The demand at most Calgary restaurants and bars has returned, many of the workers have not
As Alberta and the rest of Canada continues to reopen, businesses are trying to quickly make up for lost time and lost revenue. But many in Calgary's bar and restaurant sector say there's a major problem: staffing.
"Finding team members is the biggest challenge, by far," said Brett Ireland, the CEO of the Bearhill Brewing group, which has establishments in Calgary, Banff, Jasper and Edmonton.
"And I'm hearing this across the entire industry -- and even outside of the hospitality industry," he said.
Ireland said they're having the most trouble filling kitchen positions, but there are shortages of servers and hosts, too. The Bearhill group usually has about 450 employees spread out at its locations, but Ireland said they're hovering around 300 people right now and can't find people to fill the positions people left behind.
"The main two contributing factors are people are still adjusting to coming out of everything we've been through in the past year," he said, "the biggest one is, for our industry, there's this mass exodus and a lack of interest in working in hospitality because it's gone through these crazy shutdowns."
Brett Ireland, Bearhill Brewing
Some of the group's locations, especially in resort areas like Banff and Jasper, are limiting operating hours -- at time to just four hours per day -- because of the difficulties in finding people to work.
HOTELS ALSO HIT HARD
It's not just restaurants and bars looking for workers, it's the hotel sector as well.
"There's definitely a staff shortage in the city," said Sol Zia with the Calgary Hotel Association.
"Last I checked, there's about 400 open positions in the city of Calgary across our hotels."
He said the positions they're looking to fill are mostly in housekeeping, maintenance and food and beverage.
"It's all hands on deck, so everyone at the hotel is cleaning rooms," Zia said.
"Some hotels have had to curb their reservations due to lack of housekeeping staff. So, quite honestly, turn away reservations."
A lot of the positions needed are low-wage positions and Zia said he believes some workers are choosing to collect the federal recovery benefit instead of working.
"Some hotels are paying people more. They've had to increase their wages and wage structure," Zia said.
In the restaurant industry, Ireland said this will likely lead to a discussion about how to better compensate workers as so many leave the sector.
"Longer term, really thinking about, as an employer, what are we doing to attract people and retaining them and what can we do better at?" Ireland said.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
From outer space? Sask. farmers baffled after discovering strange wreckage in field
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
NEW Iconic Canadian song turns 50
Andy Kim's 'Rock Me Gently' is marking a major milestone, as it celebrates its 50th anniversary.
Oprah Winfrey: I set an unrealistic standard for dieting
Oprah Winfrey said on Thursday evening that she has long played a role in promoting unhealthy and unrealistic diets.
Prince Harry, Meghan arrive in Nigeria to champion the Invictus Games and meet with wounded soldiers
Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, arrived in Nigeria on Friday to champion the Invictus Games, which he founded to aid the rehabilitation of wounded and sick servicemembers and veterans, among them Nigerian soldiers fighting a 14-year war against Islamic extremists.
Countries struggle to draft 'pandemic treaty' to avoid mistakes made during COVID
After the coronavirus pandemic triggered once-unthinkable lockdowns, upended economies and killed millions, leaders at the World Health Organization and worldwide vowed to do better in the future. Years later, countries are still struggling to come up with an agreed-upon plan for how the world might respond to the next global outbreak.
Toronto police called to Drake's Bridle Path mansion for another alleged intruder on Thursday
Toronto police say a man who allegedly attempted to access Drake’s Bridle Path property was taken to hospital on Thursday after an altercation with security guards.
Ontario family receives massive hospital bill as part of LTC law, refuses to pay
A southwestern Ontario woman has received an $8,400 bill from a hospital in Windsor, Ont., after she refused to put her mother in a nursing home she hated -- and she says she has no intention of paying it.
Flat tire on a highway? Here's why you shouldn't try to fix it
If you're cruising down a highway and realize you have a flat tire, you may want to think twice before stopping to fix it on the side of the road.
Storm-battered U.S. South is again under threat. A boy swept into a drain fights for his life
Dangerous storms crashed over parts of the U.S. South on Thursday even as the region cleaned up from earlier severe weather that spawned tornadoes, killed at least three people, and gravely injured a boy who was swept into a storm drain as he played in a flooded street.