Corporate training in hospitality industry: the case of Russia

The article outlines the need to restructure the personnel management system in connection with the transformation of modern business. Corporate training plays important role in improving business efficiency. The article reveals the main stage of corporate training evolution in Russia. Corporate training is vital for the hospitality industry, as it allows maintaining uniform service standards, creating a competitive advantage for the hotel, and reducing staff turnover. At the same time, few enterprises in the industry are willing to spend time and money on staff development through corporate training programs and tend to turn to the labor market in search of specialists with the required level of knowledge, rather than train them themselves. To identify modern trends and business demand for corporate education, the article provides a study among managers of small and medium-sized hotel enterprises. The survey was based on two blocks of questions - a closed type and open one; and 318 hotel enterprises throughout the Russian Federation took part in it. The first block of questions was aimed at identifying the corporate training programs at enterprises and the reasons for their absence. Further, the heads of enterprises, who use corporate training, were asked to take part in in-depth interview and answer the questions of the second block. The survey results show that employers and educational organizations today are faced with the task of transitioning the existing system of personnel retraining and improving their qualifications from long-term and voluminous forms to short educational intensives, using modern trends such as gamification, immersive technologies, the communication component of education, etc.