Hospitality businesses compete for staff with large gaps left by foreign workers

Australian Hotels Association ACT general manager Anthony Brierley said the group had costed plans to bring in overseas workers en masse early in the pandemic, but had found the process to be exorbitant.

"We had a look at that, we really kicked the tires on that a while ago and it was just extraordinarily expensive to be able to do it," Mr Brierley said.

"We came to a position, for some of those shortages, [that] the best thing for Canberra would be for the larger cities to address some of their problems and there will naturally be an impact then on Canberra," he said.

"Once there's less competition in those bigger capital cities for labour it will ease the situation [here] as well."

Mr Brierley was speaking after a report that hospitality venues across the country have begun spending big on overseas hiring campaigns to fill gaps in the market.

He said he did not know of any Canberra-based businesses following suit, though shortages which had begun among skilled workers and now spread into all areas of the industry, were affecting many of the city's venues.

Speaking to The Canberra Times, businesses in Civic reported mixed experiences with staffing shortages, as the huge demand for a shrunken pool of workers stirs up competition for employers, and a buffet of choice for job seekers.

"Any of us at this moment cannot take any leave," Wittaya Manee-In says, speaking from behind the counter of Asian Noodle House, where a sign on the door calls for applications.

READ MORE:

The restaurant often employed international students pre-pandemic, Mr Manee-In said, but had not seen a significant uptick in demand, even though the first group arrived in Canberra in early January.

"[So] many restaurants are looking for staff, so they have choice ... They can go somewhere near their place, they don't have to come to the city to work," he said.

Alex Tan, a manager at Beach Burrito, said the restaurant had experienced some shortages throughout the pandemic but was not currently struggling.

"It's not a huge problem for us," Mr Tan said. He said the venue did employ some international students, but that there was plenty of demand from high school students who could work after school.

"It's a good working environment," he added.

East Row Coffee meanwhile has been "running a one-man team" in the kitchen on Sunday, due to a dearth of chefs.

The café, usually staffed by three chefs on Sundays, has lost skilled workers due to competition elsewhere.

"A lot of our chefs have been sick, and that's basically why we can't staff a full kitchen team ... which is pretty hard," Georgie Burchett, one the café's front-of-house staff said.

Mr Brierley said businesses have reporting a highly competitive market "for a number of months".

"There's a lot of movement even within the industry of people taking alternative employment because there's been wage pressure there," he said, adding some businesses just couldn't afford to notch up their wages after years of the pandemic eating into profits.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: