Dallas City Wire

Premier Parking regional vice president Derek Jones sometimes still looks at company emails from earlier in the year, before the COVID-19 pandemic gripped the world.

"In reviewing emails in the first half of last month verses the current month, it seems so odd now," Jones, who works out of Premier Parking's Dallas office, said in a statement to Dallas City Wire. "The objectives or goals are not as important as I thought at the time."

Other matters take greater priority now, Jones said.

"As the pandemic escalated, my objectives became immediately conflicted," he said. "I needed to be out there with the associates, assisting in limiting their risks through process, communicating hourly changes and recognizing their commitment."

His wife hasn't always agreed, noting "I didn’t need to be going out there as much and should consider our family," Jones said.  

But the reality of COVID-19's impact on the parking and driving industry cannot be ignored.

"Unfortunately our business in the region has come to a near stop," Jones said. "Most of our associates have been laid off to no fault of their own."

Keeping Premier Parking afloat so the furloughed employees will have jobs to return to will require government assistance, Jones said.

"Our request is that the parking industry [NAICS 812930] be recognized as an industry in need of assistance," Jones said. "Our associates are truly its greatest asset, and the difference to respective clients. Our commitments to clients can’t be compromised.   We request assistance so the parking industry can do its part in immediate recovery."

Jones isn't the only Premier Parking official to make such a call.

Last week Premier Parking COO William Clay called for more help to his industry that has been hard hit by the economic freefall wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic.

"[The coronavirus] has caused devastation to our company and to our family of employees as we've been forced to lay off hundreds of employees over the past two weeks," Clay was quoted in a Tennessee Business Daily story last week. "This has been the most difficult two weeks of my professional life. Revenues are down 90-plus percent across the board as most CBDs are shelter-in-place and employees are working from home."

Premier Parking employs more than 2,000 associates in more than 600 locations in more than 40 cities across the nation, providing services at concerts, sports and other events.

The economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic was starkly illustrated last week when the U.S. Labor Department reported that a record-breaking 6.6 million workers signed up for unemployment benefits.

Furloughing team members was very difficult for Jones.

"All took the news with professionalism and understanding, even thanking me when I can make no promise to their return," Jones said. "Years of building a work culture through people eroded overnight.   My commitment is to getting our valued associates back as soon as possible."