Chang, Suzanne

Chang, Victoria S.

English

Scholarship@Western

The COVID-19 Post-Lockdown Effect: LabourShortages and Struggling Food Retail BusinessesFood Retail Environment Study for Health and Economic Resiliency (FRESHER)Report prepared under the guidance of Marcello Vecchio and the HumanEnvironment Analysis Laboratory (HEAL)Undergraduate Summer Research Internship (USRI) 2021Suzanne Chang (schan626@uwo.ca)Victoria S. Chang (vchang23@uwo.ca)1TABLE OF CONTENTSAbstract 2Introduction 3Methodology 4Sampling Method 4Analysis Method 4Findings 5Labour shortage in the food services sector is widespread 5Implementation of government support programs 6Food service workers rethink their career paths. 7Conclusion 8Limitations 8Acknowledgements 9Bibliography 10Appendix 142AbstractThe Food Retail Environment Study for Health and Economic Resiliency(FRESHER) is a pilot study tracking the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic onrestaurants, fast food outlets, grocery stores, cafes, bars, pubs, and alcohol retailstores in Ontario, across all types of communities. The effects of COVID-19 on large-and small-scale food outlets are expected to last even past the end of thepandemic. To view these economic and social impacts on these businesses, theFRESHER project has been conducting surveys of food retail employees andbusiness owners across Ontario. In addition to this, mapping and in-depthinterviews are also ongoing. By analyzing the collected information and data, theproject aims to answer the following research questions:1. How has the pandemic affected individual people and impactedsubsequent government and other organizational support programsand policies?2. What strategies have businesses and business owners used to adaptto the pandemic and prevent the closing of their business?3IntroductionThe Food Retail Environment Study for Health and Economic Resiliency(FRESHER) is exploring the effects of COVID-19 over time on the retail foodenvironment across urban, suburban, and rural contexts. Evidence from this studywill greatly benefit policymakers as they continue to assess the lasting impacts ofCOVID-19 and adjust policy and programs to ensure food security during futurepandemics and emergency situations. This research aims to identify not only thestruggles faced by proprietors of the foods industry and their employees, but alsothe strategies and solutions they have created to keep their businesses afloatduring these unprecedented times. The study will also touch base upongovernment responses to the COVID-19 public health crisis, and explore howcurrent policies and programs are contributing to the adaptability of food retailbusinesses.Figure 1. COVID-19 Pandemic Impact On Foods Retail Industry (Chang, 2021).4MethodologySampling MethodThis media analysis summary is based on a sample of 15 news itemsregarding labour shortages within the hospitality industry in Canada post COVID-19pandemic lockdowns, and were drawn from two major databases, namely Factivaand Google News. The region for each search was set to Ontario first, and thenCanada second, in order to maintain appropriate relevancy of the news items.Database search limitations were also implemented, if available.The time frame encompasses the last 15 months, between March 2020 to thepresent. A list of key search terms was entered in each database to create a sampleof relevant news items, including COVID-19 pandemic, hospitality/restaurants,re-opening/re-hiring, lockdowns, and struggles (see appendix, table 1). The searchterms used are based on keywords found within the scope of the FRESHER projectas a whole. Additionally, media limitations were set in all database searches, suchthat the key words were to be found only in the titles, headings, headlines, andintroductory paragraphs of news items. Irrelevant media exclusion criteria includeduplicates and republished news content.Analysis MethodThe news items sourced were then combined and organized into a databasevia Microsoft Excel, and a summary of each news item was generated (see5appendix, table 3). Summaries generated from the news media sources have beensystematically reviewed in order to find prevalent responses and themes. Thesample was then further divided and refined by the date reported, and thencategorized under one of the four overarching themes most prevalent in the newsitems sample (see appendix, table 2). Themes reflected common vocabulary andoverall portrayed sentiments and attitudes towards the economic recovery postCOVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, and the recent lack of workers to fill vacancies inthe Canadian hospitality industry. Themes and its frequency as portrayedthroughout news media have been noted and presented in a chart format found inthe appendix of this study summary (see appendix, table 3).FindingsLabour shortage in the food services sector is widespreadOne of the many struggles facing the food services sector is the rehiring ofthe servers and cooks post-lockdown. Due to nation-wide pandemic lockdownsforcing the closures of food retail businesses for public health safety concerns,numerous hospitality workers were found jobless in early 2020. As the number ofCOVID-19 cases are gradually decreasing and vaccines steadily rolling out, foodretail businesses are opening up to the public once again, leading to a demand infinding qualified employees when the former employees are not returning to theirold jobs.6Many employers, especially in the hospitality industry, have difficultysearching for employees that fit into their qualifications, namely soft skills such asdependability, flexibility, and a desire to learn, thus inevitably leading to a labourshortage. A survey from Harris Poll stated that 59% of Canadian businesses can’tfind qualified workers to fill job vacancies. Some retailers believe that the stumblingblock of hiring qualified workers will exacerbate labour shortages even more in thelong run as they are less willing to hire workers they’ll have to train.Implementation of government support programsImplementation of government support programs such as CERB/CESB/CRBaffords the means for workers with lost income to survive the pandemic but withthe repercussions of reducing the incentive for workers to return to work.Government support programs are the game changer during the lockdownas well as post-lockdown. It affords many people who lost their jobs the means tosurvive during the pandemic. However, some businesses believe that suchprograms, especially the Canada Recovery Benefit or CRB for short, contributed tothe widespread labour shortages by mitigating the incentive of returning to workfor many workers.Food retail businesses made up the second largest portion of job vacanciesbehind only the health care sector according to the National Post newspaper. Itgets increasingly more challenging to entice new highly skilled staff to return, letalone retaining skilled former staff who are willing to stay in the food services7industry. Labour shortages issue is believed to be influenced partly by theextension of the CERB or CRB to September 25th as many workers would rather beon the support programs than returning to their old job. Many people have optedfor new career choices or delay their return to work due to savings they’veaccumulated from government support programs over the pandemic. Onerestaurant owner stated that a lot of people that were working at her restaurantdecided that they’d rather be on CERB than come to work.Food service workers rethink their career paths.More than a year into the pandemic, some have found a career/job change,or are pursuing other interests such as returning to school, etc. Many people arestill wary of the spread of the new COVID-19 variant, while some remain skeptical ofthe COVID-19 vaccine efficacy. Many of the food service workers have decided thatthis is the best time for them to go back to school or switch to a new career.People’s lives and circumstances have changed after 18 months of a pandemic,some are scared of getting sick if they return to work or feel too rusty to get back towork after being off the job for so long.8ConclusionMany in the restaurant industry adapt post-lockdown by shortening theopening hours, increasing the number of working hours of staff on hand as well asowners themselves who must put in more hours, and afford incentives for skilledstaff to return by raising the wages and benefits. Some businesses have even triedto ask the government to halt the support programs altogether in order todisincentivize people for not returning to work. Currently, some restaurant ownersare scaling back their opening hours as they cannot find enough people to work. Itmay be years before the food services industry fully recovers from the COVID-19pandemic in large part due to labour shortages.LimitationsThere have been several limitations encountered in this study summary. Thereliance on a small sample size of 15 news items may be a problem due to lowstatistical power and increase in error margins. In addition, the study area wasrestricted to Ontario and Canada, which may have implications on generalizability,such as in different countries. This study would benefit further with the use ofbetter statistical analysis tools and implementing interviews and surveys to providea more precise study model.9AcknowledgementsWe would like to acknowledge Dr. Jason Gilliland,Marcello Vecchio, Alexander“AJ” Wray, Alexander Morgenthaler, the Human Environments Analysis Laboratory,and Western’s Department of Geography for their patience in guiding our team tothe right direction and for supporting our research endeavours.Also, we would like to express our greatest thanks to the USRI team forproviding us this opportunity to further develop our skillsets in research, gain moreknowledge in academia through the PD sessions, as well as for supporting usthroughout the entire journey this summer.10BibliographyBenns, R., &amp; McGinn, W. (2021, August 14). In the struggle to find staff, whatare the reasons behind the labour shortage? Lindsay Advocate.https://lindsayadvocate.ca/in-the-struggle-to-find-staff-what-are-the-reasons-behind-the-labour-shortage/.Campbell, K. (2021, August 16). P.E.I. hospitality industry struggling to find staff astourism booms | CBC News.https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/pei-workers-shortage-murphy-wages-1.6140548.Edwards, D. (2021, June 9). Restaurants hit by labour shortage as economicreopening gathers momentum. CTV News.https://www.ctvnews.ca/business/restaurants-hit-by-labour-shortage-as-economic-reopening-gathers-momentum-1.5463232.Gilmore, R. (2021, June 11). Ontario restaurants 'scrambling' to find new staff assome choose not to return - National. Global News.https://globalnews.ca/news/7942412/covid-19-coronavirus-restaurants-staff-layoffs-industry/.Hansen, J. (2021, June 9). Rehiring is finally on the table for more restaurants - butnot all workers are coming back | CBC News.11https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/restaurant-rehiring-pandemic-jobs-1.6058110.Hansen, J. (2021, June 9). Rehiring is finally on the table for more restaurants - butnot all workers are coming back | CBC News.https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/restaurant-rehiring-pandemic-jobs-1.6058110.Khan, A. (2021, July 21). High demand, low Staff: Many guelph RESTAURANTSstruggle to keep up. Guelph Today.https://www.guelphtoday.com/local-news/high-demand-low-staff-many-guelph-restaurants-struggle-to-keep-up-3971489.Khan, G. (2021, August 11). Quebec restaurant and gym to test province's newvaccine passport System | CBC News.https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/restaurant-gym-quebec-la-cage-vaccine-passport-1.6136832.Lawless, J. (2021, July 21). Some Kingston RESTAURANTS Short-staffed duringreopening due To COVID-19 Pandemic - Kingston. Global News.https://globalnews.ca/news/8046893/kingston-restaurants-short-staffed-covid-19/.Macdonell, B. (2021, August 9). 'We've Closed': Labour Shortages forcing ONTARIOrestaurants to scale back operating hours. CTV News Toronto.12https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/we-ve-closed-labour-shortages-forcing-ontario-restaurants-to-scale-back-operating-hours-1.5540656.Mian, Z., &amp; Balser, J. (2020, October 27). Many students losing an economiclifeline as restaurant jobs in OTTAWA hit hard BY COVID-19. Capital Current.https://capitalcurrent.ca/many-students-losing-an-economic-lifeline-as-restaurant-jobs-in-ottawa-hit-hard-by-covid-19/.Nielsen, K. (2021, May 10). A timeline of COVID-19 in Ontario. Global News.https://globalnews.ca/news/6859636/ontario-coronavirus-timeline/.Opinko, D. (2021, July 19). As Alberta emerges from the pandemic, restaurantsstruggling to hire enough staff. Lethbridge News Now.https://lethbridgenewsnow.com/2021/07/19/as-alberta-emerges-from-the-pandemic-restaurants-struggling-to-hire-enough-staff/.Ramlakhan, K. (2021, August 1). Restaurants hungry for more workers as In-personDINING returns | CBC News.https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/restaurants-struggling-find-staff-business-busy-ottawa-valley-1.6125695.Ranger, M. (2021, March 11). Timeline: A year of pandemic life in Toronto. CityNewsToronto.https://toronto.citynews.ca/2021/03/11/timeline-a-year-of-pandemic-life/.13Snyder, J. (2021, August 12). Restaurants struggle to REHIRE as workers seek newCareers, Ottawa EXTENDS covid-19 benefits. National Post.https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/restaurants-struggle-to-rehire-as-workers-seek-new-careers-ottawa-extends-covid-19-benefits.Warnica, R. (2020, March 17). Ontario urges bars, restaurants to close amidCOVID-19 pandemic, hours after telling public they could stay open. NationalPost.https://nationalpost.com/news/ontario-government-moves-to-protect-workers-affected-by-covid-19.Wells, V. (2021, July 30). Posthaste: Canadian businesses say they can't findemployees because applicants are lacking these crucial skills. Financial Post.https://financialpost.com/executive/executive-summary/posthaste-canadian-businesses-say-they-cant-find-employees-because-applicants-are-lacking-these-crucial-skills.14Appendix1516

The COVID-19 Post-Lockdown Effect: Labour Shortages and Struggling Food Retail Businesses

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The COVID-19 Post-Lockdown Effect: Labour Shortages and Struggling Food Retail Businesses

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