A survey carried out by Léger on behalf of Tourisme d’Affaires Québec, among around fifty members, reveals that lack of staff ranks fifth among event organizers’ concerns. Far from being a new situation, the industry is fighting back with solutions.
For Gilber Paquette, director of Tourisme d’Affaires Québec, there is no secret to attracting personnel to one of the 15 professions in the tourism industry; you have to make them more attractive and promote them. This comes down to more attractive working conditions, flexible hours, more attractive salaries and social benefits.
The director is well aware that such changes have impacts on businesses. “The balance of power is on the side of the employees. It is certain that it is not easy to create schedules that please everyone. This requires creative formulas such as giving four or five days off, for example,” illustrates Gilber Paquette. Another solution considered is to establish seduction strategies such as school tours to raise awareness of the different professions in the sector.
On the ground, companies have undertaken to review their management by reducing their opening hours for related services such as dining rooms or swimming pools. Others limit group sizes at business events. “Some are closing venues or refusing groups with the highest demands, because yes, there is a disparity between customer expectations and the ability to serve them. We see a lot of filtering towards events that are simpler to organize. » Menus are also affected. It is no longer rare to find a menu with 4 choices instead of 12 as before. Another increasingly popular option is the lunch box. Prepared in advance, it reduces the handling of the meal and reduces the need for staff in the dining room.
Specializing in immense zip line courses, Ziptrek Tremblant is a popular activity among business tourists. To meet demand, the company employs 60 to 70 employees and for the 2022 and 2023 seasons it did not suffer from a shortage of staff. His secret? Recruitment, training and use of technology.
Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook… Ziptrek targets young people where they are. “We put videos of what we do on TikTok and other platforms and candidates apply online. It works really well, especially Snapchat,” explains Catherine Houle, marketing coordinator. At Ziptrek, the retention rate is 65% year over year. According to Catherine Houle, training is not unrelated to this performance. In addition to first aid courses, new employees are supervised for between 50 and 70 hours by a course supervisor.
Furthermore, the company does not hesitate to untie the purse strings for social activities. It also allows its staff to move up the ladder by occupying increasingly important positions.
Ziptrek also uses technology to offer the best possible experience to customers while reducing its need for employees. Among other tools, the check-in application, online waiver, reservation system and digital video sharing system.
Daniel Blier, general director of Tourisme Mont-Tremblant, is categorical that the labor shortage will not be resolved until it is possible to accommodate staff at a reasonable cost. To tackle the problem, the MRC des Laurentides created a social utility trust whose objective is to promote access to affordable housing and property for employees of businesses and organizations located on its territory. . “There are a lot of people who want to come and settle in, but several units are occupied by Airbnb type rentals. The trust will allow municipalities to buy properties or build affordable housing,” explains Daniel Blier.
