Professionals in the sector are facing a shortage of staff a few weeks before a tourist season when they expect excellent attendance.
A restaurant looking for waiters, May 25, 2022, in Plouezoc’h. (AFP / FRED TANNEAU)
Recruiting and training staff to have full teams by summer is
the main concern of hoteliers and restaurateurs
, facing a shortage of staff a few weeks before a tourist season when they expect excellent attendance. “The indicators are green”, notes Jean-Virgile Crance, president of the National Group of Hotel Chains (GNC), according to which the strong reservations for the weekends of Ascension and Pentecost augur a “beautiful season 2022 “, carried by a clientele of” more than 70% “French, he declared on BFM Business.
“The desire to travel is much stronger than we imagined 5-6 months ago. The hotels, I hope, will be totally full this summer,” said Accor CEO Sébastien Bazin. recently. “We still need to attract
a number of people who did not return
for many legitimate reasons (…) we are missing 15 to 20% of talent in hotels”, he said.
The “main concern of our professionals”
In fact the “difficulties in hiring” are the “main concern of our professionals, at least as far as seasonal workers are concerned”, notes Jean-Virgile Crance.
Some, for lack of having succeeded in forming teams large enough to offer a service 7 days a week
, will have to close one or two days a week, he said. As the summer season approaches, some professionals are opting for seduction operations: Louvre Hotels Group (Campanile, Kyriad, Première Classe and Golden Tulip, etc.), a subsidiary of the Chinese group Jin Jiang, is organizing a national recruitment day on Thursday in eight metropolises, to fill 200 positions.
Graph on job seekers registered with Pôle emploi, all of France excluding Mayotte (AFP / )
Some 80 employees will welcome candidates with “a gourmet coffee” and introduce them to the seasonal or open-ended jobs to be filled: receptionist, cook, executive assistant…”We want to show that
we recruit a wide variety of profiles
in retraining, without experience or distant from employment, and that there are extraordinary career opportunities in the sector”, says Laura Benoumechiara, in charge of human resources in France. The group, which has already set up a 13th month and profit-sharing, is experimenting with the four-day week to retain its employees.
These increased staffing needs are the success of platforms such as Extracadabra, Bruce, Brigad or StaffMe, which
promise professionals a connection with extras with “verified” profiles
. Élise, 30, has been working as a mixologist bartender for seven years: self-employed following having been an employee, she does two to three missions a week thanks to the applications and earns 900 to 1,500 euros a month, which finances her studies in the history of the ‘art. She says she appreciates “the freedom, the flexibility of the schedules” they offer.
“I take the best paid missions”
“I’m very selective: I only work in Paris, only at night, and as I’m starting to get drunk, I take the best paid jobs, I’ve done events, festivals, nice fairs “, she told AFP. Having a permanent contract does not interest him, specifies Élise, because
permanent jobs to be filled are less well paid
: “In terms of salary, they really haven’t done anything since the end of the covid, they really don’t care regarding us”, she says.
The other side of the coin is precariousness: following being injured, for lack of income during her two weeks of convalescence, she had to return to work before being fully recovered. Whether
in the capital the shortage of labor is acute
this is also the case in Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur where the region has released one million euros to train a thousand people online.
At the same time, a “benevolence charter” was signed where professionals undertake to improve well-being at work with less restrictive hours, consecutive days off, and a “motivating” salary policy. Started at the end of February,
negotiations between employers and trade unions in the hotel and catering industry should bring progress
(social coverage, work compensation cuts, etc.), following the 5% wage increase that came into effect in April.
