Where are the Workers?
Caption: Steve Campbell at Harbor Lights Resort in Frankfort has imported Jamaican housekeepers under the guestworker visa program to alleviate his summertime employee shortage.
Tourism economy booms, but finding “the help” is a nightmare
By Jacob Wheeler
Sun editor
The streets of downtown Glen Arbor are packed these days with tourists, beachgoers, and shoppers. The tills hum at apparel shops, rented bikes and kayaks roll off the assembly line at Crystal River Outfitters, and there’s a hungry line out the door at Art’s Tavern.
But “help wanted” signs on storefronts, restaurant entrances and social media appeals, have become as ubiquitous in our tourism boomtowns — in Glen Arbor and up and down the Lake Michigan shoreline.
The Western Avenue Grill was so short-staffed in the days after the Fourth of July that it twice closed an hour early; the grill had already imported an extra cook from Florida, but still needs servers, hosts and bartenders to spell manager Bridget, who works 90-hour weeks; Anderson’s Market has enough employees now, but owner Brad Anderson was seen last month stocking shelves, himself; the Good Harbor Grill is running on fumes with barely enough help and will have to limp through August when some employees return home to prepare for school; at Wildflowers, Donna Burgan needs a new manager, ideally someone who knows the QuickBooks program, and more part-time help year-round; at Glen Craft Marina, Kathy Aylsworth has no idea what she’ll do in mid-August once her staff leaves early for high school sports camp — weeks before Glen Arbor’s high tourism season ends on Labor Day; Century 21 Northland needs more housekeepers; McCahills Crossing Dairy Bar has enough staff only because employees at nearby On the Narrows Marina pull compulsory shifts behind the ice cream counter; the Manor on Glen Lake needs to fill just about every position, and Horizons n’ Sunsets in Empire needs a prep cook.
Down the road in Frankfort, Fusion restaurant needs more wait staff to make it through the summer season. In Honor, the Plate River Inn has needed a cook for more than a year. Even Crystal Mountain, the largest employer in Benzie County, still needs bartenders, housekeepers and lifeguards. Get the picture?
The Homestead resort commanded statewide news after it announced on June 26 that it would not open its Italian-themed sports bar, Beppi’s, or its child daycare center, Camp Tamarack, except for privately booked events such as rehearsal dinners and welcome receptions. This decision was made after not a single applicant appeared at its job fair. The Homestead’s announcement sent shudders through the small-town seasonal tourism industry and punctuated a growing dilemma: while towns like Glen Arbor and Frankfort are thriving during the high summer months—thanks in large part to the Midwest-wide Pure Michigan campaign and Good Morning America recognizing Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore as “the most beautiful place in America” in 2013—businesses in these towns are sometimes victims of their own success.
[Press attention following The Homestead’s surprise announcement in late June attracted several new employee candidates, said The Homestead’s Jame Kuras. “As a result of all the coverage,” says Kuras, “we have received some great applicants and employee leads from the RV community—a great group of mostly retired folks who summer in the area and are looking for part-time work. We’ve also had recent success with attracting eager workers who happen to live at the Leelanau Camp Ground during the summer.”]
A recent survey by the Leelanau Peninsula Economic Foundation reached the same conclusion — that local business owners both benefit from, and are hindered by, the natural beauty of the Leelanau peninsula. Click here for the results of their study.
All of the attention on the Sleeping Bear region has helped drive up real estate values, attracting an older and well-heeled crowd to live here. It has made affordable housing for working-class families within the town limits all but impossible. Often the lone sources of employees for a six- to eight-week summertime job are local high school students or the children or grandchildren of summer residents who own a second home on the Glen Lakes or Crystal Lake. And when Labor Day weekend arrives, they return to their studies, or to their primary homes downstate, leaving their employers empty handed.
Leelanau County population estimates by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services show a sharp decline in the young workforce since 2000. Since the turn of the millennium, the number of 26-40 year olds in the county has decreased from 3,441 to 2,705; since 2005, the 16-25 year-old demographic has shrunk by 3 percent; and worse, the 1-15 age group has dropped from 4,382 in 2000 to 2,960 in 2015. If these trends continue, help is not on the way.
A lot of discussion in the local media lately has fallen on two issues: affordable housing and livable wages.
For Benzie’s Crystal Mountain Resort, the problem lies with finding full-time employees, according to Amy Woodworth, director of human resources. Crystal Mountain has 520 employees on payroll during the winter ski season.
“We cannot compete with other service employers in the region—especially with retail in Traverse City,” she told the forum Building a Better Benzie last month, “And we have problems attracting employees because of inadequate housing and distance. We currently have some limited housing on site, but we’re not going to attract people coming in 30 miles to work for $12-13 an hour.”
Finding housing is a huge stumbling block for both professionals and lower-paid employees at Paul Oliver Memorial Hospital, which has 200 full- and part-time employees.
“To get the younger people who prefer Boulder or Burlington, we need to add more recreational opportunities,” noted Roger Perry, a Paul Oliver board member. “But skilled employees cannot find housing, and they see the existing stock in Benzie as sub-standard, middle-income housing.”
In the absence of a viable plan for workforce housing, businesses have to fight over the shrinking crop of workers. Those that are able to offer higher wages get the help they need, but those that cannot will have to survive the summer season short-staffed or curtail their hours and services. Ron Heffelfinger, business liaison for Michigan Works in Benzie and Manistee counties, is not joking when he says that, just three years ago, a housekeeper at a local hotel used to make between $8.50 (Michigan’s current minimum wage) and $9 an hour. Now they can get $12 to $13 an hour.
“There is upward pressure for employers to increase wages in order to get different folks,” he says. “Tourism in our area is no longer just the summer months. Fall is also a great season for hospitality employers. But they’re going to struggle, because they don’t have enough college kids to work.”
Help from Jamaica
Three summers ago, Frankfort-based Harbor Lights Resort owner Steve Campbell found that his crop of seasonal employees — particularly housekeepers — was drying up.
“We had a situation where we didn’t have rooms available because we didn’t have workers to clean them,” he remembers.
So Campbell took the innovative, but foreign, step of hiring Jamaican housekeepers last year through the federal H2B guestworker visa program. To house them, he bought a home on M-115, a mile and a half from his lakeside resort in downtown Frankfort. The employees who live in the home pay rent for six months of the year to Campbell, from May until early November, and return to the Caribbean before the snow flies.
Eight Jamaican women first traveled here in 2015 to work as housekeepers at Harbor Lights; the experience was mutually beneficial, and all eight returned this summer. They use the Benzie Bus to commute between work and home.
“We’d prefer locals who want employment,” says Campbell, whose family has owned Harbor Lights Resort since the 1960s. “But we didn’t get the interest from locals. Many would like to spend their summers up here and work, but finding a place to live is the hardest thing. There comes a point where we need to do what it takes to continue to operate. Bringing in the Jamaicans was a necessity.”
“We are very happy with the people we’ve gotten,” Campbell adds. “The program is a lifesaver for us. They make a great sacrifice to come here for six months and display an attitude and work ethic that we hope for.”
The eight Jamaican women — most of whom come from the cities of Kingston and Montego Bay,and whose ages range from 29 to 37 — joined an existing Harbor Lights staff of about 30 workers, which shrinks to 12 in the off season.
The Glen Arbor Sun recently interviewed four of the eight Jamaicans — Chrastantia Jarrett, Donneiilliems Williams, Cleopatra Gayle, and Resa Allen—and they spoke glowingly of their experience in Frankfort the past two summers. Allen had Googled “Harbor Lights Resort” and “Frankfort Michigan” upon learning of the work opportunity through the Jamaican government, and her search discovered a locale and job that was “family oriented, clean, and respectful.” Once she arrived, the destination did not disappoint.
“The people here are so nice!” Allen giggles. “When you walk the streets, everyone knows us already. They ask, ‘You’ve come so far. Don’t you miss your families?’”
Most of the Jamaicans are supporting children back home, whose ages range from five to 18; they hope to send the next generation to college. The workers say that wages at Harbor Lights Resort far exceed what they have made working in the hospitality industry in Jamaica. The housekeepers also speak warmly of Campbell, who offered a hug and made them feel welcome upon arrival. If given the opportunity, they hope to return again next year.
Asked what Frankfort lacks, the women joke only that “it’s cold here!” in the spring and fall, and that they wished the local eateries such as A&W offered home delivery. But overall, they seem content with their six-month stays and grateful for the opportunity. They work 5 or 6 days each week. On their off days, the Benzie Bus allows them easy transit to visit Traverse City, where they like to shop at the mall.
“We always meet interesting people on the bus,” laughs Allen.
Campbell hopes that other businesses will use public transit options such as the Benzie Bus, or BATA in Leelanau County, as a creative solution to alleviate their worker shortage.
“With the advent of the bus system, we could reach out further to people who don’t live in town,” Campbell says. “It would give us the ability to recruit more college students from around the area who want to work in hospitality, hotels, and restaurants and who want to spend their summers working in Benzie or Leelanau counties.”
Innovative Solutions Attract Employees
Other businesses that ramp up summer operations have found that innovative incentives attract employees.
In Frankfort, Stormcloud Brewing Company offers employees an extra $50 if they refer a friend who joins the staff and lasts at 30 days “in good standing,” says co-owner Rick Schmitt.
In Glen Arbor, Cherry Republic offers to match $1 per hour in a college savings account between May 1 and September 1 for all employees in, or planning to attend, college. The company increases the match to $1.50 per hour during the second year of employment. Its college-match program doubled in enrollment this year. Cherry Republic also reportedly pays “higher” than the average seasonal rate of $11 to $13 per hour. Many employees receive a $1 per hour pay increase when they return the following year.
Leelanau Vacation Rentals (LVR) also begins recruiting housekeepers and other staff long before peak season and begins paying employees advance salaries just to secure them. Wages have increased over last year, and the vacation rental company offers bonuses for returning staff. CEO Ranae Ihme reports that LVR is fully staffed this summer.
Like Harbor Lights Resort, The Homestead in Glen Arbor also imports foreign workers through the guestworker visa program, joining a list of Northern Michigan hospitality businesses that includes the Grand Traverse Resort and the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island. The Homestead has contracted with foreign workers for more than two decades. Some return year after year, and their experience is reportedly a positive one. The Homestead is able to provide some on-site housing — for a bargain rate of $220 per month, plus utilities — and they are given access to the resort’s amenities, including free golf and skiing and a 35 percent discount on salon and spa services.
The Homestead currently employs 200 full-time and part-time workers but could use 25 to 30 more. Wages start at $8.50 to $9 per hour for seasonally employed high school students. The resort also offers signing bonuses, retention bonuses, employee-referral bonuses, and reimbursements for employees who use the BATA bus to commute to work. One such employee commutes all the way from Cadillac.
Despite The Homestead’s attempts to incentivize working at “America’s freshwater resort,” the Italian sports bar Beppi’s remains closed until further notice. Resort management hope that affordable housing or public transit become part of a creative solution in the future to increase the crop of willing workers.
Otherwise, businesses worry, America’s “most beautiful place” threatens to become America’s most understaffed place.
Editor’s clarification: an earlier version of this story implied that The Homestead resort had closed Beppi’s sports bar and Tamarack daycare facility indefinitely. In fact, while they don’t hold regular hours on account of the employee shortage, Beppi’s is open for private events such as rehearsal dinners and welcome receptions. We regret the error.
