Captive Crew
So what happens when the pandemic storm is over? Presently, we are in a tight job market, especially in the hospitality and travel industries. Our employees are no longer reluctant to change jobs now, even if they are happy here.
Boom?
Two recent economic forecasts (one for the UK and one for the US) have predicted that sometime in the next year—likely the first quarter—we will see an unprecedented boom. They shared compelling economic data to make that statement.
I’m skeptical of an “unprecedented boom,” but I sure can wrap my head around a significant increase in business activity. From the monetary data, it appears that consumers, while spending some now (on average, retail numbers are up), are also banking a fair amount of the pandemic savings.
Expenses Are Down
Like many economic studies, the monetary data (volume and velocity) show a significant divide among working families. As mentioned, those in the hospitality industry are under-employed or unemployed and are struggling. Others, however, are saving money on transportation, travel, and entertainment—to the demise of the hospitality and travel industry.
Personally, while I’m still as busy as ever, my wife and I have downsized to one car, which stays parked in our driveway five days out of the week. We have converted all our meetings to video conferencing. We rarely travel more than a few miles when we do take a ride. All our 2020 travel plans—local and overseas—have been canceled or postponed.
Pent Up Demand
My wife and I are discussing the possibilities for rescheduling our canceled travels for 2022. We are fortunate to have received our COVID vaccinations, so making those plans makes some sense. We may also find that we do not want to live with one vehicle once we begin to travel locally and meet local clients in person.
Jump Ship
In keeping with that previous post about the pandemic-storm, when this storm subsides, our employees will be ready to change ships if they are not happy where they are. That will be especially troubling because we should all expect business to pick up briskly as we work our way out of the storm. To take advantage of the increase in business, we want to have all hands on deck. Training new crew members is expensive, time-consuming, and takes time.
Keeping crew members engaged, trained, and ready for competition is always a focus. However, this year it will be a critical task for business leaders.
Shipshape
How are you doing in the retain the crewmate category? Are your processes up to date? Are you high on the Gallop Employee Engagement survey, or is your organization at the average of only 30% employee engagement? Your reward will be improved business and market share as our economy catches the winds of demand.