Business View Magazine l November 2022

148 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 9, ISSUE 11 own. That hurt. From a business perspective, we all were forced to start over. It’s like opening a brand new business in many respects. Current staffing experience Obtaining labor has been an ongoing challenge. The combination of former employees being forced to find new jobs, the great resignation, and more spouses deciding to stay at home created a huge hole in the service industry. But out of troubled times always comes innovation and I think venues have been great in their response. Trends that we currently see are significantly increased wages, which truly needed to happen for us to retain quality employees. Venues and clients are also learning to do more with less staffing. Changes to event programming have eliminated many labor intensive components, especially with food service and room changes. Venues have redistributed roles that weren’t considered service critical and found more efficient organizational structures. Many of the department silos that existed prior to the pandemic are gone. Everyone helps everyone when it comes to servicing events now.