Real Talk With Krista Bax
Krista Bax, CEO of Go2HR
The last several months have seen some unprecedented changes to BC’s tourism and hospitality industry. The industry is among one of the hardest hit and is expected to suffer significant long-term negative impacts. We asked Krista Bax, the new CEO of go2HR, BC’s tourism human resource association, for some insight into the tourism labour market, and what recovery means for women of the industry.
What does recovery look like for our industry - specifically for women, who have been hardest hit by the pandemic?
Although we are in Phase 3 of BC’s Restart Plan, it’s only the beginning of recovery for most businesses and especially for our industry. Since COVID-19, 10% independent restaurants have closed permanently and 50% are expected to close permanently by the end of the year without assistance. Hotel occupancy was down 62% from last year, and many hotels are not yet open. More than 100,000 full- and part-time tourism and hospitality jobs have been temporarily or permanently lost due to the pandemic and related travel and physical distancing restrictions.
At this point, one-quarter of businesses in all regions remain closed and more than half are operating at reduced capacity. Destination BC is projecting a 69% decline in tourism revenue from 2018, which means there’s a long journey ahead of us. Having said that, the tourism industry comprises innovative and resilient leaders, and we are all working together to bring our industry back to pre-pandemic levels.
What other industries show promise and would be a natural fit for women of recreation tourism and hospitality?
As we often say to those who are interested in a job or career in the tourism and hospitality industry, working in our industry allows us to develop and hone many transferable skills, such as customer service, teamwork, problem-solving, communication, leadership, multitasking, time management and project management. Since COVID-19, go2HR has expanded our job board to other in-demand sectors to support essential services - healthcare and retirement residences, agriculture and retail. Take this opportunity to offer your skill set and expertise to businesses in need, and when our industry is well into our path of recovery, we will welcome you back with open arms.
What do unemployment numbers look like as layoff periods wrap up (any stats?)
More than 146,000 tourism and hospitality jobs were lost between February and April 2020. According to the BC Government, between February and May 2020, 65% of total jobs lost in the tourism industry were held by women. Despite the fact that almost 22,000 were added in May and another 69,000 added in June, jobs in our industry are still in deficit.
How is go2HR supporting recovery for women?
To date, we have been focused on supporting business recovery to be ready to offer jobs.
Since March 2020, go2HR has played a large role in supporting the industry’s response and recovery to COVID-19. We have responded in a number of ways:
We maintain dedicated HR and OHS COVID-19 webpages with practical information. Topics such as termination and layoffs were of immediate need when the real impact of the virus was becoming a reality.
We opened our job board to connect unemployed tourism workers with in-demand sectors such as healthcare and agriculture.
We serve as the HR expert for BC’s Tourism Resiliency Network being delivered through the regional destination marketing organizations.
We supported the development of COVID-19 operating best practices to varying degrees for sectors such as accommodations, adventure tourism and camping, to name a few.
We continue to participate in relevant and effective response and recovery initiatives such as Metro Vancouver Industry Response and Recovery Task Force, and BC Program Resiliency Program Group.
We delivered 15 webinars in partnership with Destination BC and other stakeholders.
To assist employers in assessing the readiness to restart during COVID-19, we developed an online self-assessment tool.
Tell us about your experience in the CEO role to date and what you have planned for the future (we always love profiling women in leadership!).
I officially joined go2HR on April 1. It has certainly been an unexpected, and rewarding ride so far. Because of COVID-19, I haven’t yet spent 10 full days in the office or even one of those with my entire team. Notwithstanding, as I have said before, I am very privileged to be part of such a resilient, innovative, welcoming community. While I was learning the ropes of my new role, I worked closely with my team and stakeholders, and prioritized our focus on providing COVID-19 support and resources to the industry. It offered me an excellent opportunity to launch into my role and connect with employers and other industry leaders (albeit virtually).
Looking ahead, my priorities for this year include:
Establishing the strategic direction for go2HR after the organization had undergone some major changes last year.
Increasing the profile of go2HR and collaboration with key stakeholders.
Continuing our contribution to the industry’s COVID-19 response and recovery activities.
Expanding the customer base for SuperHost customer service training.
Krista Bax is the CEO of go2HR. If you are looking for information and resources on the tourism human resources, training, and health and safety, contact Krista and the go2HR team at info@go2hr.ca.