Tamworth businesses struggle to fill gaps due to worker shortages

"I've struggled for the last 12 months to fill this part-time position," Sportsgirl manager Milani Van Tilburg said.

"I've had I think about five people apply, who've then pulled out or lasted only a month before quitting."

It makes the day-to-day of running a business a challenging prospect.

"I have to take on so much more than if I had an extra set of hands," she said.

Co-owner of Hissy Fits Cafe Grace Rice said a chef shortage has impacted her business.

"I've been doing shifts out in the kitchen. I'm not actually a chef, but I have been helping out because we've had no chef out there," Ms Rice said.

The business has had to find ways to accommodate for the lack of staff, including shrinking their menu and making the tough decision to close some weekends.

"We reduced our menu for country music festival to make it easier for how busy we were and the lack of staff," Ms Rice said

But things are looking up, after the business recently hired a third year apprentice.

"[We] are temporarily going off that [reduced] menu until the new apprentice chef gets his head around it," she said.

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Manager of The Courthouse Hotel Cameron Howard told the Leader he recently had his first weekend off in over a month.

"It's been back-to-back working most days," he said.

"I have quite a lot of bar staff working extra hours, due to the worker shortage."

Mr Howard said he first began to notice the shortage two years ago, while working in Newcastle.

He said what's making the situation more severe in Tamworth is the turnover of seasonal workers.

"We sort of experience an annual shortage of staff with students going back to back to their universities," he said.

"We've also got country music festival staff that no longer need a job."

Safari Club Bar and Grill owner Elliot Dube has been advertising for waitstaff and kitchen hands for the last four months.

He said his biggest challenge is staff being reluctant to work on weekends.

"They want to work from Monday to Friday, but when it comes to weekends, people just don't want to work on the weekend," Mr Dube said

"I do a lot of hours myself. My wife is working in the kitchen, when she also runs the business on the other side."

Mr Dube told the Leader if this situation continues, he may have to consider cutting opening hours, or potentially closing the restaurant on the weekend.

A recent survey conducted by the Regional Australia Institute found that Tamworth and the North West had recorded a 3.1 per cent increase in job vacancies in January, from December.

And a 24 per cent increase in job vacancies in January 2023, compared to January 2022.

Ultimately, what that means is that job seekers have more choice and employers are left struggling to find workers.

President of the Tamworth Business Chamber Matthew Sweeney told the Leader, a recent survey found that staff availability and staff retention were among the biggest areas of concern for business owners.

"Right now employers are basically job takers that whatever is offered to them," Mr Sweeney said.

"We're going to accept that person, because unfortunately, the employees are hard to come by."

There are no solutions at present from local or state government to combat the shortage in the region.

"I don't quite know what the answer is," Mr Sweeney said.

"Unfortunately, there's a whole fleet of factors creating a perfect storm."

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