The employment crisis in the hospitality sector.

It's quite difficult to develop/maintain a sense of self respect in jobs where you are treated poorly, if not worse.

Anyway, not to worry, foreign students can be subject to all that sort of thing

https://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2022/0516/1298377-students-visas/

Corners are cut by every employer in hospitality and there is nothing employees can do. Minimum rates of pay, working hours mean nothing in the hospitality industry. Its pay them as little as possible, make them work past the time they are meant to be finished for free, never give them weekends off, dont allow employees take their full holidays because you are short staffed, dont process them on a payroll ( but dont tell them this) is all the norm.

The law just seems to show a blind eye to this industry. I do know a few people who sought legal advice and were told not to bother pursuing anything as there will be nothing gained. Its easier just to get out of the industry.

funnily enough, those that have decided to not return to this industry are actually showing a lot of self respect, deciding enough is enough in regards sh1te pay and conditions, and opting for a better life elsewhere, we should be applauding them for doing so. i wish them the best

I see hotels near me are now offering 4 day weeks, complimentary gym memberships and pensions to attract employees - it can only be a good thing if the industry realises that they can attract people as long as they offer the right conditions.

true, but unemployment is back down to about 5%, so.....

Perhaps some may not understand how difficult it is to work in a hospitality environment and its not simply a case of an unemployed person walking in and getting a job and off they go.

Fair enough, some Roles don't require training but most do. It's a fast paced industry and not suited to everyone.

I recall when hospitality re opened there was countless complaints about appalling or lack of service, essentially caused by untrained and disinterested staff.

I started as a Chef, went into senior Management, have worked in 15 countries and had my own Restaurant and I can confidently say the Irish Hospitality industry is the worst I've worked in.

You are sadly correct and non payment of wages was a serious problem.

I don't mind telling you, it was so bad after the Crash, I actually did credit checks on potential Employers before even attending interviews.

The sector hit rock bottom during the celtic tiger era, Clueless developers building poorly designed hotels, Hiring Family to run them who had zero experience. Absolute disaster and many eventually taken over by NAMA, I actually spent time going into this places trying to restructure, Get money for staff and suppliers, there was many horrendous messes created and it was staff that always suffered.

Your asking a lot of questions you already know the answer to

If the government are clever they should encourage Ukrainians to enter the sector.

...some people truly couldnt give a fcuk about others!

I thing the racists will be upset when they see who pays for their state pension in 2 decades time & possibly the colour of the skin of their carers.

I agree with you. The 40K that left the sector were mostly foreign nationals that went home during Covid. Ukrainians are already here. This is a perfect sector for some of them to work. Front line for those with good english & housekeeping for those with poor English

...we actually dont live in this perfect world, where people truly get to chose their place of employment, its not exactly that easy to walk from one job to another, as life normally has all sorts of obstacles in place, from dependents, to debt obligations etc etc. some employers are simply arseholes, have little or no respect for the people that help run their businesses, yes theres enormous pressures in running a business, but respect goes a long way! oh and treating young workers with a bit of respect is probably also a good idea

....and treat them with a bit of respect also, making sure their pay and conditions are improved.....

Like your post says, there's both good and bad employers.

I've worked in a few small pubs years ago, all for good employers.

Worked in a large hotel and things didn't go so smoothly.

You'd get low pay for very hard work at unsociable times and often having to deal with drunk/ar5ehole/ignorant customers. There were often shennanigans with the rosters, changes at the last minute, no weekends off etc. Tips weren't always shared as agreed. No overtime, you'd be promised time off in lieu but the reality was that you would very rarely get to take it, and you'd certainly never get to take all that was owed to you. It would keep getting pushed out month after month due to the place being busy. One ex-colleague was actually owed three months holidays as time in lieu that he never got to take. The waiting staff got crucified with split shifts. No set finishing time, it all depended on what was on in the hotel and how busy it was, making it difficult for family life. Disrupted sleep patterns were common for many of the staff.

So yeah, I can see why the industry is struggling to recruit.

Just in relation to foreign nationals working in the Irish Hospitality Industry, I've met and worked with 100"s of wonderful people from all the world. Admitidly when the work permit program was introduced it was horrific, there was no training, appalling accommodation and serious exploitation as work permits were linked to the employer /place of employment and the abuse that went on was appalling.

Many did go on the get senior roles and when the conditions of Work permits relaxed they went on to find better jobs, many also opened their own successful businesses.

Many also found better opportunities in other sectors and left the sector the first chance they got.

Whilst some Ukrainians have started working in hotels, restaurants, bars etc it's going to be near impossible to encourage foreign nationals to return to Ireland and the hospitality sector, primarily because of its reputation and the total lack of accommodation and also remember the standard of living in countries like Poland is far better than it was in early 2000"s there's really very little to incentify foreign nationals to come to Ireland and work in Hospitality.