UK Labour Crisis Could Last Up To 2 Years
- By Harri Insider Team | October 25, 2021
Over the last few months, businesses have called for ministers to issue visas to overseas workers in a bid to end the labour crisis in the UK. This comes after the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) warned that staff shortages could last for up to two years if the government doesn’t relax its post-Brexit immigration rules.
Let’s take a look at the situation in more detail, and explain what you can do to overcome the challenges presented by the labour crisis…
What’s happening?
The combination of COVID-19 and Brexit has caused staff shortages across all sectors, and some of the world’s largest companies have been affected. According to the Road Haulage Association, Britain is currently short of around 100,000 lorry drivers, and sourcing, onboarding and training new workers is estimated to take at least 18 months.
Naturally, this has impacted the food supply chain, with many companies now unable to meet customer demand. In August, fast-food giant McDonald’s was forced to remove milkshakes and bottled drinks from its menus in England, Scotland and Wales due to these issues. Subway also confirmed it was experiencing ‘minor supply chain shortages’ relating to fresh produce.
Who else has been affected?
Of course, it isn’t just the world’s biggest food companies that are affected by the crisis. UK restaurants of all sizes have had no choice but to adjust or even cancel their services as a result of the ongoing labour problems. And unlike McDonald’s, these businesses don’t have the funds to continue operating like this.
“Some restaurant owners have had to choose between lunchtime and evening services when trying to make the most of summer,” said Tony Danker, Director-General at CBI.
Furthermore, hoteliers are being forced to limit the number of rooms available for reservation due to a lack of housekeeping staff. This emphasises the need to look after your existing workforce to ensure you don’t lose them. How do you achieve this? By keeping them engaged, well paid, and ensuring they have a reliable schedule.
Why are businesses struggling to hire?
In September, Wagamama’s Chief Executive, Thomas Heier, revealed that the restaurant chain is experiencing staffing issues at 30 of its 147 sites as a result of Brexit immigration restrictions. This should come as no surprise, given that the number of EU workers in hospitality recently hit a new low.
“We’ve seen a reduction in our EU workforce in particular, but the other thing we’re seeing is increased competition from logistics and delivery firms who are struggling with an increased number of vacancies,” Thomas told the Press Association.
If you’re in the same position, you could benefit from using Harri’s talent attraction platform. It makes building and distributing your open vacancies simple and easy, helping you reach millions of active job seekers. By using our employee social referral tools you can capitalise on existing networks and even reward your employees for successful hires by giving them a unique referral code that they can send to their network.
Meet Carri
The ongoing labour crisis is no joke, and if you want to snap up top talent before your competitors do, you need to act fast. But the question is: how do we attract more people into the hospitality industry? Technology may be the answer!
Our conversational ambassador, Carri, simplifies the interview coordination process by automating the bookings and logistics required to ensure success, via mobile messaging systems such as WhatsApp. This reduces the time to hire while increasing the quality of candidates coming through the interview stage – something that’s particularly important in these uncertain times.
Prepare your new hire with Harri
Once you’ve made a hiring decision with Carri, make sure they have a seamless onboarding experience by using Harri. Our digitised system makes the onboarding process quick, easy, and most important paperless so there’s no more delaying or misplacing of important documents.
When it comes to payroll, Harri has you covered. Whether using Harri payroll to eliminate errors and cut costs by automating the processing of payroll activities, allowing your employees instant access to their pay and ensuring you are compliant with payroll legislation, or if using an external payroll provider we can integrate seamlessly. Our integrations enable you to upload new hire data automatically to generate the necessary payroll information, so you can reduce your administrative burden and deliver a seamless onboarding experience for successful candidates.
Want to learn more about our solutions? Request a free demo today!
