With vaccination, the pandemic is no longer the main obstacle to economic recovery.
Today, business leaders have a much more important fear: that of not finding the rare pearl that will strengthen their teams.
In Les Echos, the boss of the giant Accor believes that “
the rebound is just around the corner
”, but that the labor shortage is causing a “
dramatic
”
situation
in the hotel sector.
Read also: These companies desperately looking for workers
“
The world has changed. The expectations of employees too. In all industries, there are many who no longer want to accept the sacrifices and personal constraints that have been theirs for years,
”explains Sébastien Bazin. The hotel industry needs “
more than 100,000
” employees, and each French establishment must deal with “
15 to 30%
” of the missing workforce, estimates the CEO. "
It's a disaster,
" he laments, adding that this trend is also being observed in other countries.
In addition, the answers are difficult to find: the majority of companies are bloodless, brought down by the epidemic, and cannot increase wages to attract more candidates, argues the businessman. The job is also demanding and restrictive, both in terms of schedules and workload. And the pandemic has led employees to question themselves. "
A large part of the employees [...] will nevertheless be back in the fall
", but some will not return, nuance Sébastien Bazin.
The boss of Accor also regrets a lack of "
reciprocity
" on the part of the employees: "
we were there for our teams, we would have liked them to be there when we need them most. [...] The return of all our employees is an imperative condition for the rebound of our activity
”, he underlines.
A broad fear of employers
The concerns of the leader of the hotel group are not isolated: a large part of the economy is now experiencing difficulties in recruiting qualified staff. It is even the "
main threat to the recovery
", according to the governor of the Banque de France: more than four out of ten companies "
already
have
recruitment difficulties
", warns François Villeroy de Galhau. Despite its high unemployment rate, France faces a bottleneck, a paradox "
unacceptable economically and socially
", judges the governor. "
We could better train young people and sometimes adults,
" he suggests.
In a conjuncture note, the Banque de France returns more specifically to this problem. In June, 44% of the companies surveyed reported having encountered recruitment difficulties. The proportion is even higher in services (47%) and construction 50%). The accommodation and catering sector, which has been sounding the alarm for months on the lack of manpower, is also one of the areas concerned.
