Practical Questions for Incident Preparedness BY AMY L . TRACY
Being prepared for an incident starts well before any report is filed , before any hiring decision made and before facility doors are even unlocked . If you are a corporate entity , preparation may be guided by Legal and HR teams , but smaller or independently owned locations may need additional guidance . In any case , there is much to consider when attempting to anticipate what information and protocols may be most helpful in preparing for the future . Below is a set of questions that can help generate ideas for the kinds of things you should consider as you make those preparations . It ’ s not comprehensive , but it does provide guidance that will likely be helpful as you get started .
q Is there an employee handbook with acknowledgements ? q Do you have spa protocols and a menu of services ? q How in-depth are they ? q What is the hiring process ? q How many interviews do you conduct before hiring ? q What qualifications are required ? Particularly in a post-COVID world where the hospitality industry has been decimated ? q What interview questions do you ask ? q Are you doing background checks ? q Are you doing reference checks ? q Are you doing practical evaluations ? q Is your paperwork in order before the employee starts work ? q Have you verified the appropriate licenses ? Do you have a copies of them in your files ? q Do you have a Union Agreement ? q Do you have a schedule ? Do you have tenure figured out ? Do you understand skill sets ? q What does your onboarding look like ? What is your orientation process ? q Beyond general orientation , do you have spa-specific onboarding ? ( If you don ’ t , you should .) q Do you have a sexual assault policy ? For guests ? For coworkers ? q Do you have a sexual harassment policy ? For guests ? For coworkers ? q Who keeps the employee paperwork ? q Does the spa director have a file ? q Does HR ? q Do you have separate incident files ? q What is your documentation policy ? For instance , if a guest doesn ’ t like his or her service , do you put mention of it in the file ? Complaints are subjective but people are litigious . q What is your document retention policy ? Do things get scanned into a program somewhere or do you have a bunch of scrap paper wadded up in the corner of a bookshelf ? q Do you have comment cards ? What do you do with them ? Do they go in employee files , or do they get put somewhere else ? How long do you keep them ? What if there is a negative comment ? How is it handled ? q When you are given feedback , what is the chain of command ? For instance , if concierge is told , “ I didn ’ t like my treatment ,” is there any follow up ? By whom ? In what time frame ? Is it done verbally or in writing ? Is there any documentation that follow up was completed ? Have the members of your team been trained on this process ? Is it done the same way every time ? n
42 PULSE • MAY / JUNE 2022