Enough Staff to go round? Nigel Benton looks into the contradiction of the industry facing staff shortages and job losses
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mid the many uncertainties that almost every sector across the leisure industry has endured through the Coronavirus pandemic, with levels of vaccinations rising and prospects for borders and economies reopening, challenges relating to the industry’s workforce are starting to loom large. While some pockets of the industry have fared well during the pandemic, most have struggled enormously, being forced to close, pivot, adapt and reopen then close again - looking to make the most of Federal and State government assistance packages to survive and maintain workers. However, with the large numbers of predicted job losses when the Federal Government’s JobKeeper program ended in March appearing not to have occurred, with workers being stood down rather than made redundant during subsequent lockdowns. Contrary to jobs being lost, an inability to fill job vacancies led to one of the abiding industry images of recent months - that of fans at Perth’s Optus Stadium for AFL semi-final between Geelong and the GWS Giants waiting in long queues times at food and beverage (F&B) concessions due to lack of staff. This echoed what many regional tourism and hospitality operators had experienced following the first lockdowns of 2020, as the rise of in-state tourism activity stretched workforces.
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Explaining the labour shortage facing the venue, Optus Stadium Chief Executive, Mike McKenna stated “we’ve had demand for people who normally work these jobs, casual workers throughout the hotels, restaurants, bars, and up and down the state and tourist locations, and we just don’t have enough people anymore. “We’ve lost the backpackers and the overseas students who put in so many hours in these type of jobs.” Stepping up recruitment for later games in the AFL finals series, operator VenuesLive has used recruitment websites and social media in its search for staff, offering free parking and meal incentives and a draw in which the winner will be flown to Melbourne and given tickets to next year’s AFL Grand Final. It also pooled workers from other Perth venues, including staff from RAC Arena, and even local governments. Peak national body the Australian Regional Tourism (ART) has gone on to call for Federal Government leadership to address the issue of skills and workforce shortages, which it says will be “the next crisis to hit the regions”. ART says skills and workforce shortages across regional Australia will restrict business recovery as the easing of lockdown restrictions apply, and the rebuilding of what was once an industry worth $138 billion, attributing to one in 12 jobs nationally, and closer to one in six jobs in some regions. ART Chair, Coralie Bell explained “the regional tourism industry has been calling on the Federal Government to address skills and workforce shortages in regions as a key National priority since 2017, warning that there will soon be a breaking point, we are furious that after so many years, we’re still having the same conversation. “Regional Australia needs a National Framework to address skills and workforce shortages now. We have states reporting that some regions are expecting record numbers on the easing of COVID restrictions, while industry is reporting they can’t open their doors because they don’t have staff. “Let me be very clear. Our industry is facing the largest national skills and workforce shortage in living memory. This is not new. This was true before COVID and it remains so now, more than ever.”
