Growing the workforce will continue to be a top priority for Maine’s lodging businesses and restaurants, says the executive director of an industry group.
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When Steve Hewins became executive director of newly formed HospitalityME a little over a year ago, the mission was clear — advocate for the state’s restaurant and lodging industry, grow the workforce and educate the public on what the industry does.
As 2020 begins, Hewins says inroads have been made, but those goals are still at the forefront, and leading them all is strengthening the workforce.
“When I first came here, one of the first conversations I had was about the workforce and what we’re going to do about it,” he says. Since then, workforce challenges have “become a crisis,” but efforts to tackle them have risen to meet the challenge.
The state’s restaurant and lodging associations merged in 2018 to form HospitalityME, which represents more than 1,000 members in the industry. Hewins, in a recent interview with Mainebiz, says the merger brought a more dedicated focus, making it easier to create initiatives and to advocate at the State House for issues that involve both arms of the state’s hospitality industry.
He says the most important aspect of the merger was to bring focus to the lodging and restaurant sectors, carving them out of the bigger tourism industry.
“We’re no longer fragmented, and have the opportunity to build this industry into a powerful one,” he says.
The consolidated approach has already helped create new workforce initiatives, including creating a director of workforce development position, held by Terry Hayes. The organization has also bolstered the apprenticeship program with help from a Maine Quality Centers grant that will provide free school credits for those in the program and a first-ever partnership with the state Department of Corrections.
Workforce initiatives will stay at the forefront in the coming year.
One focus will be on helping new Americans overcome the language barrier with an “English for hospitality” program. “Just so they can learn the vernacular,” Hewins says. “When someone says, ‘Can you prepare rooms 220 to 230?’ they can know what that means.
“We could employ every single immigrant in Maine, but language is what holds them back,” he says. “If we could get the language barrier covered, we’d go a long way to helping strengthen our workforce.”
Introducing culinary careers to elementary and middle-school students is another goal. HospitalityME’s education foundation is being formed to work exclusively on education and grant applications.
“Generally speaking, there’s a lack of understanding about the opportunities that exist in the industry, so we want to do that outreach,” he says.
HospitalityME released a study in November that not only highlighted the $6.9 billion economic impact the industry has on the state, but also the range of jobs available.
He says if the industry can make workforce inroads in 2020, “we’ll have started a dedicated supply chain that will last forever.”