Most young Australian workers are “too lazy” for the hospitality industry, according to a cafe owner who is struggling to find staff.
Sunil Kumar Shrestha, who operates five cafes in Sydney, told Daily Mail Australia he does not have enough Australian-born workers applying for jobs to sustain his businesses.
“I think the younger generation is a little lazy,” he said.
“I had a couple (Australians) I hired, but they worked for maybe two weeks and then disappeared.”
Business NSW released a report on Wednesday that revealed eight in 10 businesses have had to increase wages or offer better working conditions to recruit and retain qualified workers.
It revealed that 77 per cent of NSW employers had to deal with skills shortages, up from 93 per cent in two years, but still well up from 51 per cent in 2019.
There are growing calls for the federal government to fast-track skilled visas and allow more overseas students into Australia to help with the “critical skills shortage”.
The Albanian government planned to limit the number of international students from 2025 before the Coalition and Greens blocked passage of the legislation.
Sunil Kumar Shrestha, owner and operator of five cafes in Sydney, said about 70 per cent of his staff are made up of foreign workers and not many Australians apply for any of his jobs. He is pictured in Tom and Gerry’s cafe on Kent Street.
Shrestha said she finds it difficult to retain Australian-born workers, while foreign workers “will stay”.
“They need to work,” he said.
The business owner said it was worrying that the federal government was talking about drastically reducing the number of international students.
“Approximately 70 percent of my staff are foreign students,” he said.
‘It’s going to have a big impact on the hospitality industry and also on small businesses. “It’s going to be very difficult.”
Strestha has even offered incentives and additional salaries to attract and retain Australian workers.
But they just disappeared. “They never stayed on the job for long,” he said.
Strestha said the foreign students “stayed” while the Australian workers “disappeared” after a few weeks. In the photo, foreign barista students Zoro and Amik during the busy morning
The cafe owner said the industry is already dealing with a low number of qualified hospitality workers and that reducing the number of immigrants would make the situation worse.
“Getting a chef is really difficult right now, and even cooks,” Mr. Shrestha said.
‘Not many Australians join the industry and when they do, they try to learn and think it’s too hard.
“They just give up.”
In all the cafes she has operated over the past 13 years, Strestha said she currently only has one Australian chef, and she resigned last week before finishing her last shift on Wednesday.
The cafe owner said Australians rarely apply for jobs in any of the positions he advertises. In the photo, Sydney CBD workers.
Strestha sponsors some employees, such as chefs, in order to retain them.
“When they graduate and have two or three years of experience, we sponsor them,” he said.
‘They stay for another two or three years, which is good for us.
“But as soon as they get permanent residency, they disappear.”
Labor policies throughout the year have slowed the pace of student entry into Australia, which has already affected the number of visas granted.
Student visas issued in the last financial year totaled 376,731, up from 577,295 the previous year.
Federal Education Minister Jason Clare said policies will not change as long as there are no limits on foreign students.
But the Opposition Coalition has promised to drastically reduce the number of foreign students, while both parties continue to blame migration for the housing crisis.
Business NSW chief executive Daniel Hunter called on the federal government to fast-track visas for skilled people and allow more overseas students into Australia to help with the “critical skills shortage”, which was worse in the hospitality and tourism.
“Australia is a nation that needs a good number of international students and skilled immigrants to grow and prosper,” he said.
“It’s too easy to hide behind the housing supply problem instead of solving it.”