Hospitality and tourism bosses are resorting to offering huge packages, as the labour shortage in Australia continues.
Hotel and tourism executives are ramping up their recruitment perks to try and attract staff as ongoing border closures and Covid uncertainty triggers nationwide shortages.
Emirates One&Only Wolgan Valley, a five-star retreat in the Blue Mountains region of NSW that offers rooms for at least $2000 a night, is one establishment hoping to get staff to take up jobs there.
Speaking to the Australian Financial Review, general manager Tim Stanhope said he was even willing to fly staff into Sydney if it meant they’d take up a job.
Mr Stanhope, a Kiwi, has specifically set his sights on students at the Pacific International Hotel Management School in New Zealand.
“We’ve had to be creative and find new ways to attract colleagues” Mr Stanhope told the publication.
“I’m a Kiwi myself, so my plan is to head to New Zealand in the new year and scout for talent.
“If all goes to plan… we’re exploring the idea of supporting Kiwi candidates with the cost of flights into Australia as an incentive.”
Restaurants, bars and hotels have been crying out for staff for months as the sector faces a critical worker shortage, partly because of ongoing border issues.
Labour economist Shashi Karu predicted to news.com.au last month that like the Spanish flu, which saw the introduction of sick leave, the Covid-19 pandemic will open a new chapter of reforms and benefits for the shift workers of the hospitality industry.
“We can expect a silver lining from Covid-19 to be the introduction of reforms to childcare, wages and job security,” he said.
“As the industry faces a worker shortage due to border closures, business owners will need to find ways to entice talent as competition will be fierce. The result of this will be shiftworkers having more bargaining power than previously seen in the industry.”
Other hospitality venues across Sydney are also offering big pay packets to attract staff.
Rockpool Bar and Grill also recently announced plans to pay dishwashing staff up to $90 an hour to recruit people.
Rockpool’s executive chef Corey Costelloe told the Sydney Morning Herald that job ads had risen by 45 per cent in October and despite the $90 offer, they were still struggling to recruit.
The delay of international students and visa holders from December 1 to December 15, thanks to the concern around the unknown nature of the Omicron variant, has also worsened a shortage many companies thought would be fixed before Christmas.
Now it’s feared the lack of working holiday visa holders – which total around 300,000 workers in Sydney and Melbourne – will make Christmas a struggle for hospitality and tourism businesses.
Mr Karu said that all businesses in Australia will likely need to focus on providing more benefits to recruit and keep staff on board.
“But what you see when you focus on some specific occupations like chefs for example, what we’re seeing is there are increases in wages going on because there’s just a shortage of workers,” he said.
“And that’s really where the squeeze is for hospitality businesses that need to hire these specific occupations.”
– With Ben Graham
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