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Anyone who works in a hotel or restaurant on Sundays receives 50 percent more wages. The action from Chur caused many reactions.
What is normal in many industries is a rarity in hotels or restaurants: a wage supplement for Sunday work. A hotelier in Chur’s old town wants to keep his staff and attract new ones.
Adrian Müller from the Stern plant in Chur is now paying all employees 50 percent more wages on Sundays. “My employees benefit directly from this if they can’t spend Sunday with family or friends.”
More pay for work on Sunday
It is becoming increasingly difficult to find good people, says Adrian Müller. “The catering industry needs to think about how it can become more attractive.”
Guests pay more on Sundays
Adrian Müller expects wage costs to increase by seven percent annually due to the Sunday bonus. His guests help finance it: those who go to the restaurant on Sundays pay two to three francs more per meal. Müller is convinced that his guests are willing to pay for it.
We are understaffed to be open seven days a week.
Such a surcharge is not an issue for her, says Sandra Brunner from the Calanda restaurant, in the center of Chur between the Bahnhofstrasse and the old town. Instead, she decided to close her restaurant on Mondays and Tuesdays. “We no longer had enough employees to be open seven days a week. Individual employees regularly had to work more than five days at a time. We didn’t want that.”
Different approaches, different opinions
Franz Sepp Caluori, President of the Graubünden Gastro Association, finds both approaches viable. There is potential in the industry, especially when it comes to adjusting opening hours. «Attractive working hours are an important factor. If a chef or the service staff can be guaranteed two days off in a row, that’s an advantage when looking for a job.»
Attractive working hours are an important factor.
Andreas Züllig, President of the Swiss Hotel Association and hotelier in Lenzerheide, agrees that more attractive working hours can be an effective option. But that doesn’t work everywhere. “It’s not easy in our company, as we are heavily dependent on the seasons.”
The shortage of skilled workers is not primarily a question of wages.
Züllig, on the other hand, is more skeptical about the Sunday surcharge. «I believe that the shortage of skilled workers is not primarily a question of wages. There are many components involved in how we can make our industry more attractive so that employees enjoy working for us.» He tries to give his staff other incentives, such as cheap overnight stays in partner hotels.
The experts therefore agree that the shortage of staff can be countered with attractive working conditions. The wage supplement for working on Sunday is an option for certain companies, but not the panacea.