Worker shortages: Taranaki businesses thinking outside the box

Taranaki businesses are thinking outside of the box as they struggle to fill vacancies and hold onto staff.

Some employers are throwing open days to attract staff, while others are offering incentives and going the extra mile to keep the kaimahi they've already got.

Unemployment in Taranaki is sitting at a record low 2.4 percent. It's the lowest jobless rate in the country.

New Plymouth Novotel general manager, Jayesh Bala, said that meant it had been nigh on impossible to fill crucial roles in food and beverage and housekeeping.

He came up with the idea of offering a behind the scenes look at the business to attract new staff.

"Most things in our industry can be trained - so as long as people have the right attitude we will take them onboard, so our catch call was no skills required, no experience required come down and have a chat with us."

He said the idea had worked a treat.

"So we sat down and met with everybody, but we also took them into the restaurant and into housekeeping and into a guest room and took them through what they would be doing in that role.

"And for some people it was like 'this is not for me' and some said 'yes, we want to stay and talk more about it' and then those people we went down the track a bit and recruited them."

Lorraine Anderson took a job in housekeeping. A degree-qualified early childhood educator looking for a change, she reckoned the open day was a great idea.

"I think it was really cool because there was a lot of people meeting there that had the same kind of goal which was to be employed.

"So, it took a little bit of pressure off and I wasn't so nervous like when you go into an interview."

She enjoyed getting a concrete insight into what the job looked like.

"They took us to the rooms and just talked about what we would be doing and gave us an overview of what the job would look like if we were to be in housekeeping.

"But there was a few roles advertised that day but housekeeping fits me because I love cleaning."

The Novotel found staff for all six roles it was looking to fill.

Co-owner of Shining Peak Brewing, Jesse Sigurdsson, has had no such luck at his bar and restaurant.

"So we'd normally have quite a high turnover because it's hospitality and that's standard across the industry, but we're just not seeing the CVs coming in. It's just been tough people are leaving like normal but people are not coming in."

He's had to close one day a week to prevent staff burnout.

"It's entirely because of staff shortage our front of house in particular but the same in the kitchen guys just doing way too many hours.

"And they're still doing it positively with a smile on their face, but when you see the times they're putting in on their time sheets and look at the hours they are doing in the end we had no choice but to close for one day [a week]."

Kings and Queens Hotel Suites general manager, Daniel Fleming, was dangling a different kind of carrot to retain staff - bonuses in the form of supermarket and fuel vouchers.

"So they can share in the success of the hotel if there's something we are able to achieve over budget the can actually get part of that as recognition and reward.

"And that's across the board it doesn't matter if you're a public area attendant or working housekeeping or front office."

Daniel Fleming said it would become increasingly difficult to compete on pay in the sector, and businesses would have to come up with innovate and fun ways to retain staff.

Taranaki Chamber of Commerce said the hospitality sector in New Plymouth had been hit hard by the inability of overseas students to travel to New Zealand to take up places at the Pacific International Hotel Management School and at the Western Institute of Technology.

It expected the situation to ease ahead of the 2023 academic year.