NASSAU| 700 employees of Atlantis Paradise Island will be contacted by their supervisor and the resort’s Human Resources department today to inform them that they will not be returning to work as Atlantis struggles to achieve high occupancy levels during the worst pandemic of our lifetime.
Atlantis President Audrey Oswell delivered the difficult news in a memo to staff on Tuesday.
“Unfortunately, we have to part ways with team members that we respect and value. Out of 7,300 Atlantis team members, 700 of our colleagues will be not be returning,” Oswell said.
“This decision is not a reflection of the work and efforts of these individuals. Many teams across the organization will be reduced in size.”
“Today team members who are parting from Atlantis will receive a call from the senior leader of their department and an email from Human Resources. It is important to us that we inform our colleagues in a personal, 1:1 conversation.
Every detail to help provide a smooth transition for parting colleagues has been thoughtfully planned and considered.”
Due to halted global travel, Oswell said the resort’s business has suffered significant losses, and in response, Atlantis has drastically cut costs that touched nearly every corner of the property.
“While these actions were necessary, it became clear that we had to go further when faced with two hard truths. We don’t know exactly when travel will return to normal business levels. When travel does return, it will be very different for everyone,” according to Oswell.
Oswell said while hotel executives expect Atlantis to recover fully and business volumes continue to increase since reopening, the significant changes the resort will undergo are not temporary or short-lived.
“Because of this, we need to make fundamental shifts by reducing the size of our workforce around a more focused business strategy,” she said.
Atlantis shut down in March 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic and reopened in December following several delays.
However, low occupancy numbers forced the resort to send some employees who had returned to work back into redundancy.
