Older Australians called in to help ease staff shortages
The hospitality industry is calling for older Australians to come out of retirement and rejoin the workforce to help businesses struggling with staff shortages.
David Allen, owner of Cobargo Hotel in the NSW Bega Valley Shire, told Today he lost the bulk of younger workers when backpackers and visa workers went home as the pandemic hit.
Even with continued job posts online, David struggles to fill the empty positions.
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David Allen says more businesses should recruit older Australians to help ease the staff burden on the hospitality industry. Today
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David since put a call-out for a "grey army" of older Australians looking for work and ended up with a good response.
"We really have to break that stigma [that] hospitality is a young person's industry," David told Today.
"It's for everyone - we've been really successful here. We have four more mature older staff members out of our little campaign."
David said if more businesses looked at employing mature people it could help fill the gap Australia has at the moment.
You don't need a university degree or a lot of skills to work in hospitality, he explained, and mature people in particular have the soft skills and life experience that can translate to working in a hotel, cafe or accommodation hotel.
David says older Australians have the life skills and rapport needed in hospitality, they just need confidence and the stigma that hospitality is for younger people to be broken. Getty
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"They just need a little bit of training and that bit of confidence," he said.
"Building that rapport with customers having that chat and spending time, we find the more mature workers are fantastic at it.
"It's really good for business and good for themselves and customers; everyone is enjoying it.
"I think it's something everyone in hospitality needs to look at to try and fill this gap that we have with our workforce at the moment."
Watch the full segment with David above
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