people can hold in their hands, and they repay it during high season, when the property needs flexibility most.
How can a frontline manager build motivation into the week?
Motivation becomes a routine when a manager holds four short rituals: a five minute briefing that sets one standard, a weekly one to one with each direct report, feedback given the same day, and one piece of recognition by name before the weekend. None of this needs a budget.
The one to one is where most managers flinch, so keep it short and regular. Fifteen minutes, standing if you like, two questions: what went well this week, and what is getting in your way? Then remove one obstacle before the next conversation, a broken trolley, a missing key, a clash with another department. Colleagues judge the ritual on that removal. Our frontline management programme trains these habits in the order a supervisor meets them on the floor: standards, feedback, one to ones, delegation, and communication adapted to each colleague. Small rituals, done every week, beat a big motivational speech in January that nobody remembers by March.
What should a manager do when a valued colleague starts to disengage?
Act in the first fortnight, while the colleague still cares enough to be disappointed. Ask what has changed, listen without defending the roster or the pay scale, agree one concrete fix together, and check back a week later. Mediation helps when tension with a colleague sits behind the withdrawal.
Picture a senior waiter on Mahé, twelve years in the same restaurant, who starts arriving exactly on time instead of early, and stops helping the trainees. A weak manager calls it attitude. A better one sits down with him and hears that the new supervisor, half his age, corrects him in front of guests. The fix costs nothing: corrections in private, and his experience used openly, he runs the wine training for the new season. When the cause sits deeper, a personal setback, a stalled career, a conflict that has hardened, executive and team coaching gives the conversation a structure and a follow-up, with a coaching plan the colleague helps to write. Waiting is the expensive option. By the time the resignation letter arrives, that waiter has usually been gone for a month.
How do you know turnover is falling for the right reasons?
Watch three numbers each month: resignations among staff in their first ninety days, absence on rostered weekends, and internal promotions filled from the team. When early resignations drop and supervisors start coming from inside, retention work is paying off. A quiet team that has stopped applying elsewhere out of habit is a different signal, and a weaker one.
The first ninety days tell you about onboarding. If new starters leave before their first season ends, the problem sits in week one: unclear standards, no buddy, a supervisor too busy to explain. Weekend absence tells you about rosters and fairness, the two subjects every team discusses when managers leave the room. Internal promotions tell you whether your best people see a future under your roof or a future across the bay. Start with one team, the department that loses the most people, and work the rituals above for one full season. Then compare. Properties that do this stop treating turnover as weather, something that happens to them, and start treating it as a result they produce, week after week. Tell us about your team and where it hurts most, and we will start there.
Alain Palacios is the founder of ABP Hospitality. He trains hospitality managers and teams in Seychelles in frontline management, team motivation, luxury service codes, the Enneagram and DISC, and he coaches executives and teams on the island and beyond.