Pandemic Layoffs Pushed Hospitality Workers to Leave Industry – “The Younger Generation Was Really Hit Hard”

The psychological toll of losing a job due to COVID-19 caused many young hotel and restaurant workers to consider changing careers, according to a Washington State University survey.

In the survey, the laid-off and fully laid-off hospitality workers reported feeling financially strained, depressed, socially isolated and panicked by the effects of the pandemic, leading to a heightened intention to leave the industry altogether. The intention to leave was especially strong among women and younger workers.

“It’s a warning to my industry that the younger generation has been hit really hard,” said Chun-Chu Chen, an assistant professor in WSU’s School of Hospitality Business Management and lead author of the study in the International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management. “We’ve already seen that as the hospitality industry recovers and tries to hire more people, they can’t find the workers they want. There are many factors for that, but one of them could be that the pandemic has made people think that hospitality is no longer an industry they want to work for.”

Chen added that previous research has found that younger workers may not have as strong career identities as more experienced workers, making it easier for them to switch careers.

According to US labor statistics, unemployment in the hospitality industry reached 37.3% in April 2020 after many lockdown measures were taken. Chen heard about the impact directly from his own hospitality students who had lost their jobs and decided to learn more about how other staff at the property and hospitality industry were doing during the pandemic.

For this study, Chen and co-author WSU professor Ming Hsiang Chen surveyed more than 600 laid-off and completely laid-off hospitality workers in June 2020. who were fired, a difference the authors said employers should consider going forward.

“Getting leave isn’t good, but it’s a bit better than getting fired,” Chun-Chu Chen said. “One possible explanation is that when you’re on leave, you’re still technically part of the organization, so you still have a sense of community, of belonging.”

That sense of belonging is important in a profession that attracts people who are very sociable, Chen said. In fact, the researchers found that social isolation was the most important factor predicting the well-being of these workers. But it was financial pressures and the perceived impact of the pandemic that predicted whether workers were considering a career switch.

The researchers found one protective factor for the well-being of unemployed or laid-off workers: self-efficacy, or the belief that they had personal control over their own circumstances.

But when it came to some of Chen’s unemployed hospitality students, maybe that sense of personal control meant they decided to move on.

“I’ve seen some of my students looking for really good jobs in other service industries,” Chen said. “I have mixed feelings about their decisions. Our students are well equipped to thrive in most positions in the service industry. But since there are many more opportunities available at the moment, I would encourage them to stay in the hospitality industry.”

Reference: “Well-being and career change intent: The impact of COVID-19 on unemployed and laid-off hospitality workers” by Chun-Chu (Bamboo) Chen and Ming-Hsiang Chen, June 18, 2021, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management.
DOI: 10.1108 / IJCHM-07-2020-0759