‘We don’t have the help!’

While it remains to be seen what the summer tourism season will look like in the wake of the coronavirus lockdowns, the virus has caused another headache for tourist-related businesses: a shortage of international workers. 

According to the Department of Homeland Security, at this time, hiring adult workers with H-2B visas is limited only to those workers who were in the U.S. on or before March 1, while J-1 student visas have been held up, as well. 

“We’re not anticipating any J-1s being able to make it to the States for us,” said Bavarian Inn owner Marcel Wahlstrom. 

In a normal year, Wahlstrom said he would bring in up to eight J-1 student workers to work in the motel and restaurant. 

Matt Sawyer, acting manager at Buglin’ Bull Restaurant and Sports Bar, is in the same boat, noting that the soonest he could get any J-1s would be June 15 and that doesn’t appear likely. He suspects many of the eligible H-2B workers who were in the States prior to March went home early because of the pandemic. 

Cherish Baker, owner of Baker’s Bakery, said the shortage of international workers will impact her business, as well. 

“The only thing hindering our business is not being able to get our help,” said Baker. “We will have to be closed one day a week and we are closing an hour earlier.”

Baker relies heavily on adult H-2B workers in her kitchen, but doesn’t expect to see them until well into the summer season. 

“Hopefully they will be here by the end of June, but we still don’t know,” she said.

“Quite frankly, we’re struggling,” chimed in Custer Hospitality chief operating officer Leah Scott. “Of the 40 H-2Bs we were originally going to get, we’ve gotten only two.”

Custer Hospitality operates five motels and Buffalo Ridge Resort and Campground, but only Comfort Inn and the campground are now open. Scott said the newly renovated Holiday Inn Express is expected to open in early June; however, the timetable for opening all the properties is unknown.

“It’s hurry up and wait at this point,” said Scott. “If we wanted to open all our properties right now, we couldn’t. We don’t have the help.”

Scott has been able to borrow a few employees from other businesses in town while they’re still getting geared up and she said “a handful” of Jamaican workers had already been though the process with the American embassy in Jamaica before it was shut down. They are ready to come as soon as the border opens. 

“And then, of course, once we get them here, then they’re on a two-week quarantine, which puts us even further out,” said Scott.

Sawyer said Buglin’ Bull would most likely have only a quarter of its usual number of H-2B workers. Normally the restaurant would have a dozen international workers — four J-1s and eight H-2Bs. 

Wahlstrom said, fortunately, Bavarian Inn has reduced its dependence on foreign workers the past several years. 

“Thankfully we have a pretty solid core of locals who we kind of build around,” said Wahlstrom. “and this was gonna be the year we used the fewest amount of J-1s anyway.”

With the Feel Good Cafe set to open in a couple of weeks, Wahlstrom said, if the visitors come and things get busy, he should be able to fill out the staff with family members of current employees. 

He also noted that a recent recruitment effort in Rapid City found several people who were willing to carpool and commute from there. 

All of the employers said the situation provides a unique opportunity for local high school and college students as well as adults to get summer employment this year. 

“We will try to look locally first,” said Sawyer. 

He suggested they turn to national agencies that recruit American workers in hopes of hiring those who would normally work in national parks which are still shut down at this time. Another possibility, he said, would be to lure workers out of Arizona and other hot southern states to the more temperate climate of the Black Hills. 

While admitting it’s hard to predict how the coronavirus pandemic will ultimately impact tourism (see Jason Ferguson’s article elsewhere in this edition of the Chronicle), Wahlstrom said he is prepared for whatever comes. 

“We’re gonna go quality over quantity and if we have to pay a little bit of overtime and do some things like that, we will,” he said. “We’re going to rely on locals and figure things out from there.”