Landlords, hairdressers & Co. – staff shortages reduce supply more and more

The staff shortage in Austria is getting worse: according to the Economic Association, companies have advertised 277,000 vacancies! Increasingly, companies, especially in the service sector, are unable to find staff and there are currently absences due to corona illness and holidays. As a result, the supply has to be limited in many cases.

A few examples:

• I’m Schweizerhausrestaurant in the Vienna Prater employed 95 people in 2019. There are currently 73 waiters working. As a result, the interior rooms have to remain closed on some days despite demand. Chef Karl Hans Kolarik: “Since the pandemic and the lockdowns, many waiters in the market have refocused. We would like to hire more staff!”

• At the gastro chain Wine&Co about 20 employees are missing, which corresponds to 15% of the target number of employees in the shops and bars. That’s why boss Willi Klinger had to adjust the opening hours. For example, the branch on the Jasomirgottstrasse in Vienna is now closed on Sundays. And the branch in Salzburg am Platzl is only open on Sundays this year (usually all summer) during the six weeks of the festival. There was also a need to cut back on the lunch menu due to staff shortages.

• “We have evaluated our opening hours and dare to close an hour or two earlier,” says gastro-entrepreneur Berndt Querfeld (Café Landtmann & Co.). At the inn Kagran Napoleon Monday was a rest day. Querfeld: “That means 14 percent fewer employees.”

• The Linz pastry chef Leo jindrak (nine branches) is currently looking for four to five full-time employees in the service: “Since 9 May we have closed our branch Landstrasse. The opening is again on September 15. The reason was on the one hand a lack of staff, long-term absenteeism and the well-deserved vacation of my employees.”

• Die Ruefa-Travel agencies had to close their branch on Schloßhofer Strasse in Vienna’s 21st district last week due to corona diseases. There weren’t enough people to replace breakdowns.

• “Die hairdressing industry tries to adapt to the circumstances and stay there as best as possible for the customers,” says guild master Wolfgang Eder. “However, in some cases there is a switch to a four-day work week.”

• hotel manager Petra Nocker-Schwarzenbacher: “It is very difficult to get employees. We have occupied posts. But the question is, what happens when someone leaves? We have been looking for a receptionist for three months and have had two applications so far.” Other companies are stripping more and more employees. If the shortage continues, the coming winter season will be barely manageable: “No one can imagine right now how this should work.”