Quarantine Repatriation Program and its Impact on Hotel Employees in Indonesia

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic has had a profound and unanticipated impact on the hospitality business globally. In particular, employees who work in quarantine repatriation programs face detrimental challenges during the pandemic, which may result in well-being crises. This study explores employees' fear of Covid-19, mental health, and intention to leave the hotel when the repatriation program was conducted in Indonesia. 82 repatriation hotel employees were examined through an online questionnaire to assess the study framework. This study found that employees' fear of Covid-19 significantly impacted employees' mental health, and mental health strongly affected employees' turnover. However, the turnover intention was not correlated with employees' fear of Covid-19. While only a few studies have been discussed for this program, these findings contribute to tourism and hospitality studies in the context of quarantine repatriation programs provided by the government during pandemics. Hotel managers urgently need to implement sustainable encouragement programs to reduce employee mental health issues to mitigate anxiety, depression, and stress.

Evaluation of Quarantine Program: Lesson From Hotels in Indonesia

“…Moreover, mental health has raised concerns from the medical literature about its effectiveness and ethical issues (Brookes et al, 2020). A study investigated the quarantine programs impacted by multiple negative and positive opinions that affected their well-being (Dincer and Gocer, 2021) and Indonesian hotel employees were having the intention to leave due to their mental health issues in handling quarantine guests (Choirisa, 2023).…”

“…Moreover, hotel management must consider employees' well-being when handling quarantine guests. Hotels can hire a professional service to provide counseling sessions for employees who feel burned out because of the complexity of stress brought on by their concern over losing their jobs and fear of Covid-19 (Choirisa et al, 2023). Importantly, as the quarantine program causes employees stressors, hotel managers should consider employing technology to help operate effectively.…”

“…Implementing the quarantine program in hotels in Indonesia has had some benefits and challenges for hotel management. One of the benefits is that hotels in Indonesia were relieved and survived the middle of a catastrophe as a mandatory program by the government for international travelers (Choirisa et al, 2023). However, there were several issues with internal hotel management during the program, such as human resources capacity in handling quarantine clients as a result of major laid-off at the beginning of Covid-19 (Choirisa, 2022).…”