NWPC modifies SQ program for hotel and restaurant sector
The National Wages and Productivity Commission is introducing modifications to its service quality program to boost the hotel and restaurant sector.
“The NWPC, which spearheads the SQ Program, has revisited and revised the sessions in the SQ training module to enhance workforce knowledge and skills so that workers can provide hotel and restaurant clients “error-free” service,” NWPC Executive Director Ciriaco Lagunzad said.
The revision/modification is part of the NWPC’s efforts to enhance workers’ skills which is a priority objective of the Department of Labor and Employment.
The modification was proposed after an evaluation by program beneficiaries showed that some aspects of the module can still be improved to be more useful and relevant to clients’ needs.
From February 2009 to June 2010, the SQ program, aimed at enhancing the competitiveness of the country’s tourism sector, benefited 414 standard hotels and restaurants with a combined workforce of 1,893.
Based on the preliminary evaluation, the SQ program has resulted in positive impact in terms of leveling up service standards and improving services delivery, establishing open and smooth flow of communication among peers and between supervisors, and improving customer relations, among other beneficial effects.
These, in turn, resulted in attracting more hotel and restaurant customers, thus, bringing in more profit to owners, and providing workers additional perks on top of what they regularly receive.
Some of the modifications in the SQ program include further simplification of the module’s language and illustrations, clarification of some important concepts, such as service quality and “error-free” service, use of more structured learning experiences to enhance learning, and introduction of a simplified approach of handling customer complaints.
The revised module is currently being pilot-tested in Calamba, Laguna. Around 20 hotels/resorts and restaurants are participating in the pilot run. The modified SQ program will also be tested in Regions 3, 7 and the National Capital Region, with the results of the test to be utilized as inputs to the final revisions of the training module.
Lagunzad said the SQ Program is only one of many multi-sectoral strategic interventions aimed at further maximizing the competitiveness of the country’s tourism industry.
“We continue to enhance and upgrade the capacities of firms in the hotel and restaurant sector, knowing that the tourism industry serves as a driving force in the Philippine economy,” he said.*
