There will be increased pressure on clubs to fast-track wage increases after the parent company of ALH Hotels announced it is on a recruitment drive and will introduce the wage increase from July 1. While the Fair Work Commission’s national minimum wage increase applies from the start of the new financial year, the hospitality industry had been given an extension until 1 October because of the disruptions caused by Covid.
The national minimum wage applies to employees not covered by an award or registered agreement. From 1 July 2022, the national minimum wage will increase by $40 per week, which amounts to an increase of 5.2 per cent. The new national minimum wage will be $812.60 per week or $21.38 per hour.
While Endeavour already has 15,000 employees on the hospitality award it is recruiting for more than 400 roles across 340 ALH Hotels nationally, as well as more than 400 roles for its retail arms BWS and Dan Murphy’s. With hotels and clubs currently fighting over the same limited recruitment pool of available staff, the early wage rise is set to put pressure on registered clubs to match any offer.
But Community Clubs Victoria says the move by the Albanese Government to increase award rates resonates well across multiple sectors – from aged care to early childhood to hospitality with many workers in these industries feeling underpaid and undervalued.
“The strong work ethic of employees covered by the hospitality and licensed clubs award and the current disparity of award rates across the board means a wage increase is a welcome initiative by our new Federal Government,” CCV chief executive Andrew Lloyd said.
Endeavour Group’s commitment to fast-track the wage increase for staff and to offer long-term career training was a great example of applying strategies to encourage staff satisfaction and retention, he said.
“CCV identified some time ago that ongoing professional development is key to employee satisfaction and retention. That’s why we partner with Australian Vocational Training and Employment Services (AVTES) and CTA Training Specialists (CTA),” Andrew said.
“AVTES can undertake a training needs assessment for a club’s workforce and provide tailored solutions to support their training and development needs.
“CTA offers an excellent interactive Learning Management System (LMS), ensuring hospitality staff have an accessible and innovative way to undertake training.”