Essay Sample Dedicated to the Hospitality Industry Labor Shortage

Over the last couple of years, the hospitality industry has been experiencing some labor shortages. Research indicates that this is as a result of high employee turnover, a high growth rate as well as the high number of unskilled people taking up roles that require highly skilled people (cciq.com, 2016). In the current hospitality industry, managers and other hospitality-related business owners are having a hard time finding qualified chefs, cooks, waiter, pastry cooks, restaurant and cafe managers, and bar attendants as well. Several factors have contributed to this labor shortage. One of these factors is operational characteristics of the business.

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During the Restaurant Placement Period, I came to appreciate the role of an operations manager in the restaurant. In the current fast moving world, operations managers are essential in the hospitality management because they make sure that the business provides the best products and services to its clients. They mainly do this by producing the best of his/her employees. In the hospitality industry, the main chef or cook is provided with this role as he/she is supposed to ensure that everything served to the clients is of high quality. Unfortunately, there is a shortage of such qualified individuals.

During the same period, I learned that there is very high competition for labor from other sectors especially when all these industries are located in the regional area. There were cases of employees who move from one job opportunity to another because of better pay. In the current era, qualified hospitality professionals have become very marketable because not many of them are readily available. Such incidences have led to a shortage of labor and skill in the industry.

In other cases, the government, through its policies, contributes to this shortages. In the past couple of years, the government has made some changes to the immigration regulations which has eventually led to the scarcity of skilled labor. Countries such as Australia have in the past thrived on imported labor from other countries. Unfortunately, with the amendments to the immigration regulations, the number of skilled employees coming into the country in search of job opportunities in the hospitality sector has dramatically declined. The matter is made worse by the fact that some of these problems are inherent to the hospitality industry and therefore, it is difficult to combat them (cciq.com, 2016).

According to a report released by the Australian Government Department of Jobs and Small Business, the shortages in hospitality industry may persist for the industry in the future (Department of Jobs and Small Business/Australia, 2017). According to the data provided, there has been a shortage in some of the critical sections of the hospitality industry from 2008 to date. For a position like that a pastry cook, the main problem has been a regional shortage. Other jobs like that of the chef have been affected by recruitment difficulty and regional shortage.

Surprisingly, the average number of applicants per vacancy stood at 9.8. The average number of suitable applicants per vacancy, however, was 1.1. The total vacancies filled stood at 55% (Department of Jobs and Small Business/Australia, 2017). All the regional vacancies filled were 38% while the number of suitable applicants per regional vacancy was approximately 0.7. The report further indicates that employers in this regional area were facing tougher conditions as compared to their metropolitan counterparts since they only attracted half the average number of all the applicants as well as filling a smaller number of job vacancies.

Other survey reports by the department of employment indicated that most of the chef vacancies remained unfilled in 2016 which was an improvement from previous years (Anzsco 3513-11-Chef, 2016). Activities that have been taking place in the hospitality industry fact greatly influenced the demand for the chef. The higher the activity levels, the higher the employment opportunities. In an area such as Victoria, Australia, there has been growth in the restaurant, cafe, and catering sector which in turn produced an improvement in recent years' turnover. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, there has been an improvement in the average employment rates for chefs in the last couple of years.

The pastry cook position has also experienced its fair share of shortages over the last couple of years. Research indicates that shortages are frequent in the following labor market with employers having a difficult time trying to fill in the vacancies available (ANZSCO/Pastry Cook, 2016). According to the Australian Government Department of employment, the number of vacancies filled in 2017 for this particular position was 39% of all the vacancies available. Although the average number of applicants per vacancy was 9.7 during that period, many employers considered these applicants unsuitable with only 0.8 applicants per vacancy been termed as suitable. Interestingly, more than 20% of all the employers who advertised the job vacancies did not receive any applicants. Another 30% did not attract candidates they viewed as suitable (Department of Employment, 2016).

During the Restaurant Placement Period, I observed the same problem in the restaurants around my regional area. According to the management, finding a pastry cook for a restaurant was difficult since most of them had been employed in the bakeries, patisseries, and cake shops. Many employers seek applicants that had a five-year experience for the junior pastry cook while recruiting for a senior pastry cook the applicant needed to have close to eight years' experience. With such high standards, it was difficult for most of these restaurants to get a pastry cook. However, business owners are looking for cooks that are consistently developing and creating a new range of products to specific standards under a strict timeframe (ANZSCO/Pastry Cook, 2016).

In the hospitality industry, there are several ways through which a manager can improve performance and learning outcomes of staff and trainees. During the restaurant placement period, I was taught that for any hospitality employee, the client is always the priority. It is crucial for all employees and trainees to treat clients with a lot of respect. Managers should also create a positive start for new employees and trainees. Sometimes hiring of new staff members might be disruptive and as a result cause low morale, low productivity, and even poor client service. However, the management needs to come up with an onboarding approach which helps improve and maintain productivity for an extended period. The administration also needs to ensure that it has a system that measures the clients' service performance. This is the only way the management can determine how quickly the restaurant can address the clients' issues and requests. Finally, the management needs to the staff's actions to the hotel's overall performance.

References

Backer. ANZSCO 3511-11 (2016). Australian Government Department of Employment. Australia. Retrieved from https://docs.jobs.gov.au/system/files/doc/other/351111bakernsw.pdf

Chef. ANZSCO 3513-11 (2016). Australian Government Department of Employment. Australia. Retrieved from https://docs.jobs.gov.au/system/files/doc/other/3513_-11chefwa.pdf

Hospitality industry: Skills and Labour Shortages. (2016). Retrieved from https://www.cciq.com.au/news/hospitality-industry-skills-and-labour-shortages/

Pastry Cook. ANZSCO 3511-12 (2016). Australian Government Department of Employment. Australia. Retrieved from https://docs.jobs.gov.au/documents/anzsco-3511-12-pastrycook-australia

The Labour Market Research-Food trade, Australian Government, Department of Employment, (2016). Retrieved from http://docs.employement.gov.au/system/files/doc/other/aufoodtrades_0.pdf