Scottish hospitality bosses turn to 'silver servers' to help industry
The Scottish Hospitality Group' confirmed their is a recruitment crisis.
Bosses at Scotland’s top pubs, hotels and restaurants have said they are facing the worst recruitment crisis in living memory but believe a generation of ‘silver servers’ could be the saviour.
The Scottish Hospitality Group are calling on anyone over 50, with or without experience, to join the trade and enjoy the benefits of flexible, part-time work to plug the huge staffing gap that is crippling the sector.
With Furlough ending this month, the group believe many in this age group could be soon out of work, but they are ready to welcome them in.
They have revealed its members are currently seeking to fill 500 vacancies as younger staff leave due to the strain of ongoing understaffing issues.
Stephen Montgomery from Scottish Hospitality Group added: “The industry is on its knees, and we are looking for solutions at every turn, I hope this could be it. Hospitality has taken a bashing, but that’s been caused by the fractured state it’s been left in after the pandemic. With enough people back in our venues, it’s a valuable, flexible and enjoyable career for anyone willing to get stuck in.
“We need help to save the industry; our members are currently looking for 500 staff, but we know of around another 500 roles that could be created as part of planned upgrades or new venues in the pipeline - totalling some £30m of investment - however, this all hangs in the balance because of the current jobs market. If we can entice a generation of ‘silver servers’ in, they could save us.”
They hope that targeting over 50s could also be the answer to the UK unemployment figures after pre-pandemic research from the Institute of Fiscal Studies found that 55-65-year-olds are less likely to make a comeback following spells of unemployment, with less than one in three over 55-year-olds returning to work.
Glasgow and Edinburgh restaurateur Andy McCartney also weighed in on the discussion.
He said: "It's incredibly tough on a number of fronts, one of which is the supply chain issues, as well as the labour markets.
"We've got a number of vacancies across the board and speaking daily to the general managers they're having difficulties trying to fill those vacancies.
"We've had to revisit our bussiness models and had to slim down the operation in two of our venues and we've had to remove the brunch offering because we don't have the staff to service it.
"People often ask me what the reason for the squeeze is and I think it could be a mixture of covid, could be a mixture of Brexit and there's obviously the issue with HGV drivers so what I would call upon is the bussiness secretary to look at this as a matter of urgency."