Help wanted! Job openings hit record high as employers struggle to find workers

DÁ’DEESTŁ’IN HÓTSAA

About 2,500 jobs are open in the Page-Lake Powell area, according to local officials.

“Now hiring” and “join our team” signs are in many storefronts here as many people have quit their jobs, leaving businesses struggling to bounce back from the coronavirus pandemic.

And few bosses seem to know how to inoculate their staff against this phenomenon of quitting.

“There are a lot of job openings,” said Judy Franz, the executive director of the Page-Lake Powell Chamber of Commerce.

Page, a tourist destination, has 25 hotels and 51 restaurants. Many hospitality and restaurant workers, especially front-line, have also quit their jobs in record numbers even as wages rose.

Some of those workers insisted they would not return to that industry known for low-wage kinds of work because of stress and burnout, among other reasons such as terrible bosses, toxic job situations, no opportunities for advancement, inflation, enhanced unemployment benefits, and the extensive aid – stimulus and Hardship checks – families received during the first and second years of the pandemic, which left many with more money on hand than usual.

“They’re (hotels, motels, and restaurants) really having a hard time,” Franz said. “What we’re seeing is people showing up, either they get an interview, and they never show, or they get an interview, come in, and they get hired for a few days, and they don’t come back.”

Officials say it can be challenging to remember what the economy here looked like pre-pandemic when fewer people were unemployed. Expectations were that it could take years for the labor market to heal.

The number of people who have or want a job has stagnated since May 2020, but the demand for workers has returned to pre-pandemic levels, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Seek a new job

For those looking for a job or to change careers, the stage is set to hunt for a new job as many companies here hike wages and lure jobseekers with employee rewards and incentives.

“A lot of them are offering extra money for gas, gas cards,” Franz explained. “There’s a lot of generous business owners out there.”

But the resulting labor shortages here are causing problems across a range of industries – from restaurants that can’t find servers, hotels that need bellhops and housekeepers to tour companies that need guides and health care facilities that can’t find nurses.

“But it just seems like (some people) don’t want to go back to work,” Franz said. “I’m frustrated for the business owners because a lot of (them) are working seven days straight. It’s a tough one.”

The pandemic caused a significant disruption in America’s labor force – something many refer to as the Great Resignation, the phrase coined for the record rate at which Americans have quit their jobs because hiring rates have outpaced quit rates since November 2020.

But many are getting re-hired elsewhere.

“One thing about this town that I don’t think people realize, when they job hop, we all know who they are,” Franz said. “All the businesses know who they are, so they’re really only hurting themselves.

“It does them zero good if they want to get a good job,” she said. “Your employer is going to look at that and say, ‘I’m not interested.’ But the person who’s had longevity, that’s the one we’re looking for.”

Right now, there are too many jobs without people to fill them. As a result, businesses can’t grow, compete and thrive, said officials.

Page Mayor Bill Diak said there is an issue of not having enough people in the workforce.

“But not a lot of people are stepping back up and going back to work,” Diak said. “It’s not only a problem here in Page, but it’s across the country.

“It’s a kind of an odd phenomenon that across the board, there are not enough people to fill the jobs that are out there,” he said. “I think COVID has been a huge factor in that for quite a few different reasons.”

Continued low levels of employment would slow the rate of economic growth, reduce real incomes and output, result in greater dependence on government social programs, require higher levels of taxation, and worsen the country’s already precarious fiscal situation.

Franz said the 19th Annual Page-Lake Powell Job Fair took place on March 5. People showed up, but many of them asked the employers or recruiters in attendance to sign their weekly work-search activity sheet for unemployment insurance benefits.

Officials said they were disappointed to hear the report on the community job fair that was supposed to connect the business community here with applicants to fill open positions. This means that the free-money mindset must go away, said Franz.

“So that we can get people back doing a job and start getting back into careers again,” she said.

She and Gregg Martinez, the economic development coordinator for the city of Page, are struggling to figure out what that component is to get people back to work.

“And I don’t know what it is,” Franz said. “For some reason, since COVID hit, nobody cares.”

Officials said removing work disincentives from the region’s entitlement and welfare programs is necessary.

“There’s good money out there to be paid,” Franz added. “When you see McDonald’s paying high dollars and others paying high dollars, it’s because they’re looking for good employees.

“But you got to want to have that desire to go back to work,” she said.

No workers

“We are short-staffed. Please help us appreciate the employees who showed up today.”

Posting a sign like that would have been unthinkable before COVID, but signs like this are familiar these days.

Employers here have complained for months that they can’t find workers.

Perhaps lowering tax burdens, encouraging flexible work, making child care more accessible, and shuttle bus and couriers transporting employees between Page and the nearby western Navajo and some southern Utah communities would increase the returns to work.

“We just keep thinking there’s a miracle out there we haven’t seen,” Franz said. “The slot canyons are all looking for guides. Hospitality, insurance – there’s an insurance position open. That’s a great job to get into. Learn the ropes, and you might become the owner of an insurance company down the road.”

Where are all the workers?

Officials said many people relocated when the Navajo Generating Station shut down. Other factors are at play, including COVID health risks, early retirements, care duties, built-up savings, wages, and frictions, such has soaring gas prices and unreliable transportation.

And there are many reasons.

Wages have risen more than $1 an hour, or 4.5%, in the past year across all private-sector jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. McDonald’s at 1004 W. Haul Rd. is offering $14, and Taco Bell next door is offering $16 for all shifts, for example.

The bureau attributes the upward pressure on earnings to the rising demand for labor. But that may not be enough to attract workers. Hiring executives in the area say they know that those wages are not enough, even with benefits and perks.

Hotel demand

Employers in almost every industry in the Page-Lake Powell region say they’re struggling to find workers, but the situation is challenging in the leisure and hospitality sectors.

Nadia Santacruz, the general manager at the Hyatt Place Page/Lake Powell, said it’s not a secret, nor is it something new that hotel executives are perplexed by labor challenges.

“This has been happening since the pandemic started in 2020,” Santacruz said.

Because of the coronavirus, the Hyatt Place at 1126 N. Navajo Dr. closed at the end of April 2020 and reopened at the end of May 2020.

Santacruz said she noticed the problem after reopening the hotel as executives faced the difficult task of rehiring.

“There were multiple factors. One big item was unemployment (insurance),” Santacruz explained. “People were getting paid more to stay home than come to work, so we had the whole year – from 2020 to 20221 – to figure out. We had to brainstorm and come up with ideas to attract more employees.”

Santacruz said one of the ideas she and her team came up with was to increase hourly wages to every position at the hotel, including those already on staff.

“Starting in July 2021, we increased wages by $1 per hour,” she explained. “And the staff already working for us, the loyal ones who stayed behind, their increase was heavier than $1.

“Some associates had a $3 increase, $2 increase to $50 per hour, just for us to retain,” she said. “We are a great supporter of the community. We try to support other vendors as well by bringing business to them. Our main priority is to keep our staff hired and keep them working so they can grow and perform.”

Santacruz said this strategy is working but hiring and bringing people back to the team is still an issue. The Hyatt Place currently has a few full-time and part-time positions open: server, room attendant, front desk agent, and adventure advisor.

The Hyatt Place, managed by Crescent Hotels and Resorts known for its great reputation, is the only hotel in Page that offers world-class benefits and perks such as health, dental, vision, 401(k), retirement, paid vacation and sick leave, paid holidays, year-end bonus, employee-of-the-month, among a list of others.

“But it seems like the bundle of benefits is not really attractive for the community for some reason,” Santacruz said. “It’s something that they’re not looking for. They’re looking for the hourly rate.”

Housekeepers at the Hyatt Place earn an average hourly wage of $13.88. On average, they have up to an hour to clean one room. Before the flexibility, they had only 35 minutes to clean one room.

“From 2018 until the pandemic hit, we were able to retain 70% of the original staff,” Santacruz said. “After the pandemic, everybody disappeared, and we had only 5% of the original crew.

“Last year was the most difficult year we had because the turnover was very heavy,” she said. “Even in housekeeping, we hired around 60 housekeepers throughout the year. Of the 60, we were able to keep and retain two. It was extreme.”

Multiple positions at the Hyatt Place opened last year. Company executives said they struggled to hire enough housekeepers, including those they laid off early in the pandemic, ahead of an anticipated upswing in leisure travel to Page-Lake Powell and to the Navajo Nation.

“Housekeeping has been heavily underestimated in the industry of hospitality because people underpay housekeepers all the time,” Santacruz said. “In general, customers don’t appreciate the hard work that they do, which is the main and most important part of all hotel industry because what we sell is rooms.

“We need to clean those rooms and have them ready to go for the next guest on a day-to-day basis,” she said. “This is the area where we struggle the most.”

Jobs in Tuba City

The resulting labor shortages are causing profound problems 74 miles south in Tónaneesdizí, the second-largest community in Coconino County and the most populous community in Diné Bikéyah.

Chapter officials said they are seeing job openings in the community since the pandemic stretched Western Navajo’s first responders as never before. Many remained steadfast amid a shortage of personal protective equipment.

Still, many departments – such as the Tuba City Police District, Tuba City Regional Health Care Corporation, and the Navajo Nation Fire and Rescue Station 40 – are unable to fill their open positions.

There are over 300 job postings on the Department of Personnel Management’s website. The Division of Health and the Division of Public Safety have the most job openings.

Other places looking for workers are Bashas’ Diné Market and McDonald’s, said Mike Sixkiller, the community events coordinator and the Western Navajo Fair manager.

“We’re definitely seeing a lot of job openings in the area, trying to entice people to get back to work,” he said. “As far as filling them up, I think it’s a little more than people not wanting to go back to work. I think it’s the whole school situation.”

Sixkiller said while many parents here have students who are still doing online learning, those parents want to go back to work.

“It makes it a little tough because they have to balance work, and they have little ones at home,” he said. “Even if they (parents) want to go back to work, the situation is not making it possible.

“But as more schools open and do in-person (instruction),” he said, “a lot more individuals can go back to work.”

Chapter officials said the other reason is unemployment benefits are attracting people.

“Of course, people would rather be at home,” Sixkiller said. “The Navajo Nation is still promoting the safer-at-home order.

“We do advertise quite a bit,” he added. “There’s a lot out there, and there are a lot of open positions, and there are a lot of businesses that really need that help.”

President Jonathan Nez said many Diné men and women retired early from the tribe at the end of 2021, leading to numerous job openings across the Nation.

“We also have jobs under the American Rescue Plan Act,” Nez said. “With that 10% that was allocated to the legislative branch and the executive branch, that is being used for the administration of the funding.

“What we’re doing is using that to hire people in all of the divisions on the Navajo Nation to help us,” he added. “There’s also going to be construction jobs available.

“I hope and pray the Council will approve the ARPA projects,” he said, “and the executive branch is ready to get started.”

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