Young people don't like to come, and old employees often "go away." New Year’s Eve is approaching, some hotel and homestay owners in Chongqing have become "shop sophomores"
Can "flexible labor" solve the shortage of hotel labor?
Our reporter Huang Shiqiang
Read the tips
The new year is approaching, and there are obvious labor shortage problems in the hotel and homestay industry. Many practitioners are both bosses and waiters.
Many companies have changed their recruitment thinking and tried to break the situation with "flexible employment".
"Recruiting 3 hotel attendants, aged under 45, working hours from December 21st to January 3rd, daily salary of 150 yuan, working location..." Recently, a part-time information group in Chongqing released such a recruitment message.
A short while later, Li Qiang, the person in charge of a human resources intermediary company in Chongqing, received nearly 10 calls to apply for the job.
As the new year is approaching, as a labor-intensive industry, the hotel and homestay industry has seen an obvious "labor shortage" problem.
The reporter visited and found that facing the problem of “difficult to recruit and retain” employees, many companies changed their recruiting thinking and tried to use “flexible employment” to solve the labor shortage.
The owner of a homestay is on the job as a "shop second"
"Boss, bring the menu, let's add some dishes." "We have been waiting at this table for a long time, why haven't the drinks been served yet"... December 21st coincided with the winter solstice, and Cai Rui, the owner of a homestay in Nan'an District, Chongqing, appeared to be bothered. Happy and helpless.
To her happiness, all 7 rooms in the B&B were fully occupied, and 3 tables were also full. To her frustration, due to insufficient manpower, she went into battle as a "shop sophomore", but still couldn't serve customers in time.
Cai Rui told reporters that the homestay she opened is positioned at the mid-to-high end. When it opened in 2018, there were a total of 9 staff members in the store. During holidays, her parents would come to the store to help, and there were enough staff.
But now, including the chef, there are only 4 staff left in the shop.
"In June of this year, I posted recruitment information on major recruitment platforms. I received more than a dozen application calls, but only two applicants came to the store, and they were not young." Cai Rui said she was worried about applicants. They were too old and unable to purchase insurance, which resulted in legal risks, and had to reject these two people.
Cai Rui reluctantly told reporters that the hotel and catering industry is facing an awkward situation: if people are recruited, they will worry that if business is not good, the small shop will be directly dragged down by the excessively high labor cost; if they cannot be recruited, it is here. In the peak season, even if the boss personally goes into battle, it is difficult to fill the manpower gap, unable to provide high-quality services to customers, resulting in loss of customer base.
Having been in the hotel industry for more than ten years, Zhou Chaojun, who is now the human resources director of a star-rated hotel in Yubei District, Chongqing, summed up the industry’s labor shortage in this way—"Interns cannot be found, new employees cannot be recruited, and old employees remain. Can't live".
"I have many friends in the hotel and catering industry, and some of them are owners of'net celebrity' shops. During peak seasons, these bosses are both waiters and cashiers, and some also work as chefs and cleaners." Zhou Chaoping said.
Young people don’t like to come, old employees often "leave"
"Since 2016, I have recruited nearly 40 front desk and waiters from all major vocational colleges in Chongqing. So far, only 5 people have worked for more than 4 years." Zhou Chaoping told reporters that he had previously graduated with a major in hotel management. For students, star-rated hotels are the first choice for internships and employment. However, with the rapid rise of various theme hotels and characteristic homestays, coupled with the change of young people’s career choices, large hotels are no longer popular, and experienced employees frequently "Run away".
Zhou Chaoping said that under the impact of the Internet economy, the "no one available" situation in the hotel industry is getting worse and worse. Many young people "prefer to deliver food to work in hotels."
"We have thought about a lot of ways to retain old employees." Zhou Chaoping said that it is difficult for large hotels to substantially increase the salaries and benefits of service employees. They can only adopt incentives such as "0 complaints" rewarding 200 yuan per month and setting up "full attendance rewards". But little effect.
Wang Yun, who has worked in a well-known hotel in Chongqing for 7 years, told reporters that since the epidemic, the hotel has laid off many employees. Although the income of those who have not been laid off has increased, the work intensity has increased a lot.
"In order to reduce labor costs, hotels often pass the pressure on their employees." Wang Yun said that if other hotels offer higher "prices" in order to recruit high-quality employees, she can't ignore it.
The industry has low and peak seasons, "flexible employment" recruits short-term workers
The hotel and catering industry waiters are "difficult to recruit and difficult to retain". With the in-depth development of "Internet +", many companies have begun to change their hiring concepts and try "flexible employment."
Li Qiang told reporters that because the industry has low and peak seasons, in order to control labor costs and increase profits, companies will recruit experienced short-term workers through intermediary companies during peak seasons.
"I have three job hunting groups with more than 400 people and two personnel recruitment groups including hotels, restaurants, and manufacturing companies. Among them, most job hunting groups are flexible employees engaged in housekeeping, cleaning and other service industries." Li Qiang told Reporters, if relevant industries and companies need it, they will post the recruitment information to the recruitment group. After he obtains the information, he will post it in the job hunting group. “As soon as the information is released, companies can usually recruit a sufficient number of short-term workers. "
Li Qiang said that during the National Day this year, nearly 20 hotels and restaurants recruited more than 100 short-time workers through him. Large restaurants successfully recruited waiters."
Zhao Weiguo, who has been engaged in hotel catering for more than 20 years, is the owner of a medium-sized hotel in Rongchang District, Chongqing.
He calculated an account for the reporter: If the hotel needs 30 waiters in peak season and 15 waiters in off-season, if 30 waiters are long-term workers who have signed labor contracts, they need to pay nearly 40,000 yuan per person per year. The hotel needs 1.2 million yuan in salary expenditure per year. If it adopts the "flexible employment" model, the hotel can reduce its salary expenditure by at least 400,000 yuan per year.
Although "flexible employment" provides companies with ideas for breaking the game, there are still certain risks.
Li Jian, a lawyer at Beijing DeHeng (Chongqing) Law Firm, said that the nature of "flexible employment" is an employment model adopted by enterprises for cost control and risk aversion.
Under the "flexible employment" model, the relationship between the enterprise and the practitioners has changed from the employment relationship of signing labor contracts to the cooperative relationship. Without the support of policies and regulations, the enterprise and the practitioners are prone to labor disputes. The legitimate rights and interests of both parties All may be damaged.
Therefore, to allow "flexible employment" to go further, relevant departments need to formulate relevant management plans as soon as possible, and localities should also make good use of the situation, adopt special support laws and regulations, and supervision must not be absent.