When you go out to eat during the holidays, you may find that there are long queues outside some restaurants, but when you go in, you find that there are many empty seats. It turns out that it is because there are not enough employees , so there is no way to absorb the customers. Today, let us talk about the labor shortage crisis in the catering industry! Hiho~ Hello everyone, I am Zhiqi! Although the epidemic has passed for a long time, the shortage of workers in the catering industry has continued until this year. The shortage of manpower in some restaurants has reached its limit, resulting in the embarrassing situation of "there are customers but no employees". Some bosses even said that if the situation continues to worsen , they will not be able to continue doing business! In addition to causing confusion among business operators, this problem also affects consumers. Many people have experienced waiting in line for a long time when eating out , only to find out after asking that it turns out that there are not enough staff and the restaurant cannot open all areas to customers normally. Want to eat but can’t ? Today’s topic is a topic voted by our channel members. We will take a look at how serious the shortage of workers in Taiwan’s catering industry is? Why can’t catering companies find people even if they offer better wages? How to solve this problem? But before we start today’s discussion, let’s go into some business service time! [How serious is the shortage of workers in catering? 】 How serious is the shortage of workers in Taiwan’s catering industry? According to the "People's Livelihood Consumption Industry Talent White Paper" released by 104 Human Resources Bank, the number of people recruiting people's livelihood consumption industry talents has hit a record high since the first quarter of 2023, with an average monthly recruitment of 382,000 people. Among them, the catering industry ranks first in the shortage of workers. The average monthly shortage of 171,000 people is almost 60% more than the second-place retail industry! What is most lacking in the catering industry is front-line catering waiters, who account for 60% of the number of catering workers. The serious shortage of workers leaves restaurants facing many situations where customers keep coming but there is a serious shortage of manpower and they are unable to cope with it. Business operators said that they had finally managed to survive the epidemic , but when the customers came back , the employees disappeared and they could hardly continue to work. So why is this lack of work so serious? [Why is there a lack of work? : The physical strength is too much! 】 In fact, it’s not just catering. All other industries in Taiwan are also facing the problem of labor shortage to a greater or lesser extent. Due to the impact of declining birthrate, Taiwan’s working population has been shrinking year by year. In addition, during the epidemic, the number of working people increased for the first time. Negative growth has led to an unprecedented wave of labor shortages after the epidemic. But everyone is clearly short of workers. Why does the catering industry seem to be the most serious? This issue can be discussed at two levels: "long-term factors" and "short-term factors." Let's look at the long-term factors first. The very physically demanding working conditions in the catering industry have long been a reason to discourage job seekers. During the peak period of work in the catering industry, it is necessary to It is common for one person to work for two people while receiving guests , serving meals and serving dishes . In addition to working during opening hours, most employees also need to prepare ingredients in advance before opening the door and return after closing. The working hours of cleaning are very long , even if there is rest time , all the work done all day long is physical work, which accumulates over a long period of time and often causes a heavy burden on the worker's body and mind. Furthermore, the working hours of the catering industry are also the same as those of ordinary people who work from 9 to 5 weeks . Different industries have two days off. Most of them adopt a shift system, which does not guarantee that they will be able to take holidays during the holidays. In addition, the so-called "double shift" scheduling system makes more people stay away [Why are there shortages of work? : Reject the double-headed shift! 】 Due to the characteristics of restaurant dining hours, many operators will arrange a three-hour "empty shift" for employees during the period from 2 to 5 p.m., allowing employees to rest for three hours after finishing the morning shift before continuing to work in the evening . The shift system seems to allow employees to rest and the total working hours to fall within the normal range. However, many people who have actually worked in restaurants say that the double shift system is the key to making them not want to work in the catering industry because of the so-called "empty time". The euphemistic name of "office time" is to allow employees to rest , but the time is not long enough for you to go home and relax. You are forced to stay at the company for three more hours to wait for the evening shift . Many people feel that this is equivalent to taking away a whole day's work. Time is spent in the company and break time is cut off. There is no life of one's own at all. Therefore, for young people who value "work and life balance", it is difficult to persist in the catering industry when they are tired and have no personal time. They would rather choose Consider other industries to seek better working conditions. Of course, some people say that if the money is available, no matter how hard the job is, there will still be people doing it . This brings us to another factor that leads to the lack of work in the catering industry. The salary is too low [There is a salary increase, but it is not enough. many? 】 In Taiwan, the average salary in the catering industry has not kept up with other industries for a long time . Catering operators are actually aware of this problem. Therefore, after the epidemic, many industries have offered higher job benefits in an attempt to attract employees. For example, the well-known catering company Chikuma Group not only announced a comprehensive salary increase of 6% for existing employees, but also offered a starting salary of 32K for full-time employees and 51K for reserve store managers . It hopes to find more manpower and this phenomenon is not an isolated case . According to the survey, The salary increase in the catering industry before and after the epidemic ranges from 8.6% to 13.7%. At first glance, it sounds very high, but many people question that even if the salary is increased, the salary in the catering industry will still be lower than other industries. For example, in 2023 According to a survey, the average monthly salary of all employees in Taiwan is 44K , while the average monthly salary of the catering industry is only 37K even with continuous salary adjustments , ranking 60th among 63 industries, which is equal to the fourth from the bottom. Some people say that salary increases in the catering industry Most of the situation still occurs in large-scale enterprises, many small businesses and traditional snack bars. In fact, not much has changed at all. In summary, the catering industry has long-term problems such as hard work, long hours, and relatively low wages, which have led to them always facing a situation of lack of work. And this situation has become more serious after the epidemic [The epidemic has made the shortage of work more serious! 】 During the epidemic, many catering companies were severely hit and were forced to lay off a large number of employees . Therefore, after the lockdown was lifted, there was already a large manpower gap. However, due to the lifting of the epidemic, there was a retaliatory consumption wave among the public . With the huge increase, many stores have taken this opportunity to expand their stores. As a result, the demand for manpower in the catering industry is even greater than before the epidemic. The talent gap has been breaking through new highs. The demand for manpower has increased , but the supply of manpower seems to be less than before. Because during the epidemic, Many employees in the catering industry who have been laid off or put on unpaid leave have chosen to join other industries, such as the food delivery industry, which boomed during the epidemic, and the electronics and technology industries, which have always had relatively good salary conditions. After the epidemic is over, These people have also become accustomed to the new industry ecology, and the overall working conditions in the catering industry are not better, so this group of employees has little intention to return. In addition, the student group that was originally "the catering talent pool" is also because of the low salary mentioned above. , having to go to work on holidays, etc., I increasingly don’t want to work in the catering industry. In addition, after the rise of emerging Internet industries, job options are relatively more diversified. The number of students entering the catering industry has dropped sharply, making the problem of job shortage even worse. Then the problem arises . According to the simplest law of supply and demand, as long as the employer is willing to increase wages, the willingness of labor recruitment will increase, right? Why don’t catering companies just raise their salaries a little more? [The catering industry also has something to say? 】 For many operators, it may be a bit reluctant to increase their salary because catering is a labor-intensive industry, and the proportion of labor costs in the cost structure is usually relatively high , especially for larger companies with more employees, as long as they start to adjust. The starting salary of new employees will also increase, and the salary of old employees will also increase. Personnel costs will rise sharply, which will affect profits. When it comes to profits , the catering industry is not like the technology industry. It is difficult for the manufacturing industry to significantly increase profits through upgrading technology . For example For example, even if you can make very good dumplings today, the cost of each dumpling is fixed and it will be very difficult to reduce it. What if the cost cannot be reduced and passed on to consumers to increase profits? This will also involve catering. As daily basic consumers, people are very price-sensitive. No matter how good a dumpling is, if you sell it for 50 yuan, most people will not be able to accept it. Therefore, based on the characteristics of this industry, businesses want to make money and increase production value . It is not easy to have enough money to raise the average salary of the entire industry. At present, some large groups still have room to raise salaries for their employees , but most catering operators can only raise salaries to a limited extent and after the adjustment is completed, The figures are still not up to par with the average wages in other industries, making the problem of labor shortage a dead end again . So, is there really no solution to the era of great labor shortage? [How to break through the predicament of the era of great labor shortage? 】 In order to resolve the current severe labor shortage problem as soon as possible, experts and scholars suggest that in addition to more substantial salary adjustments, more attention should be paid to employees' salary benefits and job development. Only by ensuring that employees receive reasonable salaries and a developmental future can employees There is an incentive to stay on the job stably and alleviate the problem of labor shortage. However, if due to industrial restrictions, we cannot provide such high salaries and benefits, we can also start by improving the working environment. For example, if the current "double-shift system" that is prohibitive can become Being more flexible and preventing employees from working too long working hours will also increase people's willingness to join the catering industry to a certain extent. In addition, in response to the long-term labor shortage problem caused by the declining birthrate, some experts suggest that the catering industry can invest its recruitment efforts in planning and training the middle-aged and elderly working population. Work functions across generations create an age-friendly workplace environment [Our point of view] Before entering the point of view, I would like to express my special thanks to all members of Zhiqi Qiqi. With your support and sponsorship, we can continue to operate this channel like today The theme of this video was chosen by members' votes! So, if you are willing to support us to go further or have special topics you want to discuss, you are welcome to join our membership and discuss topics of interest with everyone every month ! Okay, having said that, we feel that the discussion on the shortage of workers in catering is often focused on the issue of "price" because employees feel that the salary is too low and do not want to be the boss . They feel that the profit is too small and cannot raise wages, so among us, we want to change this situation. A very intuitive idea is to raise the price of catering and increase the profits of the entire industry. This will provide a way to raise wages for workers. However, this will directly affect our daily lives as consumers . Now we can enjoy cheap catering services everywhere. It is very likely that in the future You need to pay a higher price and you have to spend more money to buy these services. Of course, this is our own observation and it may not be correct. So in the end, I want to ask everyone what are the most important conditions if you want to invest in the catering industry . ? Finally, if you like today’s video, please share it to let more people know about the issue of “lack of workers in the catering industry”! In addition, you can also click here to see the discussion of "delivery boy" and "nurse" . So, today's Zhiqi Qiqi ends here . See you tomorrow night!
