Mauritius hotels offer improved conditions, higher wages amid labour shortage

Hotels are struggling with a shortage of manpower, a problem that has been worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic.

To attract and retain new talent, hotels are now striving to improve employment conditions, offer flexible working hours, and increase wages.

According to Vincent de Marasse Enouf, Chief Human Resources Officer of the Constance group, the hotel sector has lost its appeal among young workers in recent years.

This can be attributed to difficult working conditions, long working hours, and modest wages for beginner-level jobs.

The pandemic has also highlighted the sector’s fragility, with hotels being forced to close almost entirely.

To attract new talent, the Constance group has reportedly revised salaries and working conditions since 2022.

Sunlife is also looking for talent in various positions and has introduced a “Team Incentive Scheme” and will soon announce a “Profit Sharing Scheme.”

However, the upward revision of wages for large groups is a challenge for small hotels that are already facing a severe shortage of workers.

Shakeel Nundlall, the director of the Le Grand Bleu Hotel, was cited as deploring the difficulty caused by the entry into force of the Portable Retirement Gratuity Fund.

Jocelyn Kwok, the Chief Executive Officer of the Association of Hoteliers et Restaurateurs Île Maurice (AHRIM), maintains that the scarcity of talent leads to unbridled competition and a disarticulated outbidding.

He added that each hotel group has initiated its own incentives and gradually modified its model to introduce more flexibility.

Source: Le Mauricien