Hospitality hiring intensifies as visitors return to Singapore – but staff are hard to find

SINGAPORE’S hotels are seeking to fill hundreds of jobs as staffing levels have yet to match the tourism pick-up, particularly after pandemic-era cuts.

The industry’s long-running manpower crunch worsened during Covid-19, with Singapore’s hotel workforce shrinking by 25 to 30 per cent over the past 2 years, according to Margaret Heng, executive director of the Singapore Hotel Association (SHA), which represents 160 member hotels.

But tourist numbers have been growing each month since February, boosted by the relaxation of border curbs from Apr 1. In June, Changi Airport passenger volume exceeded 50 per cent of pre-pandemic levels, achieving the year-end target earlier than expected. Hospitality staffing levels, however, have lagged behind.

“Recruitment efforts are focusing on critical areas of manpower shortage in rank and file roles, such as waiter and waitress, room attendant, front office receptionist and cook,” Heng said.

Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) has embarked on a recruitment drive “from now till the end of the year” to fill more than 1,500 positions across all areas of the integrated resort, such as sales and marketing, MICE (meeting, incentives, conferences and exhibitions), attractions, hotels, food and beverage, casino, information technology, finance and accounting, said a spokesperson.

Meanwhile, Marina Bay Sands (MBS) is seeking to fill 1,750 positions to cater to the expected upswing in tourism and events, said Chan Yit Foon, senior vice-president of human resources, adding that “the pace (they) are operating at today is returning to pre-Covid levels”.

The vacancies include 450 for casino dealers, Chan added. In addition to corporate and service positions, MBS is also looking to fill newly created digital roles such as digital project managers, 3D designers, and “neuro marketers”.

The step-up in hiring comes even though MBS retained its close to 10,000-strong workforce during the pandemic, redeploying staff to Covid-related roles rather than laying them off, said Chan. She declined to comment on whether all affected employees have since returned to their original roles. (*see amendment note)

Besides the integrated resorts, hotels are also eagerly hiring. A check of hotels’ own recruitment pages showed that the number of job listings at major groups such as Hilton, Pan Pacific, Four Seasons, Accor and Marriott ranged from 81 to 229 across their respective local hotel properties, as at Aug 10. The vacancies range from security officers and service staff to managerial and executive positions.

A search for hotel jobs brought up close to 200 listings on government portal MyCareersFuture – where employers are obliged to advertise for 28 days before they can apply to bring in a foreign employee on an S Pass or Employment Pass –  and more than 6,700 openings on popular jobs website JobStreet.

While a similar manpower crunch has prompted customer dissatisfaction in neighbouring Malaysia, major hotel operators in Singapore are still getting generally positive feedback on review websites – though a few guests have flagged issues such as long wait times for check-in, lacking housekeeping services and inexperienced staff.

The labour crunch for rank-and-file roles is not as severe now as earlier in Singapore’s reopening, said Heng: “Through SHA’s regular pulse check with our members, we observed an easing of shortage in critical positions from July 2022. Although the shortfall is still prevalent, hotels have been ramping up their talent hunt since April 2022.”

For instance, RWS has enhanced its referral programme with added incentives to encourage existing team members to share job opportunities with their contacts, and established a recruitment centre in the resort to facilitate information sharing and interviews.

In addition to listings on job portals, hotels are beefing up their staff strength through  job fairs and social media outreach, noted Heng. “Hotels are also working with SHA, relevant agencies and the recently launched Tourism Careers Hub (an integrated tripartite platform for the tourism sector) to facilitate their hiring needs.”

In June, Singapore hotels recorded the highest revenue per available room since the beginning of the pandemic, according to data from the Singapore Department of Statistics. Average room rates hit a 6-year high at S$238.30, while average occupancy rates hit a 6-month high at 76.9 per cent.

*Amendment note: An earlier version of this article incorrectly referred to MBS senior vice-president of human resources Chan Yit Foon as “he”. This should in fact be “she”.