The businessmen of the Balearic Islands are advancing the hiring of personnel and are already in the process of selecting hotel workers to avoid the serious problems that occurred last year due to the lack of employees. The large hotel companies have already begun to complete the templates and one of the difficulties in hiring staff is the impossibility for many workers to find housing at a reasonable price where they can stay for the season.
Until now, hoteliers have resisted giving up rooms in their establishments to workers, a solution that was common at the beginning of the tourist boom since the 1960s, but which gradually disappeared. This option has begun to make its way little by little in Eivissa in previous seasons and some hoteliers will do the same this year in Majorca.
Hotel chains assure that this year they are willing to block some of the rooms of their accommodations to install employees, but, in any case, it will not be the general practice among establishments, they assure from the Hotel Federation. Yes, there is a coincidence that the price of housing is a drag to get staff.
The president of the Hotel Federation of Mallorca, Maria Frontera, explained this week that employers are making progress in closing staff and stressed the need to bet on quality in hiring qualified personnel to be able to offer year-round employment in the as many establishments as possible.
The problem for hoteliers to find staff was even more intense in the case of the complementary offer. Alfonso Robledo, president of the Mallorca restaurant employers’ association, CAEB-Restauració, assures that the usual thing was for employers to hire workers to cover Easter and then return to unemployment until June. This summer will not be like that. “Most of the employers already have the template closed for Easter, but this year they will keep it throughout the season to make sure they won’t have problems later,” he says.
He explains that one drawback of this year is that Easter has been brought forward, so it is likely that, for a few months, bars, restaurants and the hotel catering offer will have more employees than necessary. Even so, they prefer to lose money and then have guarantees that they will have the full squad in the summer.
Last year, businessmen were overwhelmed by the large number of tourists that flooded the islands. The Balearic Islands experienced an extraordinary season, and with more than 16 million tourists throughout the archipelago throughout the year. Many catering services had problems due to a lack of staff and establishments that are open all year round had to close for a few days or stopped offering the least profitable service.
One of the factors that can help to reduce the lack of workers this year is the salary. Employers and unions have just signed an agreement to extend the hospitality agreement that has been in force for five years. The agreement goes through a rise of 5.5% this year and a 3% agreement. In the years of validity of the agreement, the salary of the workers will have increased by 25%. Robledo believes that it will be an incentive to achieve more stability among employees and fewer problems to hire staff this season.