Hello, Round-Up Readers! Guess who got COVID? After daily emails from my kids' school for months with "close contact" warnings I'd become complacent TBH. This week (along with Prince Charles) my daughter tested positive and then I did too. Being immunocompromised, for which I receive great medical care from the NHS, I was literally the first person in London to receive a newly approved drug, Paxlovid (#notsponsored). I am happy to report that within three days of taking it, I am 100% better. I have been interviewed by the BBC about my experience…so stay tuned for news about that! Undeterred and COVID-free, my husband and son managed to go skiing in Italy. While I remain puzzled about who gets COVID and why––I was planning (and hoping) to travel. My family's personal experience mirrors the recent article in the New York Times, "Counting on ‘Endemic’: The Travel Industry Readies for a New Phase," which reports this shift in mindset––learning to live with it––that has given the travel industry in Europe and the US a boost in recent weeks. Now, on to this week's news: Before we get to the normal round-up news, a few topics that should be on your radar. Russia may be about to invade Ukraine, inflation is at a 40-year high (7.5%), and new trucker protests have further jammed up supply chains already stressed by the pandemic. And today is Super Bowl Sunday, where 117 million people are expected to watch the big game globally, from Los Angeles. Bottom line: a busy week. Women in the workplace: Moms are the default parent. A new survey revealed fewer than a quarter of working moms said they get the recommended average night’s sleep, and many don’t have time for basic self-care. The survey, a collaborative effort of three “mom-led” companies (Kuli Kuli, Sylvatex, Uncommon Cacao) and researchers from four universities (UC San Francisco, UC Berkeley, UCLA, Northeastern) spoke with 1,048 working mothers in all 50 states. Another key finding: the biggest challenge was losing childcare when daycares/schools shut and working moms had to simultaneously fit in full-time work and full-time childcare, while this typically was not the case for their male partners or the father of their children. Companies need to offer women support. Surveys like the one above make this argument, "Stop Telling Working Women They Just Need an Equal Partnership at Home" in the Harvard Business Review even more compelling. The pandemic has put an outsized burden on working moms (see previous bullet) and little offered in terms of solutions. One of the pieces of advice that women are often given is to demand an equal partnership with their spouses. But, as the author explains through research and her personal experience, that’s not always feasible. She argues that unequal partnerships are not always foreseeable or avoidable, and advocates that we stop blaming women and resolve to give them more support.
Solutions for women and workers in general: - Mainstreaming the Four-Day week. More stories praising the Four-day work week cite increased productivity, WaPo shares the success of a video game maker and CNBC profiled NYC-based online retailer Primary. Further confirming this trend, "In Britain, the Five-Day Office Week Is an Aberration Now" writes Bloomberg, but this article addresses the hybrid work impact (Tube journeys at 58% pre-pandemic levels), empty office buildings, and the challenges of keeping an engaged and motivated workforce.
- Retreats for workers. To keep and engage workers, software giant, Salesforce.com has leased its own retreat center, "Trailblazer Ranch" as it will be called, to hold employee gatherings now that hybrid work is the norm. In the current tight labor market, Salesforce Chief People Officer, Brent Hyder said "companies that create new ways of bonding with workers won’t experience attrition in the war for talent. The people who win will be those who are connected to their jobs... in a really emotional way." Salesforce surveys found:
- 77% of Salesforce workers want to get together in person with their teams
- Employees' top-ranked barrier to success was the ability for teams to meet and connect in person (which seems like excellent news for the meetings sector, as not every company has the budget to build their own retreat center!)
Other biz news: Travel news: Serving Up 3 F&B Trends: - Stealthy healthy: Bloomberg reports on the trend that diners are more conscious about what goes into their meals and how they feel afterward, but they don't want 'health food' to be the theme of the restaurant. Consumers want ambiance and service, even healthy options at the Michelin-star level.
- Climatarian diet: here the focus is on the planet, not just your health, though there is overlap! Climatarians want low-carbon foods, to eat seasonally, grown locally, with limited food waste and no plastic packaging. Think…pulses, grains, nuts, mushrooms little or no meat, dairy, or processed foods.
- Spirits rise, while wine declines among millennials. NYT reports the U.S. wine industry is predicting (and worried about) a 20% decline in sales over the next few years as baby boomers age and millennials prefer spirits and craft beers.
Do you love Round-Up? Help us keep growing––just forward this email, anyone can sign up by clicking here! On hertelier this week: WATCH THIS!!! Hotels play a big role in Inventing Anna, the new Netflix series by Shonda Rhimes, about the true story of Anna Sorokin, a fake heiress that scammed her way through New York. Highly binge-able, the 9-episode series offers a glimpse into the challenges hotels face when guests have bad credit cards. So many cringe-y moments! Time Out offers a recap of the real hotels mentioned in the show. If you're a new subscriber, you may not know hertelier was featured by the Cornell University SC Johnson School of Business! Please CLICK HERE to read about the community YOU are helping to build for women in lodging! TL;DR or are you still here? I'd love to hear from you. Why do you read hertelier and what would you like to see covered? Is there someone you'd like to suggest for a profile? My goal in 2022 is to get to know more of our readers, please reply to this email. I am a real person 😃 Have a great week, Em |
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