SALARY KEY TO STAFF RETENTION WOES

NOT for the first time - and one might reasonably suspect not the last - concerns have been raised over the travel industry’s apparent inability to attract new, and retain existing staff. It is, said Travellers Choice chief executive Christian Hunter, an “on-going struggle”. Speaking at his network’s annual conference on the Gold Coast, Hunter suggested a need to “revitalise the perception” of travel as a career to attract and retain “quality individuals into the travel agent community”. But what as an industry can we actively do to make the job of a travel agent that much more appealing? Well I thought about this and had a moment of clarity. And it’s this: Why don’t companies try paying a half decent salary? For all the navel gazing and hand wringing that accompanies this perennial debate, the answer – at least part of the answer – seems to get overlooked. Travel agents, frankly, are poorly remunerated. Yet inexplicably no-one ever addresses wages, or lack of them, as an underlying reason for the brain drain. We’re talking about attracting – and retaining – millennials to our industry, and they are a confident, demanding and expectant generation who just will not accept a meagre pay packet. Yes, there are some retailers who are terrifically successful and make a very tidy living. But they are in the minority. I have often heard the argument that travelling is a huge perk of the job and should be used to entice new starters. After all, what can be better than jetting off to foreign climes at someone else’s expense? Sure, it sounds appealing, heck, it is appealing. But when you reach the stage in life of mortgage repayments, bills and a family, a three-night trip to Bali loses its edge. Of course, travel is an industry that works on wafer thin margins, so the ability to pay reasonable salaries is restricted. But we should stop kidding ourselves that low pay it not a major reason for this reluctance to embrace travel retailing as a career. Another drawback is that being a travel agent is simply not an in-vogue profession. How many of today’s leaders in travel began life as a travel agent? I stand to be corrected but not many is my guess. This is a generation that has known nothing but online transactions, that communicates without picking up the phone, and that finds the prospect of someone else booking your travel as vaguely absurd. Which brings me to my final point. AFTA chief Jayson Westbury pointed the finger at the media for the shortage of new travel agents. Now, the media can hardly lay claim to be bastion of morality and ethics, but to suggest it is somehow responsible for this lack of emerging talent is off the mark. It’s not the media’s job to promote bricks and mortar agents, that’s AFTA’S responsibility and it’s doing a good job of that right now. But agents are under pressure, surely no one would contradict that, and reporting that is fair and accurate.