– Osoyoos stores, restaurants & hotels say service affected –

(OSOYOOS TIMES — Oct. 25, 2006) –

By Lawrence McMahenrnOsoyoos Times

An informal Osoyoos Times survey of local businesses shows there was a real shortage of employees in town this summer, and many said it affected the level of service they could provide and the number of hours they could be open.
The informal survey also shows that while almost all thought business was generally down in town this summer, almost all of them also said their own business volume was up this summer.
The total number of local businesses and employees continues to rise, with recently released Destination Osoyoos (DO) figures showing there were 548 businesses in town this summer “ up nearly 100 over the number in 2002.
A recent DO survey of businesses, conducted by summer employee Lissa Murseli, showed they employed 3,306 staff (1,762 full-time and 1,544 part-time) in 2006, up from 2,669 employees (1,317 full-time and 1,352 part-time) in 2002.
That's a 23-per-cent jump in the number of workers at local businesses, in four years.
Virtually every one of the 20 businesses the Times asked recently about the employment and business situation in Osoyoos said there was an employment shortage in town this summer.
We had no problems getting female employees, but it's getting harder and harder to find male employees because the construction industry is booming, Super Valu manager Ken Naylor said.
Buy-Low manager Cor Vermeulen said there was definitely a shortage of workers in town in June, July and August, but he managed to find enough to fill the 75 staff spots for his store during the peak summer season.
The Osoyoos Golf & Country Club wasn't as lucky. Manager Randy LaRoche said, We found ourselves understaffed this year in all departments. We never got to a full complement. That meant everyone had to work harder and spread themselves out more.
Randy Kassian, manager of the Sears outlet, said, There was a huge shortage of employees in town this year.
Carol Stephens, of the Safari Beach Resort, agreed, noting that any business in the service industry seemed to struggle for employees. In the case of Safari Beach, while they had enough employees at the beginning of the summer, at least 10 left during the summer, meaning a bigger workload for the remaining staff and managers.
Jörg Hoffmeister, of Dolci Deli, said he and wife Annina would have kept their restaurant open in the evenings this summer if they could have found enough staff.
Cathy Herbert, of Brookvale Holiday Resort, said the shortage of employees affected their hours of operation and increased the demand on existing staff.
Osoyoos Laundry and Dry Cleaners manager Kenneth Johnson said the staff shortage meant they had to close on two Sundays in August simply because we could not keep up with the public and commercial traffic together, and they had to catch up on the commercial work.
Because of the employee shortage, the Richter Pass Motel had to go on reduced services, where the customers received clean towels and bedding each day, but had to make their own beds and clean their own rooms.
The Econo Lodge instituted longer hours for its staff.
Jan Ehlers, of the Sandy Beach Motel, said while that establishment fortunately retained staff from the previous summer, at a recent meeting of the Osoyoos Hotel/Motel Association (OHMA), many members expressed frustration with not being able to hire enough staff and often the staff that was hired did not want to work the number of hours required by the business. It was decided at that meeting that the OHMA would try to be more unified and proactive in securing staff for the next summer season.rnBesides sheer numbers of available employees, this lack of willingness to work was also mentioned by a number of Osoyoos businesses in their replies to the Times.
Deb, of the Polka Dot Door, said, Yes, there seemed to be a severe labour shortage this summer ¦ People really want to move here, but nobody here seems to want to work.rnCarol Stephens, of Safari Beach, said, The people that did apply over the summer didn't seem to express much interest in working or taking ownership of their jobs “ rather, just getting a paycheque for doing as little as possible.rnSome businesses noted that it is getting harder to compete for employees against construction or the Alberta oil industry, or even against larger companies that offer higher wages and benefits. One company noted they paid employees 57 per cent more per hour this summer, overrnlast year, but still find it hard to compete against the benefits offered by larger companies.

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The informal Osoyoos Times survey of local businesses found that while almost all thought business was generally down this summer, almost all of them said their own business volume was up this summer.
A number of the 20 businesses that responded to the survey said they thought business was down because the volume of traffic and tourists seemed to be down “ and some attributed this to the smoke in the valley from forest fires, and also to the unfair bad publicity about the smoke that was broadcast by the news media.
But almost all respondents said that despite the apparent reduction in tourists, their own business sales figures were higher this summer over last summer.
Some commented that there appears to be a different type of summer visitor to Osoyoos now, because there are fewer family campground spots and increasing numbers of higher-income condo owners and condo renters. Businesses feel this is resulting in different types and amounts of purchases by summer visitors in Osoyoos. For instance, instead of having campers buying small volumes of foods, local grocery stores are seeing condo owners and renters buying large volumes, to stock up their full-service kitchens.