Europa-Park boss railed against young people's claims: "We only want to work for three days"

Created: 07/17/2022, 04:59 am

By: Sina Alonso Garcia

Europa-Park Managing Director Roland Mack is currently struggling with recruitment difficulties.

© Philipp von Ditfurth/dpa

Europa-Park is currently having difficulties finding new staff.

One of the reasons given by Managing Director Roland Mack is the excessively high standards of the applicants.

Rust – While a staff shortage for Europa-Park boss Roland Mack was unimaginable in the past 45 years, today he has great difficulty finding new employees, as

writes.

The personnel situation has deteriorated particularly since the pandemic, Mack told the

He doesn't even dare to build a new hotel at the moment - out of concern that the number of available employees is not enough.

The condition makes him "really enormous to create".

The park boss is constantly asking himself: “Where are all these people who were there before the pandemic?” An answer to this has not yet been found at Europa-Park.

In the meantime, employees are therefore being recruited from Central Asia.

"We are now looking for - and fortunately found - good people from Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan." 30 Ukrainian refugees have already found a job at Europa-Park.

Europa-Park boss Roland Mack: "There are 25-year-olds who only want to work for three days"

Mack sees a problem in terms of recruiting above all in the fact that younger applicants today have too high demands.

The word "work-life balance" worries him.

"There are 25-year-olds who only want to work for three days - they still have their whole lives ahead of them, could become something here, take on responsibility, make a career." Mack also sees the issue of working from home as a "huge problem".

"Not structurally, that would be possible for many, but when I think about equal treatment: That's just not possible."

According to Mack, Europa-Park has already responded to the demand for work-life balance and home office by increasing wages.

But even that is not easy.

“We already pay far above the minimum wage, and have now raised the wages again.

But that doesn't help when the first question is: Do I have to work weekends?” Mack emphasizes that he works weekends himself and sets an example for his employees what he expects of them.

If our busiest days at the park are on the weekends, I can't have a nice vacation when my staff are working hard.

I have to be there as well.” But he goes even further: For him, the park is “also half a drug.” He hasn’t developed any hobbies his whole life because his hobby is his work.

Europa-Park: Roland Mack criticizes the lack of appreciation for amusement parks on the part of politicians

In addition to the lack of commitment on the part of potential staff, Mack also criticizes the German bureaucracy, the lack of a culture of debate and the lack of appreciation for amusement parks on the part of politicians.

Europa-Park recently announced that it would cap the number of visitors due to staffing problems.

If you want to visit the amusement park, you have to buy a ticket online beforehand - or hope for free capacity if you visit spontaneously.