Reducing operating hours was not uncommon in Whanganui at the moment due to staff shortages. Photo / Bevan Conley
Businesses in Whanganui are battling to stay open as they struggle to find staff and winter illnesses start to bite.
That comes as a workforce leadership group in the Manawatū-Whanganui region announced its blueprint for how to ensure there are enough workers with the right skills in the future.
Whanganui Chamber of Commerce chief executive Helen Garner said staff shortages were so tight at the moment, a lot of businesses — particularly those in the hospitality sector — had to consider reducing hours because of staff shortages.
"That may have to be someone's contingency," she said.
"It has to be part of your planning."
She said she was aware some businesses were facing having to close their doors for the 'foreseeable future'.
La Quattro owner Manjot Singh said his restaurant was getting by thanks to his family members helping to fill shifts.
"We are pretty okay at the moment for staff."
But he said he had heard of other businesses around town reducing their hours by as much as 50 per cent because of a lack of staff.
"We've only got three or four family staff. But it's hard to find staff — especially the chefs at the moment."
Singh said he could take on two to three people in front of house as well as a chef for the kitchen.
Whanganui & Partners chief executive Hannah Middleton said business owners were committing a lot of their own time to cover worker shortages, which was not sustainable.
"Many Whanganui businesses are creating competitive packages to attract staff, they are offering flexible work arrangements and recognising the need to provide competitive wages," she said.
But there was still a skills shortage she said and it was now important to consider 'on-the-job' training and looking to organisations getting people ready and able to work.
Middleton said open borders also threatened businesses with losing more staff as they could look at overseas opportunities.
Whanganui & Partners raised this issue with Infometrics economist Brad Olsen when he visited the city last month, Middleton said.
"Brad reiterated the importance of employers being prepared to compromise to attract and retain staff, whether that be the wages or salary offered or being versatile around working arrangements."
Borders opening could also mean more international workers coming to help fill a gap if they are lured by Whanganui's 'very attractive lifestyle'.
"We have a compact city where workers don't need to spend a lot of time commuting, we have great lifestyle available and pragmatic business owners who work hard to support their staff."
According to Whanganui & Partners jobseeker numbers in Whanganui were down 7.4 per cent in April this year compared to the same month in 2021.
Unite Union's assistant national secretary Gerard Hehir is a member of the Manawatū-Whanganui Regional Skills Leadership Group.
Hehir is also a union organiser who works with hospitality staff in Whanganui and said there was enormous pressure on workers in restaurants and cafes.
"In [hospitality] you've got shift managers under enormous pressure. Short staffing is not uncommon at all.
"Managers are turning up to shifts where they're 30 to 50 per cent down on normal staffing."
Covid-19 absences were as bad as it had been since the start of the pandemic and the winter flu had also been taking staff out, Hehir said.
"One of the problems we're having is managers call up head office ... and get told you just have to keep going as normal.
"It's just not possible ... when you're 50 per cent down on your staffing to keep going."
Short staffing led to a raft of other issues, Hehir said.
Health and safety was at risk because in food production and service things like temperature checks or dealing with expired food has to be done.
"If it's skipped it can lead to real problems."
Hehir said the health and safety of the workers was at risk because they were not getting their breaks, working long hours and in some cases doing double shifts.
Then there was customer aggression and violence when food was coming out late.
"That regularly results in verbal and violent abuse."
Overall employers had to adjust to being short-staffed or risk pushing workers to exhaustion, Hehir said.
School leavers and the health sector are the two leading focuses in the first Manawatū-Whanganui regional workforce plan that was announced last week.
The plan is the brainchild of the Manawatū-Whanganui Regional Skills Leadership Group, which is tasked with planning for future skills and workforce needs in the region.
"Our purpose is to support resiliency in our regional workforce that creates better outcomes for our kaimahi, employers, whānau, and mokopuna," the group outlines in its plan.
The group wants to draw on industry connections to help with designing the new 'Entry to Healthcare' programme UCOL is developing.
It also seeks to ensure the appropriate level of literacy and training in a way that meets the needs of Māori health providers.
The group also says it wants to report back on a 'journey analysis' of school leavers in the region to identify points where more support can be provided.
There is a desire to expand 'Youth Ready' programmes so that all employers have the chance to become accredited with the 'Youth Ready' title, as well as make sure careers advice is equal across the region.
Hehir said he liked the emphasis on getting school leavers into work pathways.
"For 20 years now I've heard employers go 'we need to train some workers, but we need skilled workers now'," he said referring to the use of migrant workers.
"We actually need a plan of how we are going to train these people so that in another 10 years we're not saying 'hey we need to get some more migrant workers in'."
He said it was good some employers were now taking on training young people into the workforce, but that was mostly bigger companies and public sector organisations.
Hehir said employers need to ask themselves what they are doing to train their future workforce.
"That's the challenge — particularly in hospitality."
The incidents occurred at the same commercial premises on Broadway, Marton.