Companies have to work harder to demonstrate why they are “great places to work” in the current market, according to Royal Caribbean’s Ben Bouldin.
The Royal Caribbean International’ vice-president for Europe, the Middle East and Africa said the number of applicants for jobs had shrunk dramatically post-Covid.
“We used to have 200 [applicants] to one job in 2016 and 2017 for people applying for sales roles. Now it’s 12, 13 or 14 to one,” he said, speaking at Travel Weekly’s People Summit.
He said companies now had to show their worth to potential and existing staff.
“We have to work harder and demonstrate what a great place it is to work. We are putting a huge amount of effort to retain staff and develop them,” he said, adding: “We are very much championing having the most diversity.”
The company had more than 14 current vacancies at its head office in Weybridge to fill, he said.
Bouldin also stressed that companies needed to be ready to be challenged by potential applicants demanding higher base salaries and citing offers from other companies.
“If you do pay you start to change the dynamic,” he said, warning that pay levels could “get out of kilter”.