In this year’s latest challenge to economic norms, it turns out there is such a thing as a free lunch.
(Bloomberg) — In this year’s latest challenge to economic norms, it turns out there is such a thing as a free lunch.
Select restaurants across Nando’s chain of eateries in Australia are promising job seekers 10-minute walk-in interviews accompanied by free food, as the flame-grilled chicken giant seeks to lure workers amid a crippling labor shortage that’s pressuring businesses.
The crunch has hit one Nando’s outlet in Melbourne for weeks on end, according to branch manager Yong Tran, who said nobody had been applying for jobs or responding to recruitment campaigns.
“There’s no international students, no people, no overseas applicants coming here,” Tran said in an interview. “It’s really hard to get people to come in to work.”
It’s not just Nando’s trying a different approach. In a bid to tackle a shortfall of workers, Endeavour Group’s Dan Murphy’s alcohol chain has promised on-the-spot job interviews to anyone over the age of 18 as the company prepares for its peak summer holiday season.
Indeed, ‘Now Hiring’ signs are plastered on retailers’ windows across the country as firms struggle to secure employees in the tightest jobs market in almost half a century. The jobless rate has plunged to 3.4% and is tipped to fall further — even as the Reserve Bank keeps hiking interest rates to curb rampant inflation.
READ: RBA Raises Key Rate to Seven-Year High, Signals More to Come (2)
Prior to the pandemic, almost 400,000 international students and 250,000 working holiday makers were employed each year in Australia, with many taking jobs in pubs, hotels and restaurants. That supply evaporated when the country closed its borders and asked temporary residents to leave as Covid-19 struck.
Last week, Australia raised its ceiling on permanent migration in a move that will allow as many as 35,000 more workers to enter the country every year as part of an effort to plug the labor shortages.
At least for Tran, it seems the lure of free poultry is starting to pay off at his Nando’s branch. He said he’s planning on repeating the offer in about two weeks’ time.
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