America is in the middle of a labor shortage unlike any we’ve seen in decades. This staffing crisis cuts across numerous industries and professions, with the hospitality industry seeing some of the worst effects.
The US Chamber of Commerce reports 3.3 million “missing workers” — workers who never came back to work after the pandemic — by comparing the labor force participation rate in February 2020 with today.
Yet these workers haven’t gone missing due to a shortage of available jobs: analysis in that same report showed 10.3 million job openings in October 2022 and just 6 million unemployed workers.
Why Is the Labor Shortage So Intense in Hospitality?
The hospitality industry was particularly hard-hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. Many businesses in hospitality saw total shutdowns or drastic cuts to the rate of business in the early days, and travel was slow to rebound even once other sectors had largely returned to normal.
One reason the labor shortage in hospitality is so acute may be what some are calling the Great Reshuffling. Hospitality workers who suddenly found themselves unemployed or marginally employed in 2020 had time to reassess their goals and long-term plans. Many found other jobs or went back to school, leading them out of hospitality and into a higher-skilled job market.
Labor Shortage As Opportunity
While the ongoing hospitality staffing shortage creates operational and logistical challenges for hotels and other hospitality businesses, it gives businesses the same sorts of opportunities for reassessing priorities, just like so many workers did during pandemic unemployment.
This reassessment process has led some to identify the current labor shortage as an opportunity. Businesses are being forced to find ways to maintain expected levels of service with fewer on-site employees— and there are real opportunities to do so.
Remote staffing solutions for the hospitality industry hold massive, mostly untapped potential for leveraging the current challenges into new opportunities. New, technology-fueled approaches to remote customer service management, hospitality call centers, and even remote HR management give hospitality businesses opportunities that aren’t constrained by local available workers.
Why Remote Customer Service Solutions Make Sense
The hospitality industry has long thrived on personal touches, so an outsourcing model might not seem an obvious choice. But times are changing, and so is the technology available to fuel this kind of model.
Consider these reasons why hospitality call solutions and remote customer service agents work well today.
Public More Accepting of Virtual and Remote Assistance
Post-pandemic, the public is far more accepting of virtual, remote, touchless service across all sectors. For good or ill, that warm greeting from your staff might now be viewed as a risk calculation, not only a mark of good service. A quality remote staffing agency can handle numerous types of inquiries and interactions remotely via chat, phone, email, and more.
Geographic Limitations No Longer a Primary Constraint
Your in-person staff must draw from a geographically limited pool as there’s a limit to how far staff will commute. This immediately shrinks your hiring pool. But for roles that can be performed remotely, you can tap into nationwide or even global staffing solutions, giving you access to an exponentially larger field of candidates.
Tyme Global: Your Partner for Remote Staffing Solutions
Tyme Global understands the needs of the hospitality industry, and our remote staffing solutions can turn this labor shortage into an opportunity that empowers your business to thrive and grow.
Want to see how? Reach out to our team to learn more.