Remember the early days of the pandemic? Everyone was shut down except for front line and service workers who kept vital pieces of our society running. Even so, the service industry lost more jobs than any other part of the economy. Those folks were super stressed out, overworked, and underappreciated!
Now that the pandemic has been officially over for a while and most of the jobs that were lost have been recovered, surely those service workers are able to relax, right?
Sadly, no.
Here are Five Fast Facts on the world of service workers right now:
- 📈 A Whole Lotta Folks - There are over 111 million people working somewhere in the service industry, over 70% of the non-farm workers in the country. If this doesn’t include you, it includes a bunch of people you know!
- 👎 Left Behind? - Millions of workers in corporate America transitioned into remote work during the pandemic (something most see as an improvement) and over a third of whom are still working 100% remote. Service workers, on the other hand, got no such upgrades.
- 🔥💀 Anti-Upgrades?! - In fact, they got quite the opposite! A lot of these folks worked long hours in places that were understaffed, and with often unpredictable schedules that complicated normal life. And it never stopped. Over the course of the last three years, burnout has increased to record numbers. That’s not the kind of record we want to see!
- 🤏 Shortages - One of the biggest problems is staffing shortages. Many industries are short-staffed all over the country: nursing, hotels, airlines, and more. And this happened while companies were often making record profits. Many workers felt like they didn’t get their share – or even proper recognition – for that success despite making it happen.
- 📣 Moving Toward Unions - All of these things are pushing more workers to seek union representation. Union workers get paid up to 40% more and often have better benefits. Unions have their challenges, but it’s easy to see why it’s a path many are looking for now.
🔥Bottom line: Whether it’s unions, more money, more hiring, or something else, we need to find a solution because this can’t go on. These folks are critical to our country working the way it’s supposed to, so for them to get burned out and leave their jobs is bad for them AND bad for us!
And how about we stop and think a moment next time we’re in a tense situation with a service worker, and give them a bit of grace and kindness? They’ve probably had a worse day than you have.
What do you think can be done to help our service workers?
Let us know by connecting with us on Facebook and Instagram! Also, remember to share this newsletter with your friends & coworkers!
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