Working at warp speed

By Susan Hooper
Advertiser Staff Writer

Junior Pogai can measure the lingering effects of the Sept. 11 attacks with his footsteps.

Junior Pogai, a tour coordinator with Waikiki operator Aloha 7, looks over brochures that will be given to customers from Japan. Pogai lost his job in November, but was one of the lucky ones called back to work in February. When he returned, though, it was to a transformed company — one with fewer workers that required him to do more work, from one end of Waikiki to the other. Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser

Before the attacks, Pogai — a 16-year veteran of the tourism industry — generally was assigned to just one of Aloha 7's many Waikiki hotel desks, assisting Japanese customers with the company's various tours. These days, because so many of his colleagues have been let go, he splits his time among several hotels, threading his way on foot along Waikiki's busy sidewalks.

"We're going from desk to desk and from one side of Waikiki to the other," he said. "I think after the attacks people have been doing extra work, because we have to cover for each other. And because we have a lack of staff, people have to run around here and there, and just do a little bit more than what they usually do."

Welcome to the brave new world of doing more with less. From tourism to telecommunications, from retail to real estate, employees are facing staff shortages, requests from management to pitch in on work formerly done by laid-off colleagues and other fundamental changes in the expectations they have of their jobs.

Much of the immediate shortage of workers is because of the September attacks, which devastated Hawai'i's tourism industry and caused thousands of layoffs. "It's been severe for those who were laid off and severe for those who are still here," said Kenji Kume, general manager of Aloha 7, about the cuts his company made last fall.

But employment experts say even workplaces insulated from the effects of the attacks have been reviewing labor costs and making decisions about cutting expenses and building profits that will mean significant adjustments for their workers.

"I'm not convinced that Sept. 11 is responsible for the across-the-sector job loss," said Beverly Marica, Hawai'i franchise owner of Adecco Personnel and Adecco Technical, a staffing agency. "There are some industries that it's definitely affected, but I think the employers were getting very cost-conscious before that and (Sept. 11) was just an extra kick.

"The shift is that worldwide competition has forced companies to do more with less and be more efficient, and the result of this has turned employment into something new."

Statistics support Marica's theory. After creating few jobs through Hawai'i's 1990s economic slump, several industries added jobs from the second half of 1999 through the second half of 2000, as the state's economy began to rebound. But by early 2001, several months before the attacks, job creation in several areas had slowed as the state's economic recovery began to cool.

Annual job growth was between 2.5 percent and 3.5 percent for most of 2000, but had dropped to less than 0.5 percent by July 2001, state statistics show. Nonetheless, employers say, the attacks greatly accelerated any trend toward doing more with less.

"Certainly the downturn preceded 9/11," said Bill Brown, senior vice president of human resources and planning for Outrigger Hotels & Resorts. "But the precipitous nature of what happened would not have occurred were it not for 9/11. And I believe, particularly for the hospitality industry, the woes continue to be attributable to the fear of flying or the concerns over travel."

Living with uncertainty

Although changes in Hawai'i's workplaces may have begun before Sept. 11, most analysts agree that continuing uncertainty about world events is keeping many employers from rehiring now.

"In some parts of our economy and in some ways, yes, things have looked up a bit in terms of improvement in visitor arrivals and the effect that has all through our economy," said Linda Foye, president of Workplace Solutions, a statewide employee assistance program. "But I don't think any one of us feels real secure yet with this slight economic upturn ... I don't know of too many companies in whatever industry who are willing to say it's all pau now and we can restaff and bring everybody back. Every day we hear there's going to be more terrorism ... so it's a very fragile time."

Brown, of Outrigger, offered a similar perspective. Outrigger cut about 10 percent of its 2,977-person Hawai'i work force after the attacks, and has not fully restored its employee roster to pre-attack levels.

"The uncertainty about when things will come back has been the greatest damper on rehiring, because there is a sense that you don't want to bring people back only to go through another precipitous downturn," Brown said.

David Carey, president and chief executive of Outrigger Enterprises, Outrigger Hotels & Resorts' parent company, said lower occupancy levels at the company's properties are only part of the problem. To attract hesitant visitors, Outrigger — like many other hotel companies — has reduced room charges from last year's levels, giving the company a smaller return on the guests they do welcome.

"Occupancy is down 10 percent" compared to the year before, Carey said. "Rates are down 7 to 8 percent. Add them together and that's a 17 to 18 percent drop in revenues.

"Hotels are not enjoying a great return to profitability, so they're having to focus on cost management," he said. "So you're doing more with less, and it's a survivability issue. ... If we were enjoying enormous sales increases, then it would probably require a more critical look at whether we were at the right staffing levels. But we're not back to where we were."

Unintended consequences

Even as they tread the stony path of determining the proper number of employees, a few companies say some staff cuts made after Sept. 11 resulted in unexpected efficiencies.

Retailer DFS Hawaii decided to reduce hours for many store personnel rather than lay them off, according to Sharon Weiner, the company's group vice president. "In our business, the last possible cost you want to cut is your store staffing, because that's where you get your sales," she said.

Most of the 92 DFS employees laid off after the attacks were in management, including human resources, some secretarial staff and administrative support. The changes forced a number of adjustments, Weiner said, including having one secretary work for three senior managers and eliminating production of reports.

"When the first staff reductions and system changes were made effective, everybody said, 'How can we do this; how can we operate this way?' " Weiner said. "And everybody learned from this experience really how flexible we are."

The higher level of uncertainty in workplaces may be contributing to a phenomenon employment specialists say they would have trouble explaining otherwise: a marked decrease in complaints and turnover by employees, at a time when many of their work loads have increased.

Several members of the Hawai'i chapter of the Society for Human Resource Management said recently they have seen a drop in employee behavior problems and employee departures, according to chapter spokesman Brian Tama-moto, managing director of Honolulu consulting firm Human Resources Solutions.

One Hawai'i employer with more than 1,500 employees reported a turnover of just 2 percent since Sept. 11, compared with an average 15 percent annual turnover before the attacks, Tamamoto said.

In addition, several hotel representatives said guest surveys are showing a higher satisfaction rate since the attacks — a reflection in part of better treatment by the staff, experts say.

"Employees seem to have a greater appreciation for the company they work for and in treating guests," Tamamoto said.

One key reason may be that many employees' spouses have lost work and the family is more dependent on the job and benefits they still have.

"You will find, since Sept. 11, that people are looking for stability," Tamamoto said.

Multitasking

Uncertainty about their future may be a reason workers have learned to become more flexible in the months since the attacks, analysts say.

At Outrigger's Keauhou Beach Resort on the Big Island, weekday occupancies were low in the months following the attacks, but surged on the weekends with the arrival of Hawai'i residents taking advantage of kama'aina rates, Brown said. Because the hotel was reluctant to hire back staff just for the weekends, it chose to have some existing employees branch out to learn new tasks.

"We had people usually working just in the food and beverage area cleaning rooms, and the hotel managers and others going up and making beds and things," Brown said.

"I would say there's a premium now on people being able to do more than one thing, because there may not be a full-time job doing what you've always done, but if you combine that with the skills necessary to do an allied job, there may be one whole job there," he said. "I wouldn't say people are working two jobs, but in the time it takes to do one job, they're spanning multiple functions."

Ann Katekaru, a senior consultant with Inkinen & Associates, a Honolulu executive search and human resources consulting firm, has seen the same phenomenon among other employers who cut staff after the attacks.

"There are organizations where, no matter what size you are, there are things that have to be done," she said. "Maybe it's identifying individuals who can multitask and fill a variety of roles, whereas in the past it was OK to be a specialist."

As for the effect on employees, she said, "Well, naturally, attitude is everything. Those who resist change will have a difficult time and have been having a difficult time. And those who embrace continuous learning and believe that, as they learn a new skill, it will make them more marketable — those are the ones who are being successful."

Rethinking employment

As with reductions in staff, encouraging employees to multitask was part of the corporate landscape before Sept. 11, analysts say. GTE Hawaiian Tel employees became familiar with the concept after their parent GTE Corp. merged with Bell Atlantic in June 2000, creating Verizon Communications, according to Ann Nishida, a Verizon Hawaii spokeswoman.

The company reduced its staff by about one-sixth to about 2,500, largely through early retirements of longtime employees, and also began "cross-training" remaining workers in a number of different areas, she said.

As an example, Verizon Hawaii operators are trained to answer "411" information calls and "0" calls for operator assistance, Nishida said, making Hawai'i operators unique in the 31 states where Verizon has service. And, she said, there are many other examples of cross-training in the company.

"I guess (employees) don't have such a narrow focus anymore," she said. "Your job is this, and it could also be this and this and this. Even when it was GTE, I think the company had already started to go that way — to have a more efficient work force, to work smarter and to use our resources better."

In this regard, the company's largest union — the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 1357 — proved a valuable ally, Nishida said, giving permission to shift employees to areas where work needs to be done.

"I suppose they could have been difficult and said, 'This is my job; I don't do that; it's in my contract,' but I think, being sensitive to where we're at in this business, the union was very flexible," she said.

Navigating the future

The post-Sept. 11 world presents workers with numerous challenges, including requests from employers to be increasingly efficient and increasingly flexible. In addition, analysts say, workers need to realize that the unspoken guarantee of lifelong employment in exchange for loyal service is largely a thing of the past.

"I think employers have to look at their costs of doing business, and employees are one of the largest costs," said Marica, of Adecco Personnel, who said workers now stay in a job for an average of three to five years. "I think employers would be very happy to have long-term employees, but to do that, you need to provide long-term stability that a lot of employers cannot guarantee in this changing world environment."

The response of employees in this new landscape, Marica said, should be this: "When you take a job, you do it to the best of your ability and you are loyal to your employer, while being mindful of your own career path, personal growth and long-term goals. ... The only way is to move forward with your eyes open and to hone your skills, and have a good work ethic, and hope like hell that pays off."

Some Hawai'i workers, however, are thinking less about the larger implications of their situation than about surviving from day to day.

Pogai, the Waikiki tour coordinator, said he can see both the employers' and the employees' sides of the issues that have surfaced since Sept. 11. But his response for now is simple: After being without a paycheck for four months after the attacks, he's just glad to be working.

"For me," he said, "I kind of maintain myself, because I know what the situation is, and I can cope with it."

Reach Susan Hooper at 525-8064 or shooper@honoluluadvertiser.com.