It’s that time of year again: the holidays. Also known as the time when all of the service industry employees in Hawaii trade jobs with one another.
You see, a majority of these workers are students or transplants from the mainland, and they request the holidays off to go home and see their families. To grant this much vacation time would mean that restaurants, stores, and hotels would be extremely understaffed, so roughly 30% are granted holiday leave. The other 70% simply quit.
The workers have little loyalty to the employers who feel their bottom line is more important than time with family. And with a wealth of service jobs available in Waikiki, they have little doubt in their ability to find a replacement job at their leisure when they return to the island.
They’re right. Most employers here scramble to find employees after New Year’s to replace those who have quit. As a result, the employees all return after the holidays and take one another’s jobs.
This doesn’t make financial sense for the companies, who then have to spend resources training so many new employees. Nor does it make sense to grant holiday leave to everyone who asks and operate without enough staff for the holidays. However, the result is the same, with understaffed businesses and unhappy employers.
A solution would be to offer incentives to employees who remain loyal to their companies and choose to stay on the island over the holidays. A number of workers would delay a trip home if it meant extra cash in their wallets, or some other tangible form of appreciation (shopping spree, anyone?). Yet employers are hesitant to do this because they feel the employees should simply be loyal and remain here to work because that’s what they’ve been told.
If their goal were to work at The Surf Hut their whole life, that would be the case. But since they only took the job to have funds to hit the sand themselves before they settled down into an office job, leaving at a moment’s notice does not weigh on their conscience.
So the circle continues. Head to The Cattle Company in January and you’ll encounter the same server who waited on you at Buca Di Beppo in November. Be patient—they’re still learning the menu.
