Gen Y beware. Younger workers may well find themselves replaced by older or more productive counterparts if they do not shape up in the times ahead, says Restaurant Association chairman Mike Egan.
Mr Egan, who runs five Wellington restaurants and a service apartment business, told about 100 people at a regional economic and employment summit that industries such as his that relied on youthful workers were now more consumer focused. “Whilst Generation Y has been analysed quite comprehensively and we think we may know what makes them tick, we have to make sure their expectations are tempered to match our expectations.”
Concessions had been made in the past to match the labour shortage, but “if some of our employees cannot adapt fast enough we will drag them out of the cave and leave them to the sabre-tooth tigers and find staff who can and will adapt”.
Mr Egan said that as an example of an industry that had to fight hard in tighter times, restaurateurs did well when they differentiated themselves from the pack.
That meant encouraging customer loyalty by overcompensating for mistakes, offering simple niceties, and picking their brand apart regularly to keep it relevant.
“Customers have built-in bullshit meters, and especially the regulars know if you do not love your brand any more,” he said.
Consumers trusted brands and would not risk their hard-earned cash on brands that were “fuzzy around the edges”.
At the summit, there was strong interest in what the impact of pullbacks in the public sector might mean for Wellington, and whether New Zealand would fully seize the downturn as a chance to train and upskill.
Linda Sissons, chief executive of the Wellington Institute of Technology, said the nine-day fortnight might well help New Zealand fill continuing skills gaps in areas such as management and “lean thinking”, or improving processes.
She said this recession was different because the country was coming off a base of almost full employment, which meant most people were used to having a job and had good work habits.
However, a greater pool of workers meant “the skilled poor will get more skilled poor”, making training even more vital.
Westpac economist Linda Purdue said Wellington was significantly more pessimistic in employment confidence, particularly as firms shifted their focus from back office to frontline staff.
It was also below the national average in other areas such as building consents, which were down 30 per cent in the December quarter.
Employment was down a seasonally adjusted 1.3 per cent in the December quarter, compared with a national increase of 0.9 per cent on the previous quarter.
While New Zealand had a number of insulating factors in its favour, uncertainty reigned with regard to the severity of the recession, access to overseas credit and inflation.
Much of the recession so far had been caused by drought and other domestic issues, Ms Purdue said.
“We are still to see some of the ugliness from offshore.”