PRESIDENT UPDATE
The Tasmanian hospitality industry is set to continue having strong trade moving forward, with both the recent THA occupancy data and forecast tourism numbers into 2023 looking strong. The major issue bubbling away is the recruitment and retention of staff – chefs and middle management have always been in short supply across the whole industry – but we now have gaps right across the workforce. Addressing this is one of the cornerstones of our Hospitality 2030 vision. Staff training is one option which can alleviate some of the problems. With less personnel, the one option for employers is to raise the skills of their current staff to fill gaps. This has the potential to also increase wages for those staff members. I see the increasing of wages for trained staff as a good thing for our industry, it’s a win for both employer and employees. If we are forced to have less people on our books, staff can get the skills they need to take home extra pay by filling more hours and hopefully staying in the industry for longer. We have a system that has forced training to be done predominantly by Registered Training Organisations (RTO’s), Government and private training providers
that supply accredited training to industries. This system has worked well in the past but industry has been asking for change to allow more flexibility in training our staff. The use of non-accredited short courses is a great way to get new staff up to speed and working effectively in the short term. Then if accredited training is required (as it will be for most staff that intend to stay in hospitality for longer and make it a worthwhile career) they will then need to get the right qualifications from the RTO’s. Tasmania is a desired destination, for that reason we must all ensure that we are providing that unique Tasmanian experience that we are known for. This does not mean silver service, but more of a knowledgeable, confident and in most cases respectful, relaxed style. Programs such as our Great Customer Experience (GCE) play a great role in this, focusing on what areas your business can tap into to elevate visitor encounters. I encourage anyone that needs to have staff trained in the non-accredited short courses to contact VXT (vxt.org.au) and inquire how best they can help upskill staff.
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