2 Interviews Scheduled; 2 No-Shows

[GoodScout]

Getting to be the norm. Had two interviews scheduled with candidates. Both didn't show. One called out 15 minutes before scheduled interview. Other ghosted us.
It's clear they're just going to list that they applied to work with us to keep their unemployment benefits going.
Can't find a single candidate, and we're offering wages twice what we offered just eight years ago.

Resort up the street is offering $600 hiring bonuses to housekeepers. Even with that, I doubt they're getting much action.

Anyone had any luck with foreign worker programs? We don't have a lot of positions, but maybe we need to explore them since no one in this country wants/needs to work.

 

[Morticia]

This has been the scenario for years. The last time we hired someone one person applied. (5 years ago) When we closed he went to another inn. However, I will say most of the b&b’s in my old cohort have easily found 2-3 housekeepers this season. The visa program didn’t bring in enough workers to go around this year.

 

[HmBrdIn]

It’s a very frustrating situation here. Seeing the same thing as the original poster stated: interviews are scheduled AND confirmed by the candidate and they don’t show up or notify us.

My inn is located in a relatively small town surrounded by several other small towns. That means small community and most of us in the hospitality and food service industry know one another. The candidates aren’t thinking about their actions and what the impact of that will be in the future as we are all keeping lists and sharing “no-show” info which could come back to haunt the candidates in the future.

In the meantime, me, like most others in the area, are running lean and guests are pretty understanding when things may be a little slower due to lack of help.

The big retailers are offering sign-on bonuses but not able to do that here. So will just manage our way through it. Hopefully things will get better in the future.

 

[Jay Curci]

We had a few people work one day - then stop responding etc.... - When the Gov't pays people more to stay home - many will not work!!
We have been lucky though and are grateful for that. I don't wat to get Political BUT, we really need to pay attention to our Liberties - less we loose them!! Have a great day everyone. God Bless America

 

[GoodScout]

My brother lives in a state where the federal unemployment subsidies were refused and haven't been available since May. He says the situation is the same as here, so it's more than just people getting extra money to stay home.

 

[Arks]

Yes, Arkansas has turned down the unemployment money too, and employers are still having a hard time finding workers. I'm not sure what's going on!

 

[Morticia]

A lot of people retired last year. A lot of people were laid off with no hope their jobs were coming back. A lot of people gave a lot of thought to the rat race and decided to opt out. Given that probably 80% of the people who show up for hospitality jobs are women, who were very hard hit last year in re job losses, many of them decided to retrench, stay home, and possibly start their own home business. It’s still hard to find affordable childcare. I might leave my home and kids for a really highly paid job, with benefits, but to clean up other people’s messes after being summarily shown the door last year? Not likely.

I think businesses are going to have to rethink how workers look at jobs right now.

 

[Tom]

I think businesses are going to have to rethink how workers look at jobs right now.

As usual, Mort has it. It's not the extra unemployment money, it's the fact that service workers have always had a fragile social and economic situation and a year and a half pandemic made it worse and wrecked the ad hoc support system that most people used to give them the hours and flexibility to do the kind of work we need.
We've been lucky to have some good people, but we can't provide their only source of income – we just don't have the hours in a five room inn – so they've always relied on other jobs and those jobs come and gone with no notice and no reliability. The uncertainty and the stress have taken a toll.
We had a very reliable and honest worker of five years, a single mom. Two months ago she began to suffer severe depression and after several no-shows and let's-try-again, she disappeared entirely. I hope she's okay, but it's not my part to look for her.
We have good worker who is still with us -- we always try to have two housekeepers so we have backup. They (preferred pronoun) got laid off of a restaurant night job and couldn't get unemployment for over two months. Because of the overall economic situation, their sister had to move into the trailer along with her special needs five-year-old. School was there, and then it wasn't. Daycare is too expensive and almost impossible to find. The sister was able to find a job so my housekeeper has to help look after the kid. This doesn't make it easy for me (understatement).
This isn't about politics.

 

[Morticia]

@Tom One of our favorite seasonal restaurant lasted about three months out of the six they are usually open. The reasons they gave for early closing were everyone is exhausted, they can’t get supplies, their summer staff is going back to school. The place across the bay from them took three weeks off in peak season for pretty much the same reasons, but especially the exhaustion. Places that never close during the week are shuttered for at least two days every week. Some are because supplies are hard to get or costly beyond what can be recouped, they can’t get key help (think cooks for restaurants), and the people who are working can’t keep up the pace. I’m actually thankful the owners are realizing their staff can’t work those hours indefinitely.

Hospitality was one of the hardest hit industries. Coming back at warp speed after being mostly closed or on 50% schedules last year has caused ‘whiplash’ among workers and owners. I can’t tell you how happy I am we retired before the season got underway this year. I’ve seen the hit my friends have taken this year and I would not have been able to keep up.

 

[TheBeachHouse]

It’s frustrating to have the restaurants closed part of the week, but we totally understand. We are exhausted too. It’s to the point that when someone calls for availability, I don’t even check the calendar. I say we are full that day.

 

[Generic]

It kills me, not being able to go into the rooms to straighten up. Leaves more work for turnovers. But on the other hand, since we are down 2 rooms, I'm back to doing it all myself. We don't take single nights anymore.

We are 10 days away from people being required to prove they are fully vaccinated to be served breakfast... by order of the government. No arguing, no discussion about it, they have to show us a pass to eat breakfast.

But I am SO tired of chasing people to wear their masks in the halls in the house. I now have a sign on the front door, a sign inside the door and signs on the stairs. I'm really tired of chasing them. Maybe I should put it in the email that we don't remind people, we don't argue, we just call the cops... and you can pay the $400 to $6000 fines. The last thing that I need is to be in the newspaper as the source of an outbreak... quick way to ruin your business.

 

[ChrisandShelley]

We have the same issue here in our little town. It's always been hard to find good employees, but this last year, it has been really difficult. We went with the work campers (see my thread about Work Campers) and that has worked out superbly well.