Labour shortages in hospitality sector creating problems

The Polish hospitality sector is facing labour shortages owing to the high number of people who left their jobs due to lockdown restrictions being unwilling to return to work.

The shortages come as the sector gears up for what could be a busy summer season.

On June 26, Poland relaxed Covid-19 restrictions, increasing the attendance caps on retail, hospitality and entertainment venues.

Following the changes, hotels, cinemas and other leisure facilities could increase occupancy to 75 percent, not including children under 12, and the new rules will apply throughout the summer holiday period.

But this means more workers are needed, and that is proving to be a problem.

"Current staff levels are very often insufficient to service visitors," Ewa Klimczuk from the GI Group employment agency told PAP. "Jobs are available for receptionists, cooks, cleaning staff as well as hotel managers and chefs.

"Labour shortages are especially visible in holiday resorts," she stated, adding that the months-long crisis in the entire hospitality sector had required its staff look for new jobs elsewhere.

"Not everybody is returning to their old job, chiefly because of unclear prospects and the short-term contracts they have been offered," she went on to say.

"However, it is promising that the expected number of job offers in the current quarter is much higher than that of the number of lay-offs, and that it also exceeds last year's figures," she continued.

She also said that young people were unlikely to fill the gaps since few of them "have been seeking temporary summer jobs."

According to a PwC report, in 2020, 10 percent of young respondents sought a temporary summer job, while in 2021 that percentage has gone down to 5.2 percent.