Nobody wants to get back to work, so who are we going to blame for it?

 

In the last few weeks, we have seen another consequence of the pandemic that has come to no surprise to some of us. This time last year many were out of work because COVID19 had closed their businesses or because they were not considered essential workers. As a result of it, the unemployment rates skyroketed, and the leaders of our country took on the hard task of ensuring everyone would have enough to provide for their families. Those in industries like the hospitality industry appreciated the decision, as the uncertainty of the time it would take to get back to normal and the lack of childcare for some families kept them from being able to seek a job elsewhere. 

Under the Stimulus bill in addition to tax breaks the bill offers families $300 weekly payments according to MSN.com back in March 2021. The American People Rescue Plan stimulus has been slightly updated this year, as at the beginning of the pandemic, so rightly the benefits were more extensive. However, at this point of the pandemic many are calling for the benefits to cease. The reason for it being, in December 2020 the long-awaited vaccines were being deployed throughout the United States. It was expected that by the Spring of 2021 mostof the citizens having been vaccinated, things would be back to normal. However, as you have noticed things are far from over. As of two days ago 290 million doses have been administered, although a little over 132 million people have been fully vaccinated, closed to only 40% of the total U.S. population has been fully vaccinated. While the reasons for that might be subject for another writing, the truth is we haven't vaccinated even half of the United States citizens, and businesses are now getting back to, well, business. 

If you have taken your family to a restaurant lately for example, you have likely experienced slower service, not so much because of the COVID19 restrictions, but because of the lack of workers. On May 5th, my family and I went out to celebrate my oldest 15th birthday, and the restaurant manager, was our waiter and cook. 😨 in whatever, little time he had in between tasks we chatted a bit, and discussed why workers don't want to get back to work. Yeah, we talked about the government stepping in a bit too much by helping a little too much, but we also talked about what are leaders and organizations doing to their workforce that would put them in such a situation. 

While we all know for many workers especially does in the hospitality industry they are being paid more to be at home collecting unemployment than they are to be at work, I want talk about why did we get here in the first place. Many workers are citing reasons for their unwillingness to return to work as lack of benefits such as, paid time off, health insurance and the way their leaders treat them. Many restaurant workers depend on tips more than salary to support their families. Restaurant owners often deny their workers benefits, and let's face it, if they did chances are services and products would increase in price which, at the end would affect us all, however here we are now with many restaurants operating at limited capacity now that restrictions have been lifted because there are no workers. 

A recent poll I posted on LinkedIn, showed folks are divided as to whether the organizations or businesses are to be blamed for their workers unwillingness to come back, or is it the government for helping too much. However, as always, I'm a strong advocate of employee experience. I do believe  that people know the unemployment benefits won't last long, (the current bill has an end date of September 6, 2021) and with the eminent need to return to work soon for everyone they know they have to secure their positions before there are no opened positions anywhere. But really who wants to get back to an oger for boss and no benefits, while working harder than ever? And let me tell you something, this isn't a concern that should be unique to the hospitality industry either. Leaders in other industries including the health care industry should learn from this experience as well. There are those in the hospitals whose funds are dependent on Medicaid for their operations, who should anticipate budget cuts as a results of the Nation's debt for paying all these stimuluses. 

If you, as a leader have not considered how this is going to affect you and your business in the near future, you better start brainstorming because this is eminent. 

Businesses are now offering bonuses to sign on workers and thankfully many are opting to include benefits in the package they offer their newcomers. However, now more than ever it's important to give employees a reason to continue working for you. Whether you need to do a market analysis and ensure you are remaining competitive with those out there who offer the same as you, or you need to add benefits to the ones you already offer, every leader of every organization should be brainstorming right now on how they are going to retain their employees or soon they will be facing even more financial difficulties as anticipated. 

So, what do employees want? They want to feel appreciated; they want to be listened to. You appreciate those who work for you by paying them well, by encouraging and supporting their professional growth. Employees are listened to when they are engaged in the decision-making process, not when a decision is made in the C-suite and then shoved down everyone's throat. Show them respect! Your employees is your first customer. You make them happy, and everything else will fall into place. So enough with the patient and customer experience already. Let's start with employee experience and even your customers will appreciate it! 

When your employees are happy everyone wins! 

references 

Carlsen, A., Huang, P., Levitt, Z., & Wood, D., (2021). How Is The COVID-19 Vaccination     
      Campaign Going In Your State? The Coronavirus Crisis. Updated May 28,
      2021. https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/01/28/960901166/how-is-the-covid-19-
     vaccination-campaign-going-in-your-state

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