Signs of Life
Minnesota weather is finally (sort of) cooperating. Restrictions are lifting, vaccines are available, and the restaurant business rises again after being knocked flat. The Chauvin trial verdict has helped to restore a sense of uneasy peace to battered Twin Cities neighborhoods, with residents aching for a sense of normalcy. Bars and restaurants are re-opening with great demand for service, but the workforce is nowhere near capacity. The service industry is filled with hard-working, diligent, motivated professionals who are largely tired of sitting at home and being depressed. They WANT to be working, and many of them already are. But there is still a significant part of the workforce that is not. Here are some of the obstacles as I see them:
1: Lack of safe and affordable childcare.
Distance/hybrid learning and fluctuating classroom hours are significant challenges for working parents. Competition for licensed daycare puts lower-wage earners further down the list.
2: Health concerns.
Many industry workers have already been sick with COVID-19, and while most of the staff sickened have survived their scare with the virus, they continue to have health effects much later (Have you ever tried being a chef when you’ve lost your senses of smell and taste?).
3: Lack of consistent health insurance.
Exacerbated by economic instability and business closures, industry workers fear large medical bills that could come with illness or hospitalization.
4: Fear, anxiety, depression, and addiction.
Already struggling with life issues? Here’s a pandemic gut-punch into quarantine. Cut off from friends and family with nothing but empty time, and addictions have spiraled into larger problems with drastic consequences. Some of the workforce has experienced depression and anxiety for the first time, but a larger part has been re-traumatized and is struggling hard. Many who were on stabilizing medication have been displaced from their health insurance and therefore unable to afford prescriptions. Weight fluctuations, exhaustion, insomnia and nightmares are being reported at exponential levels.
5: Fed the f*** up.
Over the last 14 months, the industry has been subjected to complicated, ever-changing restrictions and a bad public attitude. Legally required to become “Covid Cops,” an already stressed-out workforce deals with shocking behavior from customers. Testing the rules has become good sport for bad humans. A good percentage of the workforce is just f***ing over it.
The industry is reaching a new tipping point (as if there haven’t been enough already), and it is up to the industry to react accordingly. What that looks like is unknown, but it’ll be very different than it was before. And Serving Those Serving will be there for the journey.
