were unveiled yesterday.

Members of Bermuda's Tourism Competitiveness Programme (BTCP) outlined the work a group of hotel managers and union representatives have been toiling on for the past six months under the banner of Hotel 2000.

Monitor Company's Steve Searfoss -- a BTCP member -- said a key initiative resulting from this work was the formation of the Bermuda Association of Human Resource Development.

The organisation is made up of the human resource directors from the Island's eight major hotels.

BAHRD secretary and Marriott's Castle Harbour Resort human resource director Lorrita Tucker-Simmons said the group's initial aim was to improve their human resource departments and eventually expand their work to other companies.

Two key developments have been regular meetings with the Departments of Immigration and Education and the Bermuda Employers Council to improve knowledge of each area's workings.

And BAHRD has identified the importance of mentors within the hospitality industry.

Ms Tucker-Simmons said employees who joined the hotel industry as a first-choice option often had some form of mentor who guided them through their careers while those who "fell into'' the industry tended to make their own way.

BAHRD wanted to encourage the development of this mentoring theme by identifying experienced employees who were willing to teach and train others around them.

At the same time it wanted to make sure those employees who were hungry for knowledge were being kept happy with a continual supply of opportunities.

Mr. Searfoss said talks had also been held with the Bermuda College in a bid to get educational and certification programmes up and running.

And talks are underway with hotels on the possibility of introducing demand forecasting.

This scheme would see hotels sharing employees in a bid to ensure steady work for their staff and adequate service to meet their guests' requirements.

For instance, a hotel with a large function and inadequate numbers of staff could take staff from another hotel with less work to handle the event.

Also in the works are plans for an employee feedback survey to gauge how employees feel about their job satisfaction, prospects, communication channels with one another and training.

These figures would be used to compile a national average which hotels could compare themselves against.

In outlining the work of Hotel 2000, Mr. Searfoss stressed the six manager/union representative task forces were trying to improve the Island's work force by: Empowering employees to offer the services the Island's guests want; Defining employee job roles and career paths; Improving employee compensation and benefits; Improving employee recruitment methods; Developing employee skills; and Improving grievance and discipline procedures.

These areas have been deemed by the BTCP as needing a boost in order to improve the Island's human capital or workforce, an area Boston-based Monitor identified as an essential component in the battle plan to revitalise the Island's struggling tourism industry which is generating a third less wealth for the Island now than it did ten years ago.

The development of `human capital', as opposed to the improvement of the Island's physical product, can be done in two ways which are most effective when carried out together.

The first is to change employee roles from being simple duties to more complex roles which allows them to meet visitor needs quicker. The second is to redefine the relationship between employers and employees from one paying the other for work done to both sides aiming for mutual improvement.