Black employees in the hospitality industry have disproportionately lost jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The wreckage comes despite many calls for travel brands to make diversity and inclusion a priority in their business.
According to a study from the Castell Project, titled Black Representation in Hospitality Leadership 2021, Black employees lost share of hospitality industry employment and remained under-represented in leadership over the past year.
“Hospitality is even more dependent on Black employees than other industries in North America so equity and inclusion will be vitally important to the industry’s ability to attract employees post-COVID,” says Peggy Berg, chair of the Castell Project.
“This is a time of remarkable opportunity, as virtually every company in the hospitality industry restructures at once. As McKinsey & Company reports, ‘diverse companies outperform industry peers over time, and the penalties are getting steeper for those lacking diversity.’ This is the hospitality industry’s rare chance to open opportunity to diverse employees and to rebuild equitably.”
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According to the report, Black representation in leadership for the public face of the hospitality industry fell from 2019 to 2020: In 2020, only 11% of the 801 hotel company websites that analysts reviewed showed Black executives – defined as director through CEO – compared to 16% of 630 company websites in 2019.
Black executives represented 1.6% of hospitality industry executives on company websites in 2020 – 10.9 times lower than their 17.5% share of hospitality industry employment, indicating advancement is not equitable for Black employees.
In 2020, one in 5.7 hospitality employees was Black compared to one in 49 vice presidents and one in 58 EVP/SVPs.
From 2019 to 2020, average employment in traveler accommodation fell 35%, despite full employment in the months before the pandemic, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The hospitality industry let go a higher proportion of its Black workforce than other employees: Black employees comprised 17.5% of traveler accommodation employees in 2020, down from 18.8% in 2019.
“This is a pivotal moment,” Berg says. “Because of the scale of business disruption during the pandemic, how we bring people back to work, and who we bring back, will define the industry for years to come. This is a pivotal moment as we shape the industry for a diverse future marketplace.”