There is a drastic shortage of staff in restaurants: returnees collect benefits and move to other places

Šiškauskienė: the situation is dire

Head of the Lithuanian Hotel and Restaurant Association Evalda Šiškauskienė Delphi says most restaurants are currently facing a staff shortage, many of them reluctant to return from downtime or have already found a new job.

“Some people talk about unemployment and restaurants and hotels cannot find workers. There is no employee loyalty – they no longer wait for downtime, they find new jobs, and when they return from downtime to the company, they get two months severance pay, get a few more months of leave, and leave because I have already found another.

Many young people go to Palanga to look for a short-term job, because there will definitely be a lot of people there. In the big cities, Birštonas and Druskininkai, there is a big problem with employees. The situation is terrible, ”says E. Šiškauskienė.

Part retrained

Amber Food, which operates restaurant chains such as Charlie Pizza, La Crepe, Katpėdėlė and others. Manager Gediminas Balnis says that in preparation for the opening of the summer season, restaurants are feeling a shortage of staff. Identify several underlying causes.

“Some people have retrained. (…) Some went to delivery, not just food, others to production. Another thing is that without working for a long time, some people are already used to not working and no longer want to work. productivity and has fallen. Also, a large part of the workforce in both our sector and the construction sector used to be Ukrainian, restaurants used to transport workers from abroad to the kitchen, and now it takes very long procedures to do so ” says the businessman.

According to him, it is still difficult to say what the scale of the problem is, as most restaurants are still preparing to open.

“Palanga and Nida think there will be a great rotation. In June, we will see that those expectations may not come true. Preparations are now underway, companies are hoping to fully break free, tourism will return and often does not pay off. For example, restaurants by the sea gather teams, they promise, and in June a large part of those people will return to the cities if the weather worsens and expectations are not met, ”says G. Balnis.

Question the government

According to E. Šiškauskienė, the companies promise to raise this issue in the Tripartite Council: “It will probably be necessary to change the Labor Code, because the laws are applied as if there were no such pandemic situation. Now that they are depressed, they can find another job. We are calling for the abolition of benefits if a person goes back to work, let them go back. “

Restaurants and hotels are also in talks with the government and the Ministry of Social Security and Labor about job preservation and subsidies for the creation of new jobs.

“We say that we need support not to share employees, but to create jobs. For example, in 2019, the company had 60 employees, that is, both jobs, not employees, and subsidies would be awarded. Then the business would create new jobs with other people.

We want subsidies to be followed by downtime only for the sectors that have suffered the most, that is, us, sports clubs, tourism. The government does not want to, because the last time it distributed 600 million. Eur, but reached the required 20 percent. We believe that the 20% who need it is very easy to withdraw: those whose billing has dropped 50% or more. and they have been closed for a long time. As with the subsidies, it is not necessary to give to anyone, because, for example, “Mc’Donalda”, pizzerias, kebabs or sushi, increased their turnover “, says E. Šiškauskienė.

Predict huge wage growth

Economist Alexander Izgorodin says that there are currently several problems with the labor market. According to him, the current high structural unemployment in Lithuania is worrying.

“About 27 per cent. All of the unemployed are long-term. This means that only a small proportion of the unemployed who are currently unemployed are motivated to return to the labor market. All the rest will be unemployed forever and highly dependent on benefits. they do not want to return to the labor market.

The problems are twofold: first, when a country has high structural unemployment, economic recovery slows down because companies can no longer find suitable workers, and second, the importation of foreign labor. During the last cycle of economic growth, Lithuania relied heavily on imports of labor from Ukraine and Belarus, not only construction, but also industry and the service sector.

Now, the possibility of importing workers from Ukraine and Belarus will be severely hampered, as those countries are “moving” very slowly with vaccination, and Belarusians are being vaccinated with the Sputnik vaccine, which is not licensed in Europe. This means that a Lithuanian company wanting to import an employee from Belarus or Ukraine may need to get vaccinated on their own to be able to come here. This is both an economic and a time problem ”, says the economist.

Finally, he predicts that we will have a big increase in wages in Lithuania this year, when the economy starts to grow after COVID-19. It also foresees double-digit growth in catering establishments, where the problem of staff shortages is currently relevant.

“This year, if the economy starts to grow, the quarantine will be eased and the shortage of workers will be felt very strongly, wages could rise by as much as 15 percent. It also means faster inflation: as wages rise, most of them will be redistributed on the shoulders of consumers, which is normal, companies cannot blame for this, “says A. Izgorodin.

Saddle: we would equate salaries with Spain

However, the director of Amber Food does not expect such rapid salary growth this year.

“Already now, when you hear what it promises, we will be able to transport not only Ukrainians, but also Spanish and Italians. However, we are not Switzerland and we want salaries that are sometimes closer to Germany than to Spain. So far, we still have the highest 21 percent. VAT in Europe. The same salary is one of the most taxed in Europe. What to pay then? Then the prices with our current taxes will be Swiss, not German. Is incredible.

If there is more growth, there will be a bigger problem in the future: business will be unsustainable. You need to run in parallel and fees. We hope that the July VAT reduction will also help address wage growth.

Part of the wages will go up simply because the minimum wage has been raised, but I would not dare to say 15%, because it is already a very large figure. In that case, our salaries would be on par with those of Spain. Then there should be significantly higher prices, ”says G. Balnis.

The turnover of the restaurants reaches 10%.

At that time, E. Šiškauskienė says that wages have increased 4 times in a few years. According to her, until restaurants close, it’s hard to say if wages will go up this year.

“When the minimum wage goes up and the company has 1,200 employees, it feels great. Of course, it will raise key employees, but what will increase the salaries of business hotels, which have been closed since last March (first quarantine – Delphi) and don’t see a clearing to open. Restaurants have one out of every two tables on the outdoor terrace, and many don’t even have one. From what then to raise wages, from whom to pay compensation?

There are four tables on the terrace. Without billing: restaurants have 10% each. turnover, there are deferred taxes to pay, loans, deferred rent or kapsi because no one has reduced it. It is conceivable which debts have just started to work. If you are not allowed to continue working (internally – Delphi), there will be nothing to increase wages, who or with whom to work. We will see: if good cooks and cooks are needed, the business will be the last, but asking for loans and paying salaries or compensation to employees is not very business logic “, says a representative of restaurants and hotels.