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Guest Article
Splashin’ Safari Staffing Challenge
The 2021 opening of new parks, rides and attractions also points to a promising recovery. Universal Orlando will be opening Intamin’s VelociCoaster, Florida’s fastest and tallest launch coaster, in June, and on the other side of the country, Universal Studios Hollywood launches The Secret Life of Pets: Off the Leash. SeaWorld Orlando prepares to beat the heat with Ice Breaker by Premier Rides and Merlin’s new Legoland New York is scheduled to open this summer with rides, dining shopping and overnight accommodations.
Regional parks are also getting in on the new capital action as Adventureland opens Dragon Slayer, an S&S free spin; Indiana Beach queues up Triple Loop by Schwarzkpf; Silverwood opens Stunt Pilot by Rocky Mountain Construction (RMC); and Six Flags Great America opens the New Jersey Devil, also supplied by RMC . New water parks, record-breaking water rides and an unprecedented number of new aquatic attractions are also on deck for 2021. At 223,000 square feet, Kalahari in Round Rock, TX opened as America’s largest indoor waterpark. Six Flags Great America in Illinois prepares to open Tsunai Surge, the world’s tallest water coaster and just one of many projects by WhiteWater coming to market this year.
All this excitement comes with trials as well. The entire hospitality industry, perhaps hardest hit by the pandemic in terms of job loss, now struggles to fill open positions. Seasonal staffing has long been a challenge for the leisure industry – hotels, restaurants, amusement parks, water parks, shops and service providers spend a great deal of time and resources recruiting, training and retaining team members. The challenge has never been greater than it is today as colliding pressures create an unprecedented environment where open positions far outweigh applications.
Many factors are contributing to the seasonal staffing challenge including fear of infection, access to childcare, and available financial support. Hospitality industry workers have re-located to areas with more year-round opportunity; found work in other essential industries
SUMMER PART 1 2021
Boomers Park
including grocery stores, shipping and food delivery; or, in the case of younger workers, decided to delay employment and/or education until there is a return to a more “normal” environment. High schools and universities have limited or eliminated on-site job fairs, further reducing access to potential job candidates.
Digital Tactics
Compounding the challenge to find local workers, American embassies and consulates remain closed or short-staffed in other countries meaning that despite the expiration of a ban on temporary worker visas, the supply of international work-study and returning international workers has dramatically diminished.
“As I work with attraction leaders across the country this season, I am hearing time and time again that their recruiting efforts have been more challenging this year than ever before,” said Matt Heller, founder of Performance Optimist Consulting.
“Between the continuation of federal unemployment supplements, and the difficulty of visa processing for international Summer Work Travel exchange students, the labor market for parks is exceedingly tight all over the country,” said Denise Beckson, Vice President at Morey’s Piers Beachfront Waterpark and Resort. “Park operators are raising starting wages, adding signing bonuses, retention bonuses, referral incentives and more.” Regardless of the reason, staffing in the hospitality industry is a real problem. “With the vaccination role out, consumer demand is gaining ground. That said, staffing has become the biggest challenge and obstacle to our economic recovery,” Beckson adds.
Parks are getting creative when it comes to recruiting, launching full-scale advertising campaigns and taking to social media to catch the eye of potential workers. “Our recruitment marketing has shifted primarily to digital tactics,” said Eric Snow, VP and Chief Marketing Officer at Holiday World & Splashin’ Safari. “Targeting potential employees where they consume media, many of our new team members first engaged with our brand on TikTok and Snapchat through focused advertising.”
49 The entire
hospitality industry, perhaps hardest hit by the pandemic in terms of job loss, now struggles to fill open positions.
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