A top recruitment agency has warned of a "scary" staff shortage in the hospitality industry, partly brought about by "cowboys" who brought unqualified workers into the country. 

Daniel Coppini, a partner with Recruit in Malta, said he is worried that the country will not be able to obtain the number of workers to cater for demand. 

“We are already experiencing a serious demand which we are not able to supply, and I am worried about what next summer will bring,” he said. 

“A number of ‘cowboys’ brought in all these people who are not qualified to carry out any service in any industry, and now we are trying our best to arrange the situation.”

Coppini was speaking during the Association of Catering Establishment's ‘State of the Industry’ annual conference. One hot topic the conference touched upon is how employers are using non-EU workers to plug employment gaps.

He said now, government and different entities are trying to sort out the “mess”, and said the skills card is a good step forward. The government introduced the skills pass requirement in April for the tourism and hospitality sector.

“We spent 10 years of doing nothing, just allowing cowboys to steal, and in the space of one year we are trying our best to fix this mess,” he added. 

“The skills card is a good step, but it took some years of preparation. How are we going to create a situation to have all the skilled people we need in a year? It will not happen.”

Industry went into 'panic' mode

Pierre Fenech, CEO of the Institute of Tourism Studies, which administers the skills pass, admitted the country was inundated with unqualified workers after the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“Post-COVID, this industry went into panic mode and we ended up flooding the island with people who lack skills, irrelevant if they are third country nationals or Europeans,” he said. 

Christina Galea, Director of HR in the Corinthia Group, said the lack of human resources is seen across the board in other industries, not just catering and is worldwide. She said the impact of the coronavirus pandemic also impacted the hospitality industry and saw a brain drain. 

“It is important that we collaborate and work together to so we can work towards finding long-term solutions and provide better quality,” she said. 

When the topic of non-EU workers was brought up, Galea said the mindset regarding third country nationals must change. 

“We should not see third country nationals as a problem here to stay, but as a human resource we need and find ways to utilise the resource better,” she said. 

She said the workers should be trained, retained and treated as Maltese and European workers, and hoped the introduction of the skills pass will help filter and find better quality workers to join the sector. 

Non-EU tourism and hospitality workers have to gain a certificate to work in Malta after undergoing a course in customer care, basic English and the Maltese tourism product. 

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