Medallia Zingle report finds a quarter of global hospitality employees say their employee experience has suffered since the return to travel.

New research released today by Medallia, Inc., the global leader in customer and employee experience, reveals that 38% of hospitality workers say they’re considering or already have plans to leave their jobs in the next two months. This and other insights are available in the full report, Global Staffing Report: Employee Experience Impacts Hospitality, released today by Medallia Zingle, the leading intelligent messaging provider used by some of the world’s biggest hospitality brands.

For the report, Medallia surveyed more than 1,250 travel and hospitality workers from the United States, United Kingdom, France, Spain & Germany. Findings reveal major challenges affecting the hospitality industry today, including how the return to travel is impacting workers’ job satisfaction, their employee experience, and their relationships with guests.

With hospitality’s historic staffing shortage well-reported, the report’s uncovering that nearly two-fifths of global hospitality workers plan to leave their jobs by the end of the year — and that 59% of organizations are working with less staff now than they did prior to the pandemic — hints at a challenging holiday season ahead for brands across the world. In fact, the study found that while 67% of workers report that their organization is experiencing increased guest activity since the return to travel, nearly half (48%) say their employers’ handling of it has been “Just OK.”

This is worrying news at a crucial juncture in the industry’s reopening, but illustrates the opportunity that exists for brands to better equip their teams to handle the upcoming travel surge, and address the industry’s staffing crisis.

“All industries have been affected by the COVID-19 crisis, but the travel and hospitality sector has experienced a particularly significant impact on its operations,” said Ford Blakely, founder, senior vice president and general manager of Medallia Zingle. “And while it’s concerning that a significant amount of workers are considering or already have plans to leave their jobs before the end of the year, brands have a massive opportunity to adopt technology and communication strategies that allow their employees to do more with less and create a more empowered and engaged workforce that’s enthusiastic about providing their guests with a best-in-class experience.”

Additional highlights from the report include:

• US’ Struggles Higher Than Global Average: 68% of U.S. hospitality workers say their organization is working with less staff now than they did prior to the pandemic.
  • Top 3 reasons globally: “health and safety concerns,” “lack of job security,” and because “workers obtained new jobs during the shutdown.”

• Little Payoff for Employees: 61% of hospitality workers across the globe say their roles are harder and less rewarding since the onset of the pandemic.

• Employee Experience Takes a Hit: A quarter (24%) of employees say that their employee experience has gotten worse and that they feel less engaged.
  • Additionally, 27% say that the customer experience they are providing has also gotten worse since the onset of the pandemic.

• Hiring Woes Persist: More than half (52%) of hospitality employees across the globe say that hiring talent has been an issue for their organization.
  • Top 3 reasons: “not enough qualified applicants,” “lack of resources to offer competitive pay or benefits,” and “lack of flexibility/remote options.”

Medallia Zingle’s full “Global Staffing Report: Employee Experience Impacts Hospitality” report can be downloaded here.

About Medallia

Medallia is the pioneer and market leader in customer, employee, citizen and patient experience. The company’s award-winning SaaS platform, Medallia Experience Cloud, is becoming the experience system of record that makes all other applications customer and employee aware. The platform captures billions of experience signals across interactions including all voice, video, digital, IoT, social media and corporate messaging tools. Medallia uses proprietary artificial intelligence and machine learning technology to automatically reveal predictive insights that drive powerful business actions and outcomes. Medallia customers reduce churn, turn detractors into promoters and buyers, create in-the-moment cross-sell and up-sell opportunities and drive revenue-impacting business decisions, providing clear and potent returns on investment. For more information visit www.medallia.com.

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