Guest Post by Dr. Chesley Black, SVP of Global Workplace Experience Strategy & Innovation at SPS

Worldwide organizations today continue to wrestle with the best ways to retain talented employees, keep them productive and most importantly: connected to the workplace. In parallel, AI is being viewed as a panacea for streamlining repetitive functions and yielding productivity gains by automating work and detailed tasks.

As we reach a new crux of technology-driven innovation, it’s an exciting time to consider how organizations can continue to encourage human interaction and drive employee engagement. The hospitality mindset, which requires training and practice, can help create spaces where employees feel valued and find purpose.

This opportunity to innovate organizational processes has potential far beyond AI initiatives. Process innovation with a focus on face-to-face delivery and human services in the workplace still matters, and organizations can strive to strike a balance between both human-centered and AI-led initiatives.

Recent Gallup research on the employee experience showed strong evidence that high-engagement business units are likely to see higher productivity, profitability and sales than low-engagement units. In order to embody a hospitality mindset among workplace experience teams, hospitality training programs can help take the robotic edge off of an increasingly automated workplace experience.

Creating Meaningful Workplace Training Programs Will Help Your Business Meet Today’s Demands

As much as AI has helped simplify mundane tasks, Harvard Business Review points out a new challenge organizations are facing: more people retiring globally than in any previous year on record, which means that the most experienced employees are leaving organizations.

Inside organizations where AI has absorbed many of the tasks once done by interns and support teams, younger employees may not have the opportunity to develop the soft skills that soon-to-be retirees learned in early, pre-automation roles. Organizational training initiatives can help build these skills as new generations enter the workforce.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, although employers find core competencies like reading and writing fundamental, soft skills lead in value. The provision of ongoing, in-person training that is focused on the evolving skills and knowledge employees need is still a critical element of organizational culture, and may become more important than ever in the near future.

How to Improve Connection in the Workplace Through Hospitality-Focused Service

When employees at every level of the organization foster a hospitality mindset, a connected workplace flourishes. When employees from expert to novice feel welcomed in every corner of the office, trust and appreciation is built and employee engagement ensues.

This culture of connection can be cultivated through a thoughtful hospitality training model. The training program should take a head-on, all-hands-on-deck approach to equip each employee with the skills they need to provide exceptional service that creates welcoming places.

How to Get Started

The SHRM State of Global Workplace Culture reports that engagement is a critical indicator on whether talent stays with an organization, or decides to leave. By encouraging a more open exchange of information through mentorship, the workplace transforms from a competitive playing field into a robust learning environment.

As older generations experience a renewed sense of purpose in mentoring younger employees, younger generations can also find purpose through reverse mentorship. It can often be difficult to train-the-trainer, however, a culture of safety can help both parties embrace learning experiences.

Ultimately, this will help drive the engagement of the entire team and create a space where each individual feels their contributions are meaningful and impactful. This rise in engagement, renewed energy and sense of purpose toward the task at hand will result in increased productivity and sustained organizational growth.

Achieving the Post-Pandemic Swing Toward Sustained Growth

The forward-thinking nature of hospitality training programs will set organizations up for success. According to trend reports published by WORKTECH Academy, organizational strategy has shifted since 2024, from the survival tactics of the post-COVID years to the achievement of sustained growth once again.

As new generations integrate into the workforce — and older generations continue to retire — organizations will benefit from intentionally reconnecting with their talent and encouraging the open exchange of best practices and strategies from seasoned experts to newer employees. Organizations that encourage this culture of learning will create productive workplace environments — fueled by technology tools like AI and grounded in the continuity of the centuries old practice of mentorship.