The new chief executive of Carnival Corporation has praised Carnival UK for being “a purpose-led” company and outlined how that helped it survive the pandemic.
Speaking during a Travel Weekly webcast, Josh Weinstein said these kinds of companies that have a shared purpose built a connection with their workforce.
On Carnival UK, which runs P&O Cruises and Cunard brands, he said: “I do feel strongly that Carnival UK entered the pandemic with a very firm understanding of being a purpose-led company, and the ability to create happiness through delivering unforgettable holiday happiness.”
Weinstein added: “I think Carnival UK has done a really good job of maintaining that positivity and employee base to let us now enjoy the momentum that we get to pick up from where we left off before the pandemic.”
He revealed how latest forecasting data showed P&O Cruises and Cunard were going to grow by at least 40% next year versus 2019.
Each market, he said, was affected by “different dynamics”, and highlighted how the US economy was “on fire” and was experiencing its “lowest unemployment rate for decades”.
He recalled how prior to the pandemic, travel companies would often try and attract younger staff members into their workforce before adding how this and other employment-related issues had become “supercharged” due to the pandemic.
Weinstein vowed to be “competitive” on compensation for workers. “I mean there’s no way around [it],” he added.
The “hardest” part of the pandemic was overseeing widespread redundancies, said Weinstein.
“We had to hurt some people and take some actions, which is never pleasant, and it was doubly so given the environment we were in,” he added.
“If we were going to survive as a company and have the ability to resurface and hopefully rehire everyone we possibly could, we had to take the actions that we did.
“Having to make those decisions is always the worst part about being a leader.”
Weinstein said for two years the team was focused on “dedication, perseverance and determination” in the “face of obstacles”, but now its mentality had “shifted” to normal operations.
“We have returned our focus to achieving strong profitability and we, as a company, get to move forward,” he added.
Weinstein explained that skills developed during the pandemic could now be “proactively put back into the business”.
“I hope people appreciate the skill sets that they’re building,” he said. “I really don’t want them to leave and go use that for somebody else. I want them to stay with us.”
He estimated the pandemic “sped up” around “15 years” of workplace innovation into the space of “a few months”.
“I think we’re all trying to figure out what that means,” he added.