COVID-19 numbers are dropping, regulations are relaxing, and people are ready to come out to the Poconos to enjoy the renowned resorts, restaurants and entertainment options – but do those industries have the staff to handle the incoming wave of tourists?
Throughout the pandemic, one of the heaviest hit and most disproportionately affected sectors of the worldwide economy was the hospitality industry.
Hotels, resorts, restaurants and many other businesses under that category suffered closures at a moment’s notice, capacity limits and targeted enforcement that led to major revenue losses, and, in turn, a serious drop in staffing.
As Pennsylvania’s COVID-19 restrictions are set to ease on May 31, the commonwealth’s hospitality industry is struggling to get back into shape so that they can take on the swell of guests that are almost guaranteed to arrive this summer – especially in areas like the Poconos, which sees travel spending in excess of $3.3 billion annually, contributing $981.4 million in labor income and $520 million in taxes.
Chefs, servers, bartenders, housekeepers, front-desk workers and more are all in demand, with thousands of posts waiting to be filled.
In a recovering economy, why is it that the Pocono Mountains, lauded for its natural attractions, inclusive resorts and waterparks, and wide variety of eateries that cater to any appetite, is struggling to fill those jobs, and how can the region climb out of this shortage to ensure that a cornerstone of the economy does not sink in the wake of the pandemic?
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Help wanted needed
Without question, tourism and hospitality are major pillars of the Poconos’ economy.
According to the Pocono Mountains Visitors Bureau, tourism supports a total of 35,201 residents, and nearly 25% of all jobs in the area. But in the wake of the pandemic, worker shortages have become the norm, even as the prospectively busy summer season approaches.
“In our neighborhood, you go to any restaurant, any hotel, any waterpark, and everyone is short-staffed,” Barley Creek Brewing Company co-founder and owner Trip Ruvane said. Ruvane also serves as the northeastern region president of the Pennsylvania Restaurant and Lodging Association.
At the moment, Camelback Resort is looking to hire 500 people in anticipation of a busy summer season. Cove Haven has over 80 listings for bartenders, waitstaff, lobby attendants, guest service agents and more across their Lakeville, Mount Pocono and East Stroudsburg locations.
Great Wolf Lodge is currently seeking to fill 39 positions at their Scotrun premises. Kalahari Resorts and Conventions has nearly 100 openings at their Pocono Manor operation.
And these aren’t just seasonal stints – many, if not the majority, of the positions are part and full-time openings that pay well above minimum wage.
A recent survey released by the Food Labor Research Center at the University of California, Berkeley, and One Fair Wage, a group seeking to end subminimum wages in the service sector, found that 53% of restaurant workers who responded considered leaving the industry since the COVID-19 outbreak began.
Predominantly, low wages and tips were the driving reason behind the decision (76%), along with concerns about COVID-19 safety (55%).
Pocono Mountains Economic Development Corporation executive director Charles “Chuck” Leonard noted that despite the waning COVID-19 statistics, workers in customer-facing positions may still be apprehensive to get back to a job where it is routine to interact with hundreds, if not thousands, of people each day.
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As of May 25, Carbon, Monroe, Pike and Wayne counties have seen 29,039 COVID-19 cases and 339 deaths linked to the virus.
“I understand that there are a lot of people worried about going back to work,” Leonard said. “We know people that work at places where people have actually died, you know, and that has a tendency to make you cautious.”
Insiders have pointed out that a return to work could put a strain on parents.
Being that many childcare facilities either closed or reduced capacity throughout the past 17 months, finding someone to take care of the kids so that you can return to work is a stressful issue, especially when it comes to hospitality workers who deal with varying shifts.
“Childcare has been (a) prevalent (issue) for us,” Mary Popovich, vice president of human Resources for Camelback Resort, said. “We have a number of parents who have struggled to be educators in their home, especially with younger children. And so that’s been a primary consideration for us.”
Yet another problem is attracting new workers to join the hospitality industry in pursuit of a career. Due to the instability of the field during the pandemic, many individuals left for what they considered more solid and reliable positions.
“Some of these leaves left the tree, and they’re not coming back,” Ruvane said, noting that positions at Amazon or UPS might appeal to workers seeking out jobs with higher starting wages, benefits and security.
In some instances, outgoing individuals who previously excelled in the hospitality industry found they could apply their skills to other occupations, especially in other areas of the Poconos where the potential for earnings are exploding at the moment.
“It’s fascinating how many talented bartenders I’ve lost to the real estate market. Real estate is one of the hottest segments of our industry here in the Poconos,” Ruvane said.
“So if you’re outgoing and a go-getter and a hard worker, which a lot of bartenders and servers are … (you) can do very well out there selling real estate.”
Increases, incentives and innovations
As Pennsylvania and the rest of the country makes its way out of the COVID economy and forward into the “new normal,” businesses in the hospitality industry are changing their strategies in order to attract new staff.
In the Food Labor Research Center/One Fair Wage survey, respondents said there were a few factors that would make them stay at their jobs: a full, stable, livable wage (78%), paid sick leave (49%) and health benefits or insurance (44%).
Being that many fast-food franchises and retail outlets have increased their pay rate as high as $15 per hour or more, owners and operators have to make competitive offers of their own when it comes to pay and benefits.
“Certainly everybody could raise their wages, because if you could make $17 to work at Sheetz or Costco or any of these other places, why would you make beds at Kalahari for $13 an hour or $12 an hour?” state Rep. Maureen Madden (D-115) said.
Madden expanded on the wage issue, noting that many individuals who previously worked in hospitality and were laid off chose not to return out of sheer necessity for survival, and that the shortage of workers could ultimately prove to be beneficial, forcing employers to offer higher starting wages.
“If people are finally being able to pay their bills because they’re getting this enhanced unemployment payment, why would they go to work 40 hours a week, and to go back to living paycheck to paycheck?” Madden said.
“I do not believe the majority of people are staying home because they’re lazy.”
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This could prove to be a driving force to increase the minimum wage in the commonwealth, Madden said, stressing that it should be set to $12 per hour as soon as possible and increased to $15 per hour by 2022.
It is currently $7.25 an hour.
Sign-on bonuses are another marketable tactic that some businesses have tried.
Nearly every position at Cove Haven Resort in Lakeville is offering workers a bonus, ranging from $200 to $500. Restaurants in the area have upped their wages in order to get more staff, both in the back and front of house, in the doors.
John Longstreet, president of the Pennsylvania Restaurant & Lodging Association, said his agency is currently seeking to direct some of the American Rescue Plan’s funding toward financial incentives for those who go back to work.
Longstreet said that a similar program in Connecticut, which offered $1,000 to the first 10,000 full-time workers to return to their jobs could work in Pennsylvania as well.
“That’s a significant investment on the part of the state of Connecticut, and we’re asking Pennsylvania legislators to do the same thing,” Longstreet said, specifying that the PRLA would like to offer $1,200 to full-time workers and $600 to part time workers upon their return.
Deborah Harrison, site administrator at PA CareerLink’s Monroe County office, said that the financial perks of hospitality employment are at an attractive peak right now, but that may not remain constant.
“What we have been continuously doing is stressing the fact that with these jobs, you have more of an opportunity now to really get something where you can make some money if you can swing some things around and get back in,” Harrison said.
“You can make a very decent amount of money at this time, and you know, the opportunity may not be there down the road.”
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Madden has focused on the subject of offering benefits to hospitality workers as soon as possible, which is often not the norm in the industry.
“Maybe we start with health care and benefits,” Madden said. “Maybe we don’t make people wait 90 days. Maybe if you’ve come to work every day for 30 days that you’re scheduled to work, maybe we provide you with health insurance.”
Parents and caregivers have their own unique problems that need to be addressed before they can make their way back to the workforce. Some of the potential employee pool may be held back because they cannot afford to pay for daycare, which is a position that the PRLA is attempting to address.
Longstreet said that the other part of the prescribed PRLA package would help to fund childcare credits “to help people that can find childcare but can’t afford it to pay for childcare so they can go back to work.”
According to Popovich, Camelback is currently looking into some options that could make it easier for employees to efficiently work and live in the community, potentially including on-site childcare.
“We’ve been working with community partners to understand what options we could consider that would meet not only the needs of employees here, but even the greater community, and so those have been ongoing discussions,” Popovich said.
Improving public transportation in the Poconos could also go a long way toward increasing the labor pool for the hospitality industry while helping the entirety of the community, Madden said. With public transit only running on the hour, and cutting off at 8 p.m., relying on the bus to get to your resort job is difficult at best. And in such a widely-spaced region that is dependent upon access to a vehicle in order to secure employment, many people just cannot afford a car, thus creating a conundrum.
“It was one of the problems I tried to address when I first got elected, because the MCTA spends about $5 million per year on the transportation in Monroe County, and they would need $10 million for the buses to be able to come every half hour and extend them to maybe 10 or 11 at night,” Madden said.
Rebuilding an industry
Reigniting the passion for the hospitality industry – and the money that can be made working in it – will likely be a key to resolving the staffing issue, Ruvane said, and that will almost certainly be accomplished by word-of-mouth.
“I mean, it’s a very small world. When your good friend works as a waiter or waitress or a server and comes back after a weekend at their job, whether it’s at Barley Creek or whether it’s at the Frogtown, whether it’s up at the steakhouse at Kalahari, and they say, ‘Yeah, I made $350 a night and tips, I made $200 a night and tips,’ all of the sudden, that gets out and more people are going to come back,” Ruvane said.
A longtime proponent of technical school education, which often offers instruction in hospitality positions, Ruvane has stressed that building bridges and connections between schools and the industry could create a channel for new and enthused talent as well.
“Our industry is going to have to be better than it’s ever been from a good citizen’s perspective, just to make this next generation of potential employees excited that our industry is a good one to be part of,” Ruvane said.
Leonard noted that the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act of 2014’s career pathways program, which can help assist those seeking to transition into a new career without “starting over,” is one way to draw people into the hospitality industry, especially in areas like the Poconos.
“I think that program is making very interesting strides, and I think that will hopefully encourage young people to be motivated, to more appropriately identify what they want to do with their lives,” Leonard said.
Job fairs are another strategy many businesses in the area have tried. On May 13, the Pocono Mountain Visitors Bureau launched three such events across the Poconos, including one at Kalahari that featured about three dozen businesses and 150 openings.
“Partnering with the (Pocono) Chamber (of Commerce) and the Visitors Bureau, it was really great,” Harrison said. “We saw about 185 job seekers come through in Monroe, and that exceeded our expectations for the time.”
While Harrison noted that similar events have drawn double the employers and more than 600-plus job seekers in a slow year, coming out of a pandemic, “it was a good start.”
On June 4 and 5, Camelback will be hosting their own career fair, with free guest passes to Camel Beach offered up to visitors a perspective of the establishment from that of a prospective employee and a guest, Popovich said.
In an attempt to spark an interest in hospitality, the restaurant and lodging association is working on a multimedia campaign that will offer first-hand commentary that depicts an “industry of opportunity.”
“So we’re going to be spending a lot of time with real restaurant and hotel workers featured in these ads talking about great the industry has been for them,” Longstreet said.
Many in the industry have speculated that once the season hits its stride and takes off, the job market may draw workers back and invite new ones into the fold.
“It’s going to be remarkable, and our goal is to make sure that we keep our staff happy. Because if we can keep our staff happy, we’re going to keep all those guests that visit the Poconos happy,” Ruvane said.
— Brian Myszkowski is Senior Reporter for the Pocono Record, covering the COVID-19 pandemic and the tourism and hospitality industries in northeast Pennsylvania for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at [email protected].
