The good news is that the COVID-19 pandemic is just about over in the U.S.
The bad news is that many companies are having a difficult time hiring people to return to the workforce.
“The labor shortage is affecting every single industry from Goleta to Carpinteria,” said Kristen Miller, president and CEO of the South Coast Santa Barbara Chamber of Commerce.
More than 50 business owners and others gathered Monday for a virtual meeting to discuss the difficulties restaurants, the hospitality industry, and other sectors are facing in trying to hire back employees traumatized from layoffs during the pandemic.
It’s a problem across the nation.
“In the 10 years I have been in the hospitality business, I have never seen a labor crisis like the one we are dealing with today,” said Sherry Villanueva, president of ACME Hospitality.
Villanueva, who owns several restaurants, including The Lark, said she is hiring for every single position across all her entities, including hotels and restaurants.
She’s said she’s been struggling to find not only qualified candidates, but any candidates at all. It’s a situation shared by many in the industry, she said.
Many higher-skilled, management employees have left the hospitality industry altogether.
“The trauma, if you will, of the last 16 months that we have experienced was very intense for a lot of people, and has sort of led them to other industries, such as tech and some of the industries that have had a little more stability,” Villanueva said.
Other factors are at play as well.
Some workers, Villanueva said, are uncomfortable returning to a job that involves interacting with so many people. And some are still receiving unemployment benefits.
“We have several people really just sitting out, waiting, very comfortable on unemployment,” she said. “The have been very comfortable there for the past 16 months, and they are just waiting it out. Until it’s not as comfortable there, there’s not a large incentive there to return, particularly to hospitality jobs, that are very hard work, very long hours, very grueling, and it has been a challenge to recruit them back into the mix.”
Villanueva said she has tried everything possible, “short of me in a chicken suit waving a sign on the corner.”
The pandemic may have changed the workplace forever.
Trish Miller, owner of Spherion staffing, called the current conditions “unprecedented.”
She suggested employers offer starting and staying bonuses, competitive pay rates, more training and development, recognize and reward achievements, and promote from within.
She urged employers to focus on retention of employees because it is much harder to hire then retain.
In addition, she said, flexible schedules are key and suggested moving employees to the shift that works best for them.
“When I started working, you had to be to work at 8 and had to stay until 5 and went to lunch from 12 to 1,” Miller said. “We just don’t do business like that anymore. We help people out, whether they have to drop people off at school or leave early to coach.”
In addition, some employers have dropped bachelor’s degree requirements for jobs where they are not required, and no longer do background checks or drug screenings. Looking at job histories is also something to reconsider, she said.
“I know in the past people have looked at job hoppers and wouldn’t consider them. Now you have to be able to consider everyone,” Miller said. “There’s a reason why people leave jobs. You just have to look at people you wouldn’t normally look at in the past.”
Employers also need to make offers and hire quicker than in the past.
Josh Williams, an economist, said no one knows what the recovery is going to look like. It’s going to take at least 6-12 months to fully understand the changes.
“We can’t lay off employees and then expect them all to come back,” he said.
Williams, too, said that big companies will change and look to alternative business models.
“One of the real opportunities that Santa Barbara has is you are going to see a change in where big businesses locate, particularly with the catalyst toward a lot of online work,” Williams said. “Quality of life will be an important determinate of where businesses want to be.
“They want people who are smart and live where they want to live, and that is one of Santa Barbara’s strengths.”
— Noozhawk staff writer Joshua Molina can be reached at jmolina@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
