Employee motivation and satisfaction practices – the case of Iceland

Tourism in Iceland has grown massively, in terms of arrivals and revenue in the past few years and is now one of the largest sectors of employment in the country. In such a fast moving industry it is necessary for companies to secure employee satisfaction and motivation in order to influence staff turnover and customer satisfaction. The aim of this research is bringing a better understanding of what practices and tools are in place that drive job motivation and satisfaction amongst front-desk employees at Icelandic hotels, and what role HRM plays to ensure that. Semi-structured interviews were conducted both with managers and front-desk employees at four different hotels in Iceland, belonging to the same hotel chain. Findings suggest that there is a great need for improvement when it comes to employee motivation and satisfaction practises. No universal approach or system is in place from the HRM department to ensure and improve front-desk job satisfaction or job motivation. The practices that are already applied are developed mostly by hotel management, and differ among hotels within the researched hotel chain. HRM department also seems to be somewhat distant from the everyday running of the hotels, since neither managers nor front-desk employees have knowledge or understanding of the department’s role and barely feel its presence. Key words: Front-desk employees, Job satisfaction and motivation, Human Resource Management, Hospitality, Tourism, Icelan