With workers in short supply, hotel operators are passing along "escalating wage costs" to consumers.
The most severe hotel staffing shortages peaked when "U.S. travel ramped up in 2021." Those shortages have "eased," but the "industry is still below pandemic staffing levels," down 9% from early 2020.
According to the American Hotel & Lodging Association, "hotels will collectively pay $123 billion in compensation this year, up more than 20% from 2019."
But higher prices for hotel rooms aren't translating into better service for guests, necessarily. Hotels continue to face staffing shortages and are paying the workers they can recruit higher wages.
At least some hotel owners say they fear a "guest backlash" as hotels continue to operate with "smaller staffs" while demanding premium pricing.
Hotel executives say the industry cannot expect "empathy from consumers."
One hotel operator in the Midwest says he will "need to increase wages across his hotel portfolio by 10% this year—a cost that will be passed in part on to guests."
The hotel sector is "experimenting with ways to reduce the need for workers, stirring more wariness among potential employees."
Food-delivery apps can replace a hotel's "in-house kitchen staff," and hotels are also turning to automation to make the "housekeeping and check-in processes more efficient."
In some cases, hotel workers are being asked to do multiple jobs. For example, "staffers at the front desk might also sling drinks at the bar when needed."
Read more via The Wall Street Journal
Across the U.S., municipalities continue to be challenged by law enforcement staffing shortages.
In Austin, Texas, retired officers are being recruited to work special events:
With "more than 350 active vacancies," the Austin (Texas) Police Department is recruiting retired officers to work "special events" like the city's marathon. The idea was "proposed last year" by the Austin City Council, and the department currently has "15 retired officers in the reserve program," with "additional officers in modified training." Retired officers have to complete training and "meet certain criteria." (Yahoo News)
“We have a limited amount of people that we can actually put on patrol at this time and so the City of Austin created a ‘reserve police force’ where we could utilize retired officers to fulfil some duties that patrol officers wouldn’t have to fill."
In Connecticut, recruitment efforts are underway to fill police and corrections staffing shortages:
The New Haven (Connecticut) Police Department has initiated a "widespread recruitment effort at high schools and colleges." The effort aims to "fill the 73 vacancies across the New Haven Police Department." So far, the effort appears to be working. Leaders within the department say the vacancies are the result of "resignations, retirements and transfers to departments in nearby areas," but that conditional job offers have been made to 40 officers so far. (Yale Daily News)
A Virginia jail is facing a 'critical staffing shortage':
The Richmond (Virginia) City Justice Center is "facing a critical deputy shortage." The jail is "down 191 deputies out of 385 total positions," according to news reports. Existing staff say conditions no longer feel safe for corrections officers and that staffers are "exhausted.” (WRIC)
According to a new survey from Empower, gone are the days when every worker aspires to a role in the C-suite.
Only 30% of workers "aspire to C-suite roles," according to Empower's survey of more than 1,100 adults.
The "top driver of job satisfaction" is "not recognition or advancement," but rather money.
39% of millennials indicated "interest in becoming a top executive," the highest of any group.
38% of respondents overall "said they believe they don’t get paid enough to go above and beyond their current job description." (That jumped to 55% of Gen Z respondents.)
Read more via HR Dive, Empower
According to a new report by Ladders, "remote work opportunities for high-wage earners have fallen since the third quarter of 2022."
Job seekers who are looking to earn $200,000 or more a year may find that remote work opportunities are dwindling, according to Ladders.
Job listings for remote roles that pay "at least $200,000" fell from "3 in 10 at the end of 2022" to "about 1 in 10 by December 2023." Ladders saw a similarly dramatic drop in hybrid work listings.
A recent analysis by Indeed's Hiring Lab "found that postings in sectors with a high share of remote-eligible roles have declined, while demand for in-person jobs remains at levels higher than the period before the Covid-19 pandemic."
“The research showed applicants increasingly have to choose between going with the biggest paycheck or getting to stay home … Considering America’s aging population and increasing need for medical professionals, I expect health care will remain a top high-paying job for decades to come."
Read more via Bloomberg, Indeed Hiring Lab
According to new research from the University of Pittsburgh, mandated return-to-office policies are hurting both company performance and employee morale.
According to new research by University of Pittsburgh Business Professor Mark Ma, there is "evidence that return to office mandates reduce employee satisfaction but don’t increase the bottom line."
Ma found that "companies would benefit from allowing high-performance employees to work from home," as opposed to mandating their return to office.
The benefits Ma identified from remote work include not just a "better work/life balance," but a sense of autonomy that allows employees to have "more time to plan both work and home tasks."
That autonomy "gives a sense of achievement and makes employees more productive."
"Remote and flexible schedules" provide increased job satisfaction, as well as better health, decreased turnover and reduced absenteeism, Ma found.
Read more via CBS News, Inc., Research Abstract
According to a new report by Payscale, the gender gap is not closing, and working mothers are being "penalized for becoming parents while fathers are rewarded."
Highlights from Payscale's report on "pay data from over 600,000 U.S. workers":
Women earn 83 cents per dollar earned by a "comparable" man. (That's "virtually unchanged from a year ago," despite efforts to close the gender gap.)
Working mothers "earn just 75 cents compared to working fathers." That gap increases as "women progress in their careers."
For women who work remotely, the "pay gap is 10 cents wider."
Payscale even found that "working fathers actually earn, on average, 15% more than men without children implying a fatherhood bonus compared to a motherhood penalty."
The report noted that pay transparency laws “present a unique and distinct advantage for those entering the job market, especially to those affected by pay gaps such as women.”
Read more via Forbes, Payscale
The debate around meetings -- especially early morning meetings -- is intensifying.
The conversation around over-scheduling of meetings is intensifying.
On social media, older workers are posting about younger workers declining early morning meetings.
Working parents are pushing back on meetings they say make it impossible for them to drop-off and pickup children from activities and school.
Some say early morning (think, 8 a.m.) meetings push work-life boundaries.
In some sectors, like finance, healthcare and education, experts say "early-morning work hours" are "a hallmark."
Proponents of 8 a.m. meetings say they are "useful for coordinating global teams across time zones."
But "others say they disrupt personal time and school drop-offs and can throw off the rest of the day by upsetting their normal routines."
Experts say that if the expected workday is "9 to 5," then it's unfair to "all of a sudden say, ‘But on this day we’re going to do an 8 o’clock meeting.’”
Managers who are scheduling early meetings should make sure to "notify people well in advance, she says, and acknowledge that it’s an unavoidable necessity."
According to Calendly, 43% of meetings scheduled "occurred between 2 p.m. and 6 p.m." and "just 3% of meetings occurred between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m."
For working parents, an 8 a.m. meeting "can mean finding backup options for school drop-offs."
