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Wednesday, December 11, 2024

No house on Ibiza, no job contract

In Santa Eulària Se n'Ocupa, companies note the difficulty of finding qualified personnel to complete their workforces on Ibiza: "This year, the candidates have the upper hand: they will decide where they work and how much they earn".

“This is the year in which workers will have the upper hand”, warns Nuria Chardí, district manager of Adecco in the Balearic Islands, a temporary recruitment company present in the new edition of Santa Eulària Se n’Ocupa, which began yesterday at the Palacio de Congresos an is dedicated to job interviews. This summer it will not be the employer who will set the conditions: “It will be the candidate [job seeker] who decides where he/she works and how much he/she earns. It is the law of supply and demand”. Chardí says so, but so do the rest of the companies, about a hundred, that come to Se n’Ocupa in search of personnel. A couple of figures sum up the (critical) situation: those 100 businesses offer 2,800 jobs, but only 1,115 people have registered to be interviewed. The demand is great, the supply is tiny. Even if all the candidates who show up were to be approved, two-thirds of the positions would remain unfilled.

“It will be up to the candidate [job seeker] to decide where he/she works and how much he/she earns. It is the law of supply and demand”

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“2021 was h….”. Sandra López, from human resources at CBbC is about to say the word hell, but she bites her tongue: “It was very complicated to find people for staff,” she rectifies. For their premises in Santa Eulària and Vila, as well as for their beach club in Cala Bassa, they have almost 25 vacancies: waiters, security, dishwashers and, above all, cooks, the star job, the most demanded and the most difficult to fill. There is a lot of competition for them. López admits that, in reality and given the labor market, “there is no selection process”. Such is the shortage that hiring is done on the fly: “You have to move quickly. People want to work now. And if you don’t hire them today, someone else will do it for you”.

Se n’Ocupa is held at the Palacio de Congresos. | T.E.

No training? They will be trained, says Paloma Pasqual, human resources technician at Vibra Hotels (formerly PlayaSol), a chain that is also looking for cooks, waiters and, especially, technical services, as there is a lack of suitable people in this area. They have 35 hotels, which is why, in their case, they are trying to recruit 300 people, a Herculean task in the labor wasteland of Ibiza and Formentera. If someone arrives without training, no problem: “We train them on the job. They learn in three days”. In view of what happened in 2021 (“we had a hard time finding workers”), they are clear that they must be flexible, because “this year will be worse; people no longer come to work on Ibiza, they stay on the mainland because the salary does not compensate them due to the cost of living on the island, especially for housing”. Thus, although the meager workforces have to be filled by any means necessary, there is one condition that is a common denominator in recruitment: that the selected person lives or has accommodation in Ibiza. It is an almost an essential condition for the less select trades, such as waiters. Another thing is what happens with the pata negra, which in the case of Vibra Hotels are the specialists in technical services and cooks. These are highly prized workers and are provided with accommodation. Vibra has about 150 places for them if they come from the Peninsula.

“People no longer come to work on Ibiza, they stay on the mainland because the salary does not compensate them due to the cost of living on the island, especially for housing.”

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Close to work to save money

At CBbC they go further: in addition to living on the island, the candidate must reside close to where he/she works. “The cost of gasoline is already a problem, so we try to avoid long commutes,” says López. For example, so that the Cala Bassa staff does not spend their salary on fuel.

The problem of accommodation for the workers is such that the Six Senses hotel rents an entire aparthotel , “in its entirety”, to house the 40 trainees it hires during summer. There is no other solution, says Nacho Rodrigo, director of human resources, because with the basic salary they earn, they could not afford to sleep indoors on Ibiza. In addition, the establishment has a house with seven rooms in Sant Carles to house its most prized treasure: 15 cooks, coveted and sought after to unusual extremes on this island. “They are the hardest to find,” says Rodrigo. They have to be treated like royalty.

They hire people who already live or have the possibility of accommodation on Ibiza. And “if there is no other choice”, those who come from abroad. In any case, Rodrigo recognizes that less and less people come to do the season: “Ibiza is very hostile. On the Peninsula, in addition, it is easier to find employment all year round”. He knows that they are going to have a hard time finding the hundred or so workers they are looking for for a staff of around half a thousand: they are short of people in the kitchen, in the restaurant, at the reception, in cleaning… He foresees a fight between companies for “the scarce captive talent”, in which the workforce will be recruited (or seduced) with labor extras. In the case of Six Senses, they will try to make them fall into the temptation with a job offer “throughout the year”, as well as with a salary “higher than the rest” to “compensate for having to go up to Portinatx”. Again the fuel is a handicap.

Is Ibiza one of the headaches for Áreas, the company of airport catering business? Yes, along with Palma and Burgos, acknowledges Inés Navarro, talent manager. For the two Balearic locations, it is for the same reason: accommodation is impossible. In the Castilian capital, because it because it has practically full employment. As it is difficult to find people with the required qualifications, they train them for their positions: “We offer a lot of training. Above all, we are looking for attitude, people who know how to work as part of a team, who are friendly and take good care of customers”. As an incentive, to start from the bottom and be able to become a manager “on the Peninsula, even in a foreign country”. They are looking for 20 people for the Ibizan aerodrome, where they have a staff of 120 employees. For Palma, 90 (300 in total). The essential thing is that they have a home here: “But there are not enough candidates to fill the positions”. In addition to the housing barrier, there is the temporary nature, which makes the island unattractive. “Everything has changed a lot in the last three years. Before, more foreigners came to work with us. Not anymore,” acknowledges Pablo Domínguez, supervisor of Áreas de Balears. The pandemic and the price of rent have dismantled the labor market on Ibiza and Formentera, absolutely broken and difficult to solve in the medium term.

“Many of those who come here end up leaving . Retaining them on the island is the biggest problem”

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The queue in front of the Mercadona stand at Se n’Ocupa is enormous. Juan Roig’s company has a gap of almost twenty vacancies, but what worries Sonia Abellán, human resources manager, is not to cover the self stockers, but those responsible for maintenance and delivery drivers, a very “difficult” task, she admits. She is looking for people who already live on the island, because bringing them in from outside doesn’t pay: “Many of those who come here end up leaving. Keeping them on the island is the biggest problem. That Ibizan “hostility” (due to its prices and scarce housing offer) to which Nacho Rodrigo referred.

At the agrotourism Atzaró they are looking for beauticians (for the spa) and kitchen staff. In total, about twenty professionals (there are about 90 workers in high season). Finding cooks is like looking for a needle in a haystack: “Because of the concept,” say Melisa Morales (events manager) and Candela Fernandez (human resources), because it is not easy to adapt them to prepare the hotel menu and “not all are trained . There are many waiters, but few who are professionals. It is not easy, they recognize, especially because the Ibizan labor market is bare boned: “In 2021 we already had many problems to find people. Because of the pandemic and the prices of accommodation, many left Ibiza and did not return. Or they have changed profession and have moved from the hotel business to another sector”. As they also ask for English (“essential”), the task of recruiting is even more complicated. “This year, to the highest bidder,” says Morales, referring to the fact that it will be the candidates, not the companies, who choose where they work. They have the upper hand because the labor supply is tiny. Nuria Chardí, the district manager in the Balearic Islands of Adecco, recognizes it: “Every time less and less people arrive to do the season. Many who came other years prefer to stay on the Peninsula because of the uncertainty”. And because of the difficulty of finding housing.

“In 2021 we already had many problems to find people. Because of the pandemic and the prices of accommodation, many left Ibiza and did not return. Or they have changed profession”

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For the full article, please visit Diario de Ibiza website here.

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