Napa Resort Offers To Reimburse 3 Months' Worth Of Gas To Attract New Hires
NAPA (KPIX 5) – With the skyrocketing prices for gas, one Napa Valley resort is offering a unique incentive in its hiring process as the competition to hire employees has shifted into overdrive.
In Napa Valley, there's no shortage of visitors but there is a shortage of employees to work in the hospitality industry. Meritage Resort in Napa held a job fair Wednesday night.
"Right now we need to hire for everything," said Fabiana Arellano, the resort's human resources director.
In fact, the resort has hundreds of jobs to fill. "We're looking for housekeeping, front of the house, back of the house, we're looking for everything in the hotel industry." Arellano told KPIX 5.
But during the pandemic, the job market changed. Before, all of the seats would've been filled for a job fair but not anymore.
Arellano says, "The pool of employees is so small so one of the things that we are doing is trying to attract them with what's going on around the world."
So Arellano and her team came up with an idea to pay for three months' worth of gas for every new employee.
"To some degree it really does are a difference and it does help make somebody have the availability and means to actually make it to the job," said job candidate Taegan Balentine.
Bryan Alvarado added, "Any perk really helps. There's lots of potential candidates but it's like what the employer has to offer is going to get you the best candidates."
On top of the gas reimbursement perk, some of the candidates were offered jobs on the spot.
"I came in, I had an interview and I actually got hired for the position in HR for picking up phones," Balentine said.
Theresa Marquez, who also applied for a position, says, "I love the atmosphere, I love the people, I love the way everybody treats everybody with respect."
