Challenger Services Group announced as ETC’s Employer of the Month

Training, mentoring and encouragement are key to attracting and retaining good staff according to Challenger Services Group Queensland General Manager Allan Mitnovestsky.

The national company provides an outsourced staffing solution to the hospitality, food production and facility services industries.

“We employ over 2,000 people nationally.  In Qld we employ approximately 400 staff, including about 120 in housekeeping just on the Gold Coast,” Mr Mitnovestsky said.

“Clients outsource whole departments to us such as housekeeping, cleaning, security, and food production. Rather than employing the staff themselves we provide the staff to them on a long term or semi-permanent basis. We de-risk the staffing process for them.  This involves managing staff, payroll, workers compensation, performance management and recruitment. There’s a lot of work that goes into managing staff and we take all of those headaches away for our clients.

“It’s our core business, for example, to clean the rooms in a hotel. Whereas it’s our client’s core business to sell the hotel rooms. They get to concentrate on what they do best – selling the rooms. We get to concentrate on what we do best – cleaning the rooms.”

Challenger Services Group was recently named ETC’s Employer of the Month.

“We strive to be good employers,” Mr Mitnovestsky said.

“One of the ways we encourage and retain our staff is by providing a good workplace environment. It’s not just about the pay check. It’s all the peripheral benefits that they receive such as encouragement, mentoring, training and working in a fun environment. We like people to get up in the morning and feel that they are doing something worthwhile.

“There are good staff out there. You just have to persevere. You also have to manage your own expectations. No one comes to you fully ready to embrace what you‘re trying to achieve. It’s a partnership with that staff member. You have to help them understand the outcomes you are trying to achieve. You have to support them through that process and you have to be patient.”

Mr Mitnovestsky said a training and recruitment partnership with ETC was helping Challenger Services Group maintain a “pipeline” of good quality staff.

“An integral part of our business is to deliver the best possible staff to our clients. It’s hard to get good staff as everybody would appreciate and it’s hard to keep good staff. We run programs in partnership with ETC where we have cohorts of 10 potential staff members coming through where we have them on site training and working within a hotel environment. We give them an opportunity to prove themselves and then offer permanent/part-time employment to anyone that impresses us with their motivation, dedication and enthusiasm.”

When recruiting staff Mr Mitnovestsky said he was looking for staff who were highly motivated and focussed on planning a career.

“We are looking for people who are prepared to start at the bottom and are prepared to work hard. We don’t want staff that see a job with us just as a stop-gap measure. We’re looking for people who think I need this job because I’m trying to build my career and create a better me.”

If you’re in the hospitality, food production or facility services industries and are looking for an outsourced staffing solution, contact Challenger Services Group on 1300 248 249.

If you are interested in training and recruitment services contact ETC.