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2022: General Discussion
- Thread starter Danny
- Start date
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Themeparksandy1981
TS Member
The problem is Teens/young adults don’t want to work to the evenings when it’s 7pm or later closing hours. They also don’t want to work on a Saturday and Sunday as they want to go out in the evening drinking or seeing there friends. I see it Drayton as they rushing to get out as soon as the last riders have gone on.
Burner
TS Member
Also bare in mind, there is a large number of staff across the resort who have just left school, and will be under the age of 18 and can't work longer than 8 hours by law. My team struggled in particular with it last season, as soon as it hit 5pm, more than half the team had to leave.
But either way, god forbid a young person wants to go out after work and not spend their entire weekend at work. You know working at Towers is just a job to some people, it's nothing special. Of course they want to get people out so they can go home.
djtruefitt
TS Team
As far as I’ve heard there isn’t a problem getting ride staff as such, but areas like F&B, retail and techies is where they are struggling. As well as the hotels. If anything I feel some rides seem to have more than enough staff on them.
Matt.GC
TS Member
On one hand, Towers needs to pay more and have better T&C's to attract people. There is a massive recruitment crisis in this country and it's often played down but it's very real and I experience it every day. Jobs that were seen as cushy a few years ago are now seen as unattractive to people in 2022. It's tough out there and even if Towers stuffed people's wallets with gold, a theme park in the middle of nowhere is always going to be hard to recruit for (even amongst wusses who think working to 8pm somehow constitutes a late night?).
On the other, I think there's loads of young flannels out there who've been sold a dream of a life that doesn't exist. I was lucky enough to leave school when there was almost full employment in this country and I could walk into a full time job with decent benefits any time I liked. Yet still I put in the late nights, early mornings and weekends because I was brought up to work hard. I interview people who think weekend work and late night work is some sort of slavery! They're happy to reap the benefits of a 24/7 world but seem unhappy to contribute to it. I've never sacked so many people for pulling sickies in probationary period and it's getting really annoying.
Lord knows what will happen when the world is handed over to this generation. I know they're not all the same, but there seems to be this misconception that a hard day's work involves sitting on a lap top in your pyjamas at home Mon - Thurs 9-5. What happens when they realise that the expensive tuition, access to housing, decent pensions, and low retirement age that generations before them enjoyed is not afforded to them (shamefully) but all the debt we accrued for them is!
On the other, I think there's loads of young flannels out there who've been sold a dream of a life that doesn't exist. I was lucky enough to leave school when there was almost full employment in this country and I could walk into a full time job with decent benefits any time I liked. Yet still I put in the late nights, early mornings and weekends because I was brought up to work hard. I interview people who think weekend work and late night work is some sort of slavery! They're happy to reap the benefits of a 24/7 world but seem unhappy to contribute to it. I've never sacked so many people for pulling sickies in probationary period and it's getting really annoying.
Lord knows what will happen when the world is handed over to this generation. I know they're not all the same, but there seems to be this misconception that a hard day's work involves sitting on a lap top in your pyjamas at home Mon - Thurs 9-5. What happens when they realise that the expensive tuition, access to housing, decent pensions, and low retirement age that generations before them enjoyed is not afforded to them (shamefully) but all the debt we accrued for them is!
AstroDan
TS Team
- Favourite Ride
- Steel Vengeance, Cedar Point
Alton Towers, like many in hospitality, used to recruit a number from Eastern Europe. They can now not do that with anywhere near the ease.
Brexit will continue to exacerbate staffing issues across the sector.
The resort are currently using temporary agency staff at great cost to plug roles across F&B and hotels.
This is unsustainable.
Sent from my SM-G991B using Tapatalk
Brexit will continue to exacerbate staffing issues across the sector.
The resort are currently using temporary agency staff at great cost to plug roles across F&B and hotels.
This is unsustainable.
Sent from my SM-G991B using Tapatalk
jon81uk
TS Member
There is a massive difference between a ride ops or food host role and an entertainment role.
Generally the entertainment staff will be reasonably well paid, but also trained in dance or theatre and doing an interactive upbeat job with guests who are there to watch and be entertainted.
Whereas a food host will be on minimum wage serving guests who are angry about having to pay a high price for mediocre or worse food.
Why would someone trained in dance/theatre want to take a lower paid role serving burgers?
(I know you said ride ops but that isn't where they are having the major issues staffing).
BarryZola
TS Member
Basically the UK is a failure. Back in the day people would put up with all of the c**p hours and give up their weekends as they saw that there was the reward of being able to afford a home and traditional family life at the end of it. Nowadays with wages for the lower end of the pay-scale jobs being so rubbish and property prices being so high, the dream of home ownership for millions of people will always remain a dream. That will remain whether they work hard or not, so why bother? I don't blame people for downing tools when the incentive is not there anymore. Most people will not climb up the work ladder and get the lucrative income. The low level jobs need to be able to pay enough to live on too, or it's just not worth your time and effort. I suspect if the issues outlined above were sorted out then people would be more willing to do these lower end of the pay-scale jobs.
Matt N
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Shambhala (PortAventura Park)
Out of interest, do you feel that this is exclusively a British problem, or does it exist in other countries around the world? Is this a problem that only British theme parks are grappling with, or are other theme parks grappling with it too?
jon81uk
TS Member
The USA is also having issues recruiting lower paid jobs, but in theme parks many have increased the rate of pay significantly.
BarryZola
TS Member
It's definitely not exclusive to the UK. Similar is happening in many countries, especially in the ones with rampant capitalism, where homes are treated as investments and where most of the wealth created goes to a few percent of people at the top and little is redistributed to the workers on the 'shop floor'. Places like the US for example. I call it capitalism on steroids. Capitalism in itself can be argued as a good thing, but when it is allowed to go unchecked by government we end up where we are now, with Covid & Ukraine only exacerbating the situation and making it more obvious. It's absolute greed and its endemic now, only worse since the crash in 2008.
Groundking
TS Member
Financialisation of the economy =/= capitalism. We need to bring back the gold standard to keep the banks in check so the real market (aka economy) can do it's thing.
^ This is well worth a watch.
Matt N
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Shambhala (PortAventura Park)
Perhaps some kind of incentives would work to help the park employ more people?
For instance, I know Dollywood in the USA has recently started paying for further education (university) for every single employee if they wish to do it.
That could be a really good way to drive up employment at Towers, what with how expensive FE can be.
For instance, I know Dollywood in the USA has recently started paying for further education (university) for every single employee if they wish to do it.
That could be a really good way to drive up employment at Towers, what with how expensive FE can be.
Matt.GC
TS Member
Without wanting to steer too much off topic, it's clear that the nationwide recruitment crisis is having a massive impact on Towers this season as it is in other industries.
When I entered the world of work, hourly pay was much lower (yes, I have taken inflation into account I was on half wages in 1999 at 2022 rates) work environments were harsher and income tax was higher for lower earners. That said, we had pension schemes modern workers could only dream of. Full time work was easy to come by. The licensing act 2003 meant pubs and restaurants were restricted to close at 23:00, I think it was 22:00 Sunday? There was no such thing as the 24 hour gig economy, if you wanted something you went to a place physically yourself during the day (usually business hours). Supermarkets traded 8-20, C stores were a drop in the ocean to what they are now. Most non food retailers shut at 17:00. You had shift premiums for unsociable hours, bank holidays, Saturdays and Sundays. There were promotion prospects in manual jobs if you put your back into it and before getting a degree and the debt associated with it became standardised. You could buy a house with less than £10k deposit and mortgage advisors could lie on your application to get you a big enough loan.
Most tertiary industries are in some form of crisis with recruitment. Shops, restaurants, leisure, warehouse pickers, child care providers and many more industries can't recruit or retain people. I'm off the PL next Monday and have spent the morning reading articles about cancelled easyJet flights and queues outside Bristol Airports terminal building of 90 mins for security. All down to recruitment problems.
I'm sure there's more Towers can do, but employers are fighting over the same small pool of candidates. Let's not play this down and pretend that it's only Alton struggling to get staff.
When I entered the world of work, hourly pay was much lower (yes, I have taken inflation into account I was on half wages in 1999 at 2022 rates) work environments were harsher and income tax was higher for lower earners. That said, we had pension schemes modern workers could only dream of. Full time work was easy to come by. The licensing act 2003 meant pubs and restaurants were restricted to close at 23:00, I think it was 22:00 Sunday? There was no such thing as the 24 hour gig economy, if you wanted something you went to a place physically yourself during the day (usually business hours). Supermarkets traded 8-20, C stores were a drop in the ocean to what they are now. Most non food retailers shut at 17:00. You had shift premiums for unsociable hours, bank holidays, Saturdays and Sundays. There were promotion prospects in manual jobs if you put your back into it and before getting a degree and the debt associated with it became standardised. You could buy a house with less than £10k deposit and mortgage advisors could lie on your application to get you a big enough loan.
Most tertiary industries are in some form of crisis with recruitment. Shops, restaurants, leisure, warehouse pickers, child care providers and many more industries can't recruit or retain people. I'm off the PL next Monday and have spent the morning reading articles about cancelled easyJet flights and queues outside Bristol Airports terminal building of 90 mins for security. All down to recruitment problems.
I'm sure there's more Towers can do, but employers are fighting over the same small pool of candidates. Let's not play this down and pretend that it's only Alton struggling to get staff.
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