7 minute read
Strengthening the Visitor Economy Workforce
by Boylen
The South Australian Tourism Commission has set a bold vision to our grow our state’s Visitor Economy to $12.8 billion by 2030, providing 52,000 jobs in our state. View their 23-24 Annual Report here.
Achieving this seems like a herculean task amid a hospitality industry skills shortage, but it’s an absolute necessity to continue breaking record numbers seen from events such as LIV Golf, Fringe, Adelaide Festival, Gather Round, and WOMAdelaide.
The AHA|SA’s CEO, Anna Moeller, sits on the South Australian Industry Skills Council, Major Events Attraction Committee, and Business Events Adelaide Council. She said achieving this additional workforce will require venues to work together, in addition to extra support from the State and Federal Government.
“The hospitality industry remains an essential part of South Australia’s visitor economy, making us the Destination State.
“But the skills shortage we’re seeing is one of the biggest issues our hotel members are facing today, in particular, the chronic lack of cooks, chefs, and bar staff.
“There are three key areas we are continuing to ask government to partner with us to help address the skills shortage, which will ultimately achieve their vision for growth.
Attraction – Using hospitality industry ambassadors to showcase opportunities to ‘home grown’ talent and overseas workers
Recruitment – Encouraging hospitality apprentice, training, and career pathways
Retention – Increased investment in mentoring, training relevancy, and trainee incentives
“We have so many opportunities in South Australia –the best produce and wine in the nation, world-class accommodation, and experiences on offer. With all these opportunities, encouraging new people to our industry seems like it would be easy, but unfortunately, our industry experiences some of the highest rates of trainee non-completions.
“The AHA|SA will be continuing our proposal to shorten the length of training while improving the relevancy and currency of content for traineeships. There needs to be increased investment in providing mentoring support for training participants, removing barriers to employment, as well as attractive concessions and incentive payments to keep young people engaged in the industry,” Anna said.
Elizabeth Bell, General Manager of the Adelaide Institute of Hospitality, shares Anna’s views. She sees our hospitality workforce as a ‘pillar’ in South Australia’s economy, fundamental to attracting big business to our state.
“LIV Golf is a great example of a world-wide promotion for our state, but we need engaged, passionate people who can underpin events like this. If South Australia’s visitor economy wants to grow, it all starts with supporting the emerging people and dedicated businesses who are providing the service,” Elizabeth said.
“There are incentives in place for people looking at a hospitality career - A Certificate III in Commercial Cookery, for example, would cost over $13,000 without funding by the State Government. It’s a great way for passionate people, both young and mature-aged, to get a career kickstart without a HECS debt.
"With changes to subsides where once upon a time a venue would take on two apprentices, they’re now only taking one because they can’t afford to take on more. From an employer point of view, I think government needs to be providing more incentives and removing barriers that hotels are facing to support them in bringing on new staff.
“Once people enter our workforce, planning career progression becomes very important – finding growth opportunities for your staff and celebrating their achievements is vital to increasing retention rates in our industry. Our trainers are passionate about mentoring and retaining young people in employment, but we need more government funding for in-venue support services for trainees/apprentices and for employers to showcase the amazing career opportunities and pathways available,” Elizabeth said.
Ben Mayne, Chief Operating Officer of Alliance College, shares Elizabeth’s views for hospitality growth, but emphasises the importance of improving the skilled migration process as another way of solving the skills shortage.
“A large part of South Australia’s narrative is weaving cultural diversity into our employment mix,” he said “We have so many languages in global hospitality and many businesses are looking at different ways to diversify. It’s so important to leverage international connections and create something that stems from the ‘SA brand’. International travellers and migrants want to be a part of the South Australian narrative.
“Quite simply, skilled migration has an enormous amount of red tape attached to it. The Federal Government needs to make the process for employers and training providers more transparent and streamlined. At the moment, it’s too complicated. The flow on effect, is that it hurts our diversity as an industry. Recent migrants I’ve spoken to are hungry for work - There is demand but they’re unfortunately stuck in the system. I’d also like to see more transparency around regional invitations or ‘State Nominations’ as they’re commonly referred to. That would help us better plan the training pipeline, identifying where the learning gaps are and extra resources needed for our trainers and mentors,” Ben said. recognising future leaders, and investing in development will help your business in the long run.
Putting more money in the pockets of trainees and addressing the cost of living will go a long way to improving recruitment and retention rates.
“Cost of living and competition for jobs in other industry sectors further impacts the hospitality sector’s issues. The government can be doing more to support hospitality trainee subsidies – payments that help them out alongside their wage. It doesn’t have to be direct payments to their bank accounts, it could be things like free transport, shopping discounts, access to more mentoring services, and lowering taxes. Giving businesses subsidies to employ more trainees is a great start, but we also need to help new hospitality workers directly to keep them engaged, retained, and feeling supported,” Ben said.
Ben agrees that improving workplace culture and celebrating employee achievements is a simple, yet effective way of improving retention rates in the industry.
“In a capitalist world, career progression really rests with the employer. I’ve seen people move through a hospitality pathway from entry-level to General Manager positions in just 10 years or less if they have the right mechanisms in place. If you don’t sit down with your team, especially your future leaders, we’ll lose good people.
“Ask your employees where they want to be and how you can get there together. When you invest in someone early on, it pays off in the long run,” Ben said.
“Look for opportunities that your staff can get involved in. Engage with your local communities – schools, groups, charities, and forging partnerships with local producers will go a long way to strengthening collaboration while broadening employee horizons.”
The AHA|SA will be posting a series of videos on our social media channels over the next few months showcasing standout trainees employed in member venues. These trainees have been given opportunities to explore the industry and what our state has on offer.
“There are so many training success stories in our industry that have been flying under the radar,” said Anna. “By sharing these stories, we’ll be playing our part with the AIOH, Alliance College, and any other training and employment bodies, who wish to get involved in the promotion of career pathways.”
Anna also made the point that “it is important, now more than ever, that business owners create progressive cultures. Bringing staff on the journey, recognising future leaders, and investing in development will help your business in the long run.
“Look for opportunities that your staff can get involved in. Engage with your local communities – schools, groups, charities, and forging partnerships with local producers will go a long way to strengthening collaboration while broadening employee horizons.”
The AHA|SA will be posting a series of videos on our social media channels over the next few months showcasing standout trainees employed in member venues. These trainees have been given opportunities to explore the industry and what our state has on offer.
“There are so many training success stories in our industry that have been flying under the radar,” said Anna. “By sharing these stories, we’ll be playing our part with the AIOH, Alliance College, and any other training and employment bodies, who wish to get involved in the promotion of career pathways.”
