Authors: Ignacio Azcarate, Angela Le, Wheeler Nakahara, and Michael DiStaso

According to the Washington Post, nearly 8 million employees in the U.S. hospitality and tourism industry lost their jobs during the pandemic. As of this April 2021, about 5 million of those employees have returned to work. However, news reports indicate that employees across all industries report feeling reluctant to return to the workplace, with 66% of those workers expressing health and safety concerns. 

UCF’s Targeted Research Training (TRT) program recently conducted an international survey of laid-off and furloughed hospitality workers, with the goal of identifying workers’ top concerns about returning to work. According to our survey results, laid-off and furloughed hospitality employees’ top concern about returning to work was their personal risk of COVID-19 exposure. At the time of data collection in April 2021, roughly 60% of participants indicated that they worried about their job putting them at risk of contracting COVID-19 when they return to work. Based on this data and with input from faculty at the UCF Rosen College of Hospitality Management, we offer some insights  as to what we believe can potentially mitigate  returning hospitality employees’ concerns in a productive manner. 

What can hospitality organizations do? 

Regarding COVID-19 exposure concerns, the data demonstrate that it is important for leaders to take employee experiences into consideration. With increased pressures to bring the industry back to pre-pandemic business status, the hospitality industry faces numerous challenges as it strives to return to normalcy. The reality is that people, especially employees, still worry about their health during the ongoing pandemic.

One suggestion is to create a platform for employees to communicate their issues to the decision-makers of an organization in order to feel heard. Workers often lack the opportunities to voice their opinions on what could be improved about their job. Suggestion boxes, anonymous reporting, encouraged whistleblowing, and anti-retaliation policies are some ways in which hospitality employees’ concerns can be heard and addressed. Additionally, pulse checks are an easy way for the company to continuously check-in, identify gaps, and determine the best course of action as they navigate a return to normalcy. 

As hospitality organizations adjust their  operations during the pandemic recovery, there is an opportunity to  promote an efficient feedback loop and ensure that the workforce feels safe coming into their shifts everyday. Before the pandemic, the hospitality and tourism industry was reportedly the 5th most stressful industry to work in, with 64% of employees revealing that their work was a major source of stress. Among the most common stressors, hospitality employees reported that they were subjected to irregular hours, emotional labor, and customer mistreatment. Our current research findings suggest that the threat of COVID-19 represents an additional stressor for those workers who anticipate returning to the hospitality  industry.  In order to address and mitigate these concerns, industry leaders and stakeholders should take into consideration the worries of their returning employees and provide them the support to voice and work through their concerns in an encouraging environment with actionable follow up strategies.