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About 3.5 million people have at least temporarily left the U.S. workforce since March 2020. Over one-third of them – 1.2 million – are in the leisure and hospitality industry.
This has created huge problems for restaurants, hotels and other leisure and hospitality businesses that have struggled to find workers for record numbers of job openings in 2021.
A big part of this decline seems to be explained by the “great resignation.” Leisure and hospitality workers are quitting at the highest rates of any industry. About 1 million quit in November 2021 alone. And the data suggests many of them are not simply swapping one hospitality job for another but leaving the industry entirely.
Why are these workers quitting, where are they going and what can be done to bring them back?
We recently commissioned a survey aimed at tracking down some of these workers and answering these questions. The research is ongoing, but our early qualitative results offer some clues to answering these questions.
Reasons for attrition
Before we get to our early data, there are several characteristics of leisure and hospitality work that help explain why the industry has unusually high turnover rates.
For one thing, the wages are very low. Leisure and hospitality workers were earning an average of $515 a week – including tips – as of December 2021, making them the worst-paid of all sectors, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data. That’s less than half of the average for all private workers and translates into annual income of under $27,000 – based on 52 weeks of pay.
This puts financial stress on these employees, often forcing them to work multiple jobs to get by.
The working hours are also challenging, often involving nights, weekends and holidays, which means hospitality workers routinely miss out on time with friends and family, limiting opportunities to recharge their emotional batteries.
Moreover, the nature of the jobs in this sector are particularly stressful and emotionally draining. In fact, sociologists and economists have a phrase for this: emotional labor. This concept refers to the suppression of whatever emotions an employee may be experiencing to provide good service to a customer – and often “with a smile.”
In hospitality, employees must regulate the outward expression of their emotions to the benefit of the customer and their employer, regardless of what they are feeling. Sometimes this puts little or no burden on the employee, but at other times it takes a great emotional toll.
The COVID-19 pandemic has amped up the emotional labor of service work considerably.
The new stressors include massive furloughs and layoffs since March 2020, significant risks to personal health by having little choice but to work at a physical location where workers regularly are in close proximity to colleagues and customers, as well as fights with patrons over enforcing mask bans and vaccine mandates. The news media regularly report on angry and even violent confrontations between customers and service workers, whether on planes, in restaurants or in other types of establishments.
Finding the ‘quitters’
While there’s been a ton of coverage of the sector’s record quit rate of 6.4% in November – the latest data available – there’s less hard data on why hospitality workers are leaving their jobs now and where they are going.
So as part of an ongoing project studying employee attrition, we asked Qualtrics – an employee and customer experience data-gathering company – to find people who worked in the hospitality sector before and during the COVID-19 pandemic and have since left the industry – a process that was exceedingly difficult.
We completed a qualitative unpublished pilot study in December 2021 to help inform a larger quantitative survey we’re working on right now. Our initial results, which include open-ended responses from 31 people, aren’t necessarily representative of all or even most workers who have quit their jobs but allow us to paint a more complete picture of what’s driving the decisions of these specific individuals. We asked them why they left, where they went and what could lure them back to a hospitality job.
We used their answers to construct questions that are appropriate for in-depth statistical analysis, which will then be administered to 350 people who agree to take part in the quantitative survey. Results of that survey will be available in a couple months.
Why people are leaving
Our first question focused on what drove people to not only quit their jobs but leave the hospitality sector. The most common responses related to health and safety concerns, burnout and issues involving managers or co-workers.
One of our respondents was a 35-year-old single mother who said she had been working in the food service industry for about five years before the pandemic hit. She quit her job four months later.
“My safety and my family’s safety were on the line and I was being overworked,” she said.
A 20-year-old man said he left the hotel industry during the pandemic after five years “because I truly wasn’t happy” and “didn’t have the will to keep going on.”
Another 35-year-old woman said she quit her job on a cruise ship because she cares for her elderly parents, who would be more at risk were they exposed to COVID-19.
“They didn’t care about our well-being,” she said. “I have family at home that can die if exposed to COVID.”
Where did they go
As for what the people in our survey decided to do after leaving the industry, the most common answer was to get more education. But others emphasized a desire to go into business for themselves or to a different type of service job, such as in retail.
A 21-year-old man who had been working at nightclubs for over three years said he quit to go to college.
Both the 35-year-old single mother and 20-year-old man said they decided to become self-employed.
Another 23-year-old single mother who had worked in food service before and during the pandemic left for retail, stating: “I got another job as a cashier and it was the only thing I could find at that moment.”
Would they go back
Most of our participants told us nothing would bring them back to these types of jobs – they were done with the industry. The 35-year-old single mother, for example, said there was nothing that could be done to bring her back now that she had moved on with her own business.
But others said better money or hours would help lure them back, as well as stronger managerial support.
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A 42-year-old woman who spent nearly a decade in the food service industry said she would return for “better pay and more respect,” a sentiment echoed by others.
An 18-year-old woman said she quit a food service job because of a manager with a “really bad temper” who would “cuss at customers and employees.” She said that the only way she would go back to hospitality work is if a company showed her “that managers are actually there to help employees.”
“I would also like customers to be more patient and humble,” she added.
Andrew Moreo, Assistant Professor of Hospitality Management and Director of Research, Florida International University; Imran Rahman, Associate Professor of Consumer Behavior, Auburn University; Lisa Cain, Associate Professor of Hospitality Leadership and Marketing Management, Florida International University, and Trishna G. Mistry, Assistant Professor of Hospitality Management, University of South Florida
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Assistant City Manager Nick Walker asked for the council to consider a spending plan for Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds and direct staff on next steps.
Walker said the city has been allocated funding totaling $1.2 million, and he presented a shortlist of four projects staff recommended because they fit into the funds’ most flexible category, revenue loss.
Those projects are South Main Street, from First Street to Lakeport Boulevard; renovations to the Silveira Community Center, which staff said still requires updates, in particular, Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant restrooms; the planned recreation center; and water and sewer projects pulled from the city’s current rate study.
Walker said it’s a great opportunity to significantly fund one of those otherwise unfunded large capital projects.
Councilwoman Mireya Turner said it was a really good list of priorities that have been on city leaders’ minds for years and asked about prioritizing them.
City Manager Kevin Ingram said staff could crunch the numbers and see how far the funds would get them on the various projects. “We can bring that back for further action.”
Councilman Kenny Parlet said he liked the idea of getting something done and seeing cost estimates from staff. “Things change from month to month, quarter to quarter.”
Councilman Michael Froio offered his priorities, placing the South Main Street work in the No. 1 spot, followed by water and sewer projects, the Silveira Center’s upgrades and the recreation center.
Councilman Michael Green said he wanted to narrow the list of projects to just two, with the Silveira Center and roads being his two priorities.
Mayor Stacey Mattina said the heating and air conditioning system and the kitchen had been upgraded at the Silveira Center and asked what was left.
Ingram said the ADA bathrooms were the single largest piece that needed to be finished on the center. Mattina asked if any other funds were lined up for that purpose, and Ingram said no.
Turner said it would be helpful to get the more detailed numbers from staff, explaining she wanted to see cost comparisons for each of the projects.
While she noted that she favored the roads, Turner said she wanted to finish the Silveira Center so it could be used by the community.
Ingram said staff would bring back those pricing estimates for the Silveira Center and for some of the water and sewer projects.
Mattina said it also would be good to look at other funding opportunities for the city’s projects.
Ingram said the city had a little time and could spend some effort in looking at the project costs.
Walker’s written report explained that the funds have to be obligated by Dec. 31, 2024.
The council voted unanimously to support staff bringing back more detailed spending estimates for the list of projects.
In other business, the council approved a letter of support for the Lake Area Planning Council work regarding a rural regional energy network and accepted the annual comprehensive financial report for fiscal year 2020-21.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
Lily Ann Richey, 23, of Redding died in the crash, said Lauren Berlinn, spokesperson for the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.
The California Highway Patrol’s Clear Lake Area office Richey’s 2009 Subaru Forester was found in a creek bed off Highway 20 east of Walker Ridge Road early Sunday.
The CHP said the crash happened several hours before Richey’s vehicle was found.
Based on what is known so far, investigators said Richey’s Forester veered to the right of the roadway, hit an embankment, crossed the highway to the south and went down another embankment and into the creek bed, overturning several times.
Richey was wearing her seat belt and the Subaru’s front and side air bags deployed, the CHP said.
The CHP office said Tuesday that no new information on the cause of the crash was available.
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The test will take place beginning at 11 a.m. Monday, Feb. 7.
The test will involve the warning sirens in Middletown, Anderson Springs, Cobb, Loch Lomond, and Kelseyville Riviera, formerly known as the Clear Lake Riviera.
The test will last three minutes. In the event of an actual emergency, the warning siren is one way the community may be alerted to danger from wildfire, earthquake, or other hazards.
Ongoing monthly testing for the sirens will occur on the first Monday of each month at 11 a.m. The testing from March through January will be 30-second tests.
The February test each year is the full three-minute activation. Just before each test, messaging will be sent out through LakeCoAlerts and Nixle notifying residents in the area of the sirens of the test.
When the sirens are heard outside of a scheduled test, community members should take shelter, be vigilant, and look for further information and instructions from LakeCoAlerts and Nixle. The sirens may not be heard depending on topography, natural and human-made noise, if residents are indoors, or potentially too far aware from the sirens.
The Middletown, Anderson Springs, Cobb, and Loch Lomond sirens have been in place since 2018. These sirens are owned and maintained by the South Lake Fire Protection District.
Since these sirens have been installed, they have only undergone monthly 30 second tests to ensure their functionality.
Over the past year, many residents expressed a desire to have a full three-minute test conducted to ensure residents know what the siren will sound like in the event of an emergency.
In the summer of 2021, the Kelseyville Riviera Home Owners Association installed three warning sirens to provide another form of warning to their residents in the case of an emergency.
As these are new sirens, their functionality has not been tested. This will be the first test of the warning sirens in the Kelseyville Riviera. Should there be any issues, please contact the Kelseyville Riviera Home Owners Association at
The Lake County Sheriff’s Office encourages all residents of Lake County to sign up for LakeCoAlerts at http://www.lakesheriff.com/About/OES/LakeCoAlerts and follow both the Office of Emergency Services and the Lake County Sheriff on Facebook at www.facebook.com/lakecountyOES and www.facebook.com/lakesheriff.
Alerts, notifications, and updates will be posted on Twitter as well; follow the Lake County Sheriff at https://twitter.com/lake_sheriff.
Across the West, thousands of people are deciding what to do about homes that have been destroyed by wildfires in recent months. Those planning to rebuild will be looking for ways to make their new homes and neighborhoods as fire-resistant as possible.
As an architect, I can tell you that rebuilding the same number of structures and replacing belongings after December’s Boulder County, Colorado, fire alone will likely cost more than the estimated US$513 million in residential losses.
To protect these investments as fire risk grows, here are some key strategies that communities and anyone building in the wildland-urban interface need to consider. Research shows that every $1 spent on prevention can save at least $6 in emergency rescue and recovery later.
Know the risk and plan for it
Designing for resiliency starts with risk assessments, particularly for communities in the wildland-urban interface – areas at the edge of forests and grasslands that are typically at higher risk of wildfires. Nearly half of Colorado residents lived in these areas in 2017, according to the Colorado State Forest Service.
From these risk assessments, communities can strategically plan and design safer developments.
California has a statewide code for its wildland-urban interface areas that includes details such as how far trees and shrubs should be kept away from homes, and construction materials to use that can help protect homes within a fire hazard zone. Typically, builders must follow these codes to get permits for the construction of certain buildings and neighborhoods in the risk areas.
Not all states provide that guidance, though. Colorado lawmakers rejected recommendations for a statewide code in 2014, leaving wildland-urban interface decisions to each county. Some Colorado communities and counties, including Boulder County, do require fire mitigation measures in wildland-urban interface areas. The International Code Council and National Fire Protection Association publish wildland-urban interface fire codes that can be adjusted to local conditions.
In a fire spread by extreme winds like the Boulder County fire, even following code may not be enough to save homes, but following that guidance in many circumstances will better protect a community.
Creating defensible space
Creating resilience in the wildland-urban interface involves several layers of defense.
At the community level, forest management, including thinning forests around communities and clearing away brush that could fuel a fire, is an important aspect of fire risk reduction and has become a priority for the federal government.
Carefully planning how land is used in communities can lower the risk to homes and property. A site’s vegetation types, weather and wind patterns, and slope of the ground can all affect how a fire spreads. Planning also ensures firefighters have road access to reach homes in all weather and identifies water sources for firefighting.
At the neighborhood scale, fire experts recommend maintaining an open area around housing developments in wildland fire-risk areas that is clear of tall grass and dense trees. These buffer zones could include mowed recreation fields, shopping area parking lots or other features that can slow a fire’s spread.
Depending on the fire risk, each house should have a perimeter of defensible space extending out at least 30 feet and as much as 100 feet from the home. Within this area, landscapes should be maintained in a way that reduces the chances of a wildfire spreading to the house and adjacent structures. That means keeping trees and shrubs separated from structures like the house, barn or garage, as well as from other landscaping. It’s best to avoid more combustible landscaping like conifer trees, and grass should be mowed and kept free of debris, such as dead leaves and branches that could catch fire.
The closest 5 feet around a house should be totally free of trees and debris, bushes, wood mulch, furniture, barbecue pits and grills – basically anything that can be ignited by flames, embers or radiant heat. Decks, fences and other projections can be built with non-combustible material or wood treated with fire retardant.
How to make construction fire-resistant
The last line of defense to reduce flammability and fire spread is the design of the house and its construction.
A simple shape with few projections and indented corners has been shown to be more resilient because there are fewer areas that can catch debris.
Most codes and the insurance industry suggest the roof be made of fire-resistive Class A materials, such as asphalt shingles or concrete tiles. The walls should be a continuous fire-rated construction from the foundation to the roof, and its assembly of materials, like wood studs, insulation, gypsum board and siding, should have undergone regulated testing. These assemblies of materials are rated based on the duration of time they can withstand fire.
Vulnerable openings like windows and doors should also have rated assemblies. And vents, if required for a particular climate, should be protected with fine mesh screens made of metal that can block most blowing embers.
Gutters and downspouts should be made of non-combustible materials – metal rather than vinyl – and be regularly cleaned or covered with a metal leaf guard. If possible, gutters can be eliminated with the addition of an underground drainage system to direct water away from the foundation and wall, but those systems also need maintenance.
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Ideas for the future
These are all passive measures – they don’t need to be activated in an emergency, but they should be in place well before a fire event.
Researchers are also testing the performance of active systems for use in imminent threats, such as exterior sprinklers that don’t require electricity, large fire blankets that can cover a house, and fire-retardant foam that can be sprayed on structures.
With thorough risk assessment and several lines of defense, neighborhoods can be safer. But these strategies will have to be balanced with initial and long-term costs, realistic maintenance expectations and efforts to mitigate future anticipated threats. As storms become more intense and wildfires more frequent, we should be designing to reduce risk and our impact on the environment.
Jeanne Homer, Professor of Architecture, Oklahoma State University
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — A judge on Monday threw out a plea agreement that would have placed a former Lakeport business owner on probation for child pornography possession, instead saying she intended to sentence him to state prison.
Judge Shanda Harry rejected the plea agreement during an afternoon sentencing hearing for Jeffery Scott Cramer, 60.
Cramer was arrested in May 2020 as the result of a Lake County Sheriff’s Office investigation.
Detectives served search warrants at his home and at the business he owned at the time, Main Street Bicycles, seizing digital devices and determining that social media accounts associated with Cramer had been used to upload child pornography on at least five occasions between August 2019 and February 2020.
The District Attorney’s Office filed the case in September of 2020, charging him with felony possession of child pornography and bringing obscene materials that depict a minor in a sex act into the state.
In March of 2021, Cramer entered a no contest plea to felony possession of child pornography. As part of a plea agreement that he reached with the District Attorney’s Office, the second charge was dropped, said District Attorney Susan Krones.
Krones, who took over the case after Deputy District Attorney Lisa O’Brien left her office, said that second charge was dismissed with a Harvey waiver, which allows the judge to consider the factual circumstances of that charge.
The agreement required Cramer to register for life as a sex offender. While on conviction the charge has sentencing guidelines of 16 months, two or three years in state prison, Krones said Cramer was going to get no prison time but was to serve up to three years’ probation with strict terms that, if they hadn’t been fulfilled, would have sent him to prison.
Since that plea agreement was reached, the state Legislature has reduced maximum probation time to two years, except in unusual cases, Krones said.
Asked why Cramer was offered that deal, Krones said, “He had a lot of support in the community and he also has no prior record whatsoever.” If he’d had any prior record, the offer wouldn’t have been made.
She said Cramer also immediately went into sex offender treatment counseling.
Judge explains her concerns, rejects plea agreement
Cramer’s sentencing has been continued numerous times since May 2021 but on Monday afternoon it appeared that the prosecution, defense and Judge Shanda Harry were ready to proceed.
Harry didn’t indicate immediately that she intended to reject the plea agreement. Instead, she offered a thorough explanation of her conclusions on the case, which she said involved reading a probation report that she thought was incomplete.
She said that wasn’t necessarily the fault of the Probation Department, because in such cases victims are difficult to contact. “You don’t always know who the victims are.”
Harry said she asked to see the materials that had been in Cramer’s possession, explaining that with only one or two exceptions, all were clearly children under age 12, with the judge estimating the children ranged in age from 9 to 11 years.
She said many of the images showed prepubescent girls in various stages of undress and all of them depicted girls in suggestive poses. Some more graphic pictures showed the girls’ genitalia.
With the images were a number of videos. “I wanted to be clear what these videos were of, because I think that’s significant,” Harry said.
Harry called those items “tribute videos,” in which Cramer filmed himself masturbating and then ejaculating on the images. He then uploaded those videos to porn sites, where they were distributed.
“This was not a passive exploration of pictures,” Harry said.
She said there have been claims made about the case that she hasn’t found credible, including that Cramer “went down a rabbit hole” and was led from one image to another. However, Harry pointed out that rather than just viewing them, he made his own tribute videos. “I find that claim to be somewhat disingenuous at best.”
Harry said a number of letters from friends and neighbors of Cramer’s had been submitted to the court, claiming he has good character.
“Many people who wrote the letters didn't seem to know what it was he was accused of exactly,” she said.
When these types of cases occur, a lot of people will come out and defend the accused, noting that that person is great otherwise, Harry said, adding that goes to the court’s analysis.
She agreed that Cramer has taken responsibility. “It’s easy to do once you’re caught.”
Harry said someone once told her that dangerous individuals in cases such as this one are friendly looking, and the type no one would expect. Cramer, she said, looks just like that.
The argument had been made that jail would be bad for Cramer’s physical and mental health, which Harry accepted. However, she said she accepted that argument for almost everyone.
The crime for which Cramer is charged has victims, said Harry, explaining the damage to the lives of the children shown in the images and videos. “Saying there are no victims is a misnomer.”
She added, “These items would not be created if there was not a consumer.”
Harry then announced she didn’t accept the plea deal as negotiated, explaining that she didn't find Cramer eligible for probation.
Instead, she intended to sentence him to two years in state prison, with other terms of the deal remaining in effect. “That is my sentence.”
Cramer’s attorney, Jane Gaskell of Santa Rosa, said the plea had been entered with the understanding that probation would be granted. As such, she asked for more time to talk to Cramer about next steps.
Gaskill also asked to withdraw the letters of support that had been submitted in order to remove them from the public record.
Harry granted both the request for more time and the removal of the letters, and set Cramer’s return to court for 3 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 15.
Following the court appearance, Krones told Lake County News that about 20 letters had been submitted in support of Cramer.
Neither she nor anyone in court on Monday identified any of the letter writers.
As for what could happen next, Krones said Cramer could withdraw his plea, at which point all of the original charges would be available, and go to a jury trial, risking the potential for a greater prison sentence.
Krones said he also can stay with the plea with the understanding that the judge is not going to grant probation and is likely going to sentence him to two years in prison.
“Basically, those are the options,” she said.
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