Working holiday visa changes 'too little, too late' for struggling hospitality businesses
Friday, 2 December 2022
Hospitality businesses in Nelson say there still aren’t enough visitors on working holiday visas to help plug gaps in the workforce, despite a temporarily doubling of numbers under the Working Holiday Scheme.
Staff shortages in the sector meant many businesses were too busy to attend a recruitment expo last week, aimed at trying to help alleviate the problem for local hospitality, accommodation and tourism companies, organisers said.
Some potential workers who had arrived in the city were also demanding businesses pay them “over the odds” amid rising costs, a looming recession and near-record low unemployment, Nelson Tasman Chamber of Commerce reported.
The Government announced in August it would lift the cap on the number of Working Holiday Visas it issued for the 2022/2023 season.
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But delays in processing visa applications have been reported in a system creaking under heavy demand.
Nelson Hospitality Association president Ian Williams said the changes were “too little too late” for sector businesses being sold or operating with reduced opening hours nationwide, as they tried to repay debt accrued during Covid.
”We’re already into the [summer] season and we don’t have enough staff. So whatever’s going on in the system is not happening fast enough,” the owner of The Vic Public House and Burger Culture said.
Williams echoed calls from businesses elsewhere for the cost of migrant visas to be lowered, for the process to be streamlined, and for visa holders to be allowed to stay in New Zealand longer.
As the sector struggled to find staff, some jobseekers were trying to capitalise on the situation.
Nelson Tasman Chamber of Commerce chief executive Ali Boswijk said people had arrived from places like Queenstown, demanding higher pay than many businesses could afford.
Williams said he had heard of job-seekers also demanding unreasonable conditions.
“They come in with a series of terms that says I will only work one of the weekend days, and I’ll only work so many evenings of the week.
“This is hospitality … it’s an evening and weekend industry.”
Hospitality New Zealand regional manager Zinnia Foster said around 200 people attended a recruitment expo in Nelson on Monday last week, aimed at trying to help the sector tackle the continuing staff shortages.
They included Ministry of Social Development, job seekers, international students, backpackers, school students looking for summer jobs and a group of migrants accompanied by the Red Cross.
The Rutherford Hotel received 80 job applications as a result of the expo – a collaboration between Hospitality New Zealand, Go With Tourism, the Ministry of Social Development and Connected.govt.nz – with support from Uniquely Nelson and Nelson City Council, Foster said.
Despite organisers’ “best efforts”, only seven businesses attended, she said.
“Many could not attend as they were short-staffed and had to work in their business.”
The expo was due to become an annual event - helping businesses by offering work to people already in the region, Foster said.
“Hospitality businesses continue to feel frustrated with the immigration settings. Whilst Immigration New Zealand is reporting higher processing of applications, the reality is, we need more migrant workers to arrive.
“One of the key issues is that we are having to compete for talent on a global stage, some countries like Australia are just more attractive – they offer such benefits as pathways to residency.”
Immigration Minister Michael Wood said last month that the Government was rebalancing immigration settings to address immediate skills shortages, focusing on building the skills New Zealand needed, rather than on large volumes of low wage labour in some sectors.