A Living Wage is Filling Positions at the Marriott
Ithaca Marriott Downtown on the Commons is Tompkins County’s newest Living Wage Employer. That means they’re paying all their employees at least $15.37 an hour, and have a certification from Tompkins County Workers Center to back it up.
The reason for this move is to try and get people back to work.
Cathy Hart is the hotel’s general manager. She said, “One of the first reasons for it was just, what are we doing to recruit? What are we doing for people who want to come off unemployment and come work for us?”
Ithaca Marriott Downtown is ready to make it’s COVID-19 comeback. Hart said they ran at 55% occupancy in April of 2021, a far cry from 3% occupancy in April 2020, but not far from April of 2019’s 68% occupancy at the hotel.
They’re happy with the growth, said Hart, but the limiting factor on that growth are more qualified employees. The Ithaca Marriott Downtown had a staff of 94 back in March 2020 and the hotel is ready to hire close to pre-pandemic numbers. Although job openings alone were not bringing in applicants.
Hart said that right around Easter is when the hotel decided to boost their image and their messaging towards potential employees. Getting certified as a Living Wage Employer was one of their first steps. Now, with this certification their minimum wages will follow the living wage calculated by Alternatives Federal Credit Union every two years.
Qualifying as a Living Wage Employer wasn’t actually much of a reach for the hotel. The Ithaca Marriott Downtown only had to give two positions a raise. Once their application was in with the Tompkins County Workers Center, and pending certification, they started including this in their messaging to their applicants.
Hart said that the news started spreading by word of mouth, “and all of a sudden we're seeing applicants come in like crazy. It's crazy. I mean, we had 50 employees six weeks ago, and now we have 70.”
With the certification giving the results she was looking for, Hart said it shows her that workers have higher expectations for their wages coming out of the pandemic.