How can employers win back lost talent?
Hospitality employees who were laid off during the pandemic have no plans to go back to their old jobs.
Why? It’s largely because of anger, according to new research.
A study from the University of Houston Conrad N. Hilton College of Global Hospitality Leadership discovered that it’s not fear of job security that drove former employees away.
"The results revealed that intentions to leave the industry were related to the anger felt from being unemployed from the hospitality industry," the research said.
Juan Madera, professor at Hilton College and one of the report's authors, attributed the anger to the industry's response to the pandemic, which was to carry out mass layoffs and rehire them when things return to normal.
"Your job, your livelihood is taken away, so a natural response is fear for your future," Madera said as quoted by the University of Houston. "But we found anger was a bigger driver in explaining why these workers aren't coming back. They were angry over how the industry responded to the pandemic."
The hospitality industry was one of the hardest-hit industries amid the pandemic, leaving thousands of employees retrenched to save costs as demand plunged. But with more nations and businesses reopening, many hospitality businesses are struggling to rehire former staff.
In the United States, over one million jobs remain vacant as of July 2022, according to the US jobs market data. In New Zealand, the hospitality industry said it is looking for another 30,000 employees to keep up with the summer demand.
How to win back talent
The study, which was published in the Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, warned that the industry is at risk of losing talent if "industry-related negative work events… negatively influence employee attitudes and behaviours toward the industry."
"As such, these results point to the importance for hospitality organizations to develop strategies that can attenuate employees' feelings of anger related to being unemployed," the research said.
The industry should also "rebuild trust among its talent by communicating what was learned for addressing future events and how it plans to recover" in order to retain its workforce.
"In addition, it is critical that hospitality organizations maintain clear and consistent communication with their employees regarding the situation that they are facing in times of uncertainty, as well as how they plan to address these challenges," the research said.
It is also important for the industry to prevent or reduce anger-driven industry turnover in cases of future crises through "contingency plans," according to the study.
"Contingency plans such as offering employees continuing benefits, alternative work arrangements, and/or training programs, may go a long way towards attenuating negative emotions towards the organization and hospitality industry," the research said.
