Chef Scott Brannigan is a veteran of Perth’s restaurant scene, but even he has never seen anything like the current worker shortage.
As the owner of several restaurants, Mr Brannigan is used to wearing many hats in his business, but lately he has had to be a "jack of all trades".
"For instance, in one of the restaurants at the moment I've probably got half the chef group out [due to COVID]," he said.
"So I'll probably be in there on the weekend, and at another venue we've got all the managers out so I'm working the floor the next few days."
Employees bearing the brunt
It is a similar story at a venue on the other side of town, and it has been wearing the staff down.
"You never get a chance to stop, think, breathe," said restaurant supervisor Asher Kapert.
"You end up getting sick from just stress."
The manager at the adjacent bottle shop said staff shortages were having a knock-on effect.
"It's been stressful, it's been difficult and I've been through COVID myself and had to come back to find some staff shortages," David Brown explained.
"I also do a lot of behind the scenes work in the venue in general and it's taken me away from that, so then I've got a backlog of work that I then have to do at a later date."
COVID inspires lifestyle rethink
Venue owner Kane Mansfield said staffing was a challenge even before COVID, but several factors were now compounding things.
"Because every industry is needing staff at the moment, we've got a lot of bar staff taking regular day jobs," he said.
"They don't want to do the hospitality hours anymore, so we're losing people to other industries."
Mr Brannigan also noticed a shift away from the hospitality industry since the pandemic began.
"There's a lot of people that have 're-pondered' their life while they've had that time off and for some people, that's not hospitality," he said.
Record low unemployment not helping
Industry leaders say the shortages are also due to things like a drop in the number of backpackers and the record low unemployment rate.
"We've estimated there's around 15,000 positions across the state that can be filled in the hospitality sector in a range of positions that are needed right now," Australian Hotels Association (AHA) WA chief executive Bradley Woods said.
The AHA said this was not a uniquely West Australian problem but the group was calling on the state and federal governments to do more to attract workers of all levels to live and work in the state.
The record vacancies prompted the industry group to set up a new jobs listing website.
The AHA said the worker shortage was even worse in remote regional areas, citing a job listing for a manager of a fast food chain in the Pilbera region being advertised for $130,000.
Long road ahead
Most believe it will take some time before the situation improves.
"It could be another 18 months before we see a full return of the complement of staff that we really need to ensure that our industry can fire up to its full capacity," Mr Woods said.
In the meantime, business owners are doing what they can to alleviate pressure on staff and make the workplace as appealing as possible.
They've also been trying to train and upskill younger workers that are new to the industry.
And while for the most part customers have been understanding, industry insiders hope things improve soon, not just for the sake of their businesses, but also their employees.
