4 minute read
Staff shortages
No easy fix for staff shortages
Daniel Alvey
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An Ashburton restaurant and bar owner says businesses everywhere are struggling with staff shortages, and the problem seems to have no solution.
Matt Fine, The Fine Lion owner, has been forced to close more often to allow staff to have a break.
He said his problem is being felt not just here in Ashburton but worldwide in the hospitality industry.
He is down three to four staff, and has 11 staff making it work.
To help manage the issue he has turned to strategically closing one day every few weeks to give his staff a day off.
Fine said the “expense is quite a lot” for the business to close for the day “but you are doing it for the sake of your staff”.
As well as having extra closed days, Fine and wife Belinda are working almost every day at the business to give staff their days off, something they wouldn’t normally do.
He believes the problems for the hospitality industry stem from the lack of job security after Covid-19 lockdowns forced the industry to shut down for months at a time.
Ever since the lockdowns Fine has struggled just to get applicants through the door, where pre-pandemic he would have received up to seven applicants, now he’s lucky if he even gets one.
“If someone comes in now you hire them.
“It’s almost like if you’ve got a heartbeat we’ll hire you,” he said.
Fine chose not to throw cash at the problem like some have, pointing to the fact that paying staff higher rates now to entice them will not work in the long term.
“There’s some stupid money getting thrown around.
“It’s a short-term gain for long- term pain,” he said.
At least, Fine said, he can see the light at the end of the tunnel, as people start to move on from Covid-19 and return to normality.
“People are coming out again.
We’re hiring: Ashburton bar and restaurant, The Fine Lion, owner Matt Fine is on the hunt for more staff after running on a skeleton crew for six months.
PHOTO DANIEL ALVEY
NEED A JOB?
Where: The Fine Lion What: A part-time chef and fulltime dishwasher
Two front-of-house staff, either fulltime or part-time How: Drop into the Fine
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Apology
The Ashburton Guardian sincerely regrets inaccuracies in recent articles that Anzco Foods’ Wakanui feedlot, Five Star Beef, has not operated entirely appropriately and in accordance with Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) and Biosecurity Act regulations and instructions around the control and eradication of the mycoplasma bovis (M. bovis) cattle disease.
We apologise for any confusion and unrest that those articles, especially some key and inaccurate supplied information, may have caused.
Anzco Foods’ feedlot, which generally houses up to 12,000 cattle, where they are fattened up to reach slaughter weight, is to undergo a depopulation process. But that was part of a planned MPI eradication approach because the ministry has been working very closely with the feedlot since M. bovis was found at Five Star Beef in 2018.
Five Star Beef will go through the same depopulation process as all other farms.
It will be empty of cattle by the end of the year when it will undergo a 60-day standdown and a cleaning and disinfecting process. After that, the operation would start repopulating again.
All Five Star Beef jobs would be retained. Eight nearby farms would also be depopulated as part of MPI’s M. bovis eradication plan.
College to undertake bullying policy review
Daniel Alvey
Ashburton College principal Ross Preece says a review of the school’s bullying policies will take place as the fallout continues from the latest claims.
Ashburton College has been in damage control after serious bullying accusations against his school were highlighted on national television for three successive nights.
The allegations, which included a suggestion that a student attempted suicide because she had been bullied, has left the college in damage control and trying to uphold its proud image.
It was also only weeks ago that the college was in the national bullying spotlight after revelations by a former 15-yearold female student, who felt so threatened that she had to enrol at another school.
To Preece and the school’s credit, the college would undertake a review into its bullying policies and complaint procedures.
“After any matter, we always go back and look at how we could do things better,” Preece said.
Preece said that any policy changes could be made quickly, with one having already been introduced. That change would involve the school contacting parents or guardians of student bullying victims to ensure they were happy with the process taken to review the incident.
The college’s bullying policy review would also involve the New Zealand School Trustees’ Association and the Ministry of Education. It would also look at other schools’ approaches to bullying.
Preece said that despite the latest negative television media attention around bullying allegations, he had received “100 plus messages of support” from the community, staff, and students.
Preece also said the school would always be there to help any student that may have an issue and that it was always looking for ways to improve.
