5/31/2023 0 Comments Empire z workforce![]() Working in our industry is magic and exciting, as much as demanding and exacting. Recruitment agencies had to organise scouting sessions abroad to appeal to foreign workers to come to Ireland, after which, finding suitable and affordable accommodation for them was a further headache.īut is the pandemic really the cause of the current conundrum, or is it just laying bare the true state of the matter? Are the restriction measures the cause or the precipitation factor of a tension that was already there? I believe we are looking at the second option: we were papering over an asymmetry of work treatments and opportunities that needed tackling anyway. Others highlight that the bottleneck was already evident before the Covid mayhem, and I can vouch for this reading, as filling positions in the hospitality industry was also a challenge in 2018, 2019 and earlier. Many employers in Ireland point to the PUP safety net, promptly deployed by the government, as a driving cause of the painful shortage of labour. So, what’s going on? How to fix it? Why is serving in the joyful circus of holidays, travels and events not appealing any more? Bottleneck This is not only an Irish problem, but an international one, afflicting Ireland and the UK as much as the USA, Italy as much as France. Our workforce (of all ranks and skill sets) has walked out on us as if the house were on fire. It appears that, at the much-awaited restart of the entire hospitality and tourism industry, this has hit a widespread issue that will push the entire system out of kilter. A sustainable business is one that, given the current production factors available, can go on indefinitely, using and creating resources (all resources) in a balanced, give-and-take exercise. ![]() However, sustainability also encompasses social and economic dimensions. We are, as we studied it in third class, senior cycle, with Miss Doyle (Business Management). Back then, the residents of the island were not familiar with the notion of ‘negative externalities’. If you think about it, this is a basic and wise approach that would allow us to avoid ending up like the inhabitants of Easter Island (Rapa Nui), a civilization extinct for overuse of finite natural resources. It’s a complex and far-reaching P&L that, if put down graphically, takes the shape of an intricate cluster, where the resources we use must be put back into the system, and where the sites that we inhabit must be kept in balance across all elements of the living and inorganic world. ‘Neutrality’ – a key word here – means that what we leave behind after we have created economic value through our activity matches what we had found there before. Sustainability is automatically and almost exclusively associated with ‘environmental sustainability’ – that is, making choices that allow our businesses to exist and operate, delivering a neutral impact on resources. Nevertheless, this is just the very beginning of a long path that will, sooner or later, put us in front of transformative decisions, some of which will not be magically solved by innovation and technology, but will require changes in our lifestyles (and, yes, our industry will need to play its part). ‘Sustainability’ is fast becoming the must-have attribute for any respectable business aspiring to upgrade its brand reputation to contemporary times. We will now be engulfed in a frenzy of ‘sustainability’ mentioned everywhere and about everything. We are currently witnessing the transition from Phase II – when anyone who mentioned the word was framed as an unrepentant tree-hugger, preaching Franciscan frugality and going around with rough-sheep-wool half-gloves in the depths of winter – to Phase III: celebrity status. By signing up you are agreeing to our Terms & Conditions
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