JOHOR BARU: Pleased with the surge in business after a pandemic-induced two year drought, hoteliers here are now wrestling with a fresh crisis - how to cope with a severe labour shortage.
Malaysian Association of Hotels (MAH) Johor Chapter Chairman, Ivan Teo said the reopening of borders on April 1 was indeed a boon to hotel operators.
However, the shortage of labour to cope with the demand for rooms and dining facilities has hampered our recovery from the drought in occupancy in the last two years.
The chief contributor to the labour shortage is the high exchange rate commanded by the Singapore Dollar, which is currently trading at 3.17 Singapore dollars to the Malaysian Ringgit.
Malaysians workers in Johor are flocking to Singapore where the higher wages and strong exchange rate of the city-state's currency are a potent draw.
"We have to think out of the box to cope with a shortage of labour caused by Malaysian workers' desire to work in Singapore rather than in Johor," remarked Ivan Teo.
He said the ready solution for the labour shortage was to hire foreign workers, but he cautioned that this is a short-term solution.
He preferred to think long term, mentioning the need for the government to make the hospitality trade a career choice for Malaysian students.
"The government can encourage students to work in hotels during school holidays so that they can gain experience and earn some money to pay for their college education," suggested Teo.
"We can't be relying on foreign labour all the time to supply our labour needs. Besides, foreigners don't know our country and so cannot be ambassadors to tourists who may want to know something about the country only locals will know," he added.
Executives at leading hotels in the city said they had resorted to multitasking to cope with the labour shortage.
"Multitasking is unavoidable in the present circumstances of a labour shortage," asserted Tan Ai Lee, general manager of the New York Hotel.
"We know our workers are more comfortable doing their routine tasks but we tell them that the more versatile they are, the better their chances of gaining promotion and better pay," she added.
Melanie Rahayu, general manager of Holiday Inn Express & Suites, said administrative staff in her hotel are trained to double up with housekeeping as well as food and beverage roles.
"We attract them with plus value, which is part-time allowances and a new set of skills," she said.
Despite that, she says they still leave as the grass is greener on the other side.
Melanie said her hotel goes the full distance in leveraging on their international brand value.
'We let fresh graduates know about our chain of hotels and offer them the opportunity of working abroad which will only enhance their careers," she said.
Some hoteliers are also resorting to giving their staff cash incentives for recommending workers to remain with them.
"I find it helps, especially during peak demand periods when how much you multitask also, you can't cope with the situation," said Tan.
Other hoteliers such as Sand and Sandals Desaru Beach Resort and Spa have gone even further in enticing more people to work with them by providing hostel facilities and even three meals a day.
"Even with those incentives, local workers still leave for work in Singapore because of the stronger currency," sighed the resort's general manager Lim Lily Lian.
She said that as general manager she has had to help with the front office and in the evenings help with the food and beverage operations.
"Some of our executives have had to double up as janitors. We can't help it–everyone has to multitask," said Lim candidly.
She agrees that resorting to the use of foreign labour is inevitable because "we simply can't beat the lure of the Singapore dollar."
"We are pestering our foreign labour agents to bring in workers from Nepal and India. We just need to have them otherwise we can't cope," she lamented.