Am I not attractive anymore? : A qualitative study on how to increase attractiveness after Covid-19 for organizations within the tourism & hospitality industry

Abstract: As the need for similar skills across various industries has increased throughout the years, itis not mandatory to stay within the same industry or organization as you once started. Whennew opportunities take shape, people have come to compare their situation with what it couldbe like in another organization, in another industry, making the attractiveness of anorganization increasingly important, both to keep and to attract new talented employees. Thetourism & hospitality industry has long been perceived as an industry where there is poorwork-life balance, and lower compensation for the employees than other industries whencompared. Because of this, the tourism & hospitality industry have to reconsider theirpractices and evaluate what can be changed to increase the attractiveness, to ensure the futuregrowth of the industry. There are aspects of the tourism & hospitality industry that influence the intention to staywithin an organization, and in the industry as well, including the work-life balance andcompensation. However, there has been an emphasis on what influences the employees toleave rather than the aspects that could be changed to increase the attractiveness, reduce theportion of employees leaving, and attract new ones. There are also proven effects that criseshave on organizations within the tourism & hospitality industry, which influence some of thefactors, previously stated as reasons for employees considering leaving. Hence, there is aresearch gap on how to increase the attractiveness of organizations within the tourism &hospitality industry, after a crisis. The purpose of this study is to examine the key factors that explain why employees in thetourism & hospitality industry find other industries more attractive and identify howorganizations within tourism & hospitality must adapt to increase their attractiveness. Toaddress the research gap, this study used an inductive approach and conducted qualitative,semi-structured interviews to gather the data. When choosing a sample technique, it first tooka stance in the snowball technique, using the network of the authors to get in touch with theappropriate respondents. After this a purposive sampling technique was used to select themost appropriate respondents, with the ability to contribute to the study. The empirical datawas analyzed through a thematic analysis to review and present the relevant findings of the empirical data. From the thematic analysis, three main themes were identified: What creates the talentshortage, How do crises affect talent shortage and What can be done to prevent talentshortage. Within the three main themes, nine sub-themes were found, which assisted infinalizing a conceptual model, showing how organizations within the tourism & hospitalityindustry can change to become more attractive toward talented employees. The findings ofthis study shows that opportunities for personal development and career growth, continuouscommunication between employee and employer, involvement of employees in decisions,improved work-life balance, normal workloads, reduction of unhealthy stress, brand image,and compensation can increase the attractiveness of organization in the tourism & hospitalityindustry after a crisis, such as Covid-19.