The Sushi by Scratch restaurant, which has just opened its doors in Montreal, is making waves for two reasons. Its Japanese-inspired menu of exceptional quality and the entry-level salary of its employees, which amounts to $80,000 per year. With such compensation, I imagine the owners had the privilege of creating a dream team after sorting through a large pile of resumes.
The choice of the word “privilege” is not exaggerated. In the catering industry, candidates are far from jostling to obtain a position behind the stoves or the industrial dishwasher. Instead, employers have to contend with a serious labor shortage. One of them once admitted to me that he hired anything that fogged up two inches from a mirror. That says it all.
Other restaurateurs, in desperation, turn to employment agencies, as do hospitals in need of nurses. Basically, this more expensive option should only be used to meet one-time needs, because an employee is sick or on leave. But in kitchens, as in the health care system, that’s not happening. Jean-Philip Dubreuil is well placed to know.
When he was chef at a seniors’ residence (RPA) restaurant, before the pandemic, he spent “half his time” looking for staff by texting agencies and emailing them, doing follow-ups and deal with the paperwork it all entailed, he told me. One day, he thought he could invent a more efficient system for restaurants, hotels, daycare centers and RPAs.
PHOTO HUGO-SÉBASTIEN AUBERT, THE PRESS
Jean-Philip Dubreuil created GoodJOB, an online placement agency that helps restaurant owners fill short-term labor needs.
He created an employment agency, GoodJOB, which has been operating since 2021 through an application inspired byUber, Airbnb And Tinder thanks to the financial support of the RBC. The technology, which simplifies the process, has “multiplied by 10” the turnover of the SME “in not even a year”. About 7,000 workers are registered there. “There is no longer a single chef who wants to do interviews and pick up CVs when he knows that no one is going to stay at the salary he gives”, launches the entrepreneur who has cooked in a cruise ship, hotels, caterers , about thirty restaurants, a hospital and a mining camp, among others.
On GoodJOB, companies offer their shifts directly and interested (self-employed) workers come forward. The employer then chooses its preferred candidates based on their profiles. A star system indicates performance and punctuality based on feedback from previous experiences. A last-minute cancellation, for example, will lower reliability statistics.
When a diver announces to the skipper that he won’t show up three hours before supper starts, a solution must be found, and quickly. GoodJOB makes it possible to fill this urgent need… but this little miracle comes with a bill to match.
“If the shift is in danger, the price goes up, explains Jean-Philip Dubreuil. There are bonuses of $3 or $4 per hour. Companies like it, because they are sure to have staff. The pricing system also takes into consideration the region where the restaurant is located and the day (holiday, Saturday). Thus, it is not uncommon for divers to be paid $30 an hour. This price is prohibitive, but the dishes are cleaned.
This shows that there is not really a labor shortage, insists the 45-year-old entrepreneur, but a shortage of companies that pay enough.
“People are there. They wait on their sofa to be paid! […] When staff arrive from agencies, it’s because they’re there. A shortage is when there are no people. You can’t have 1000 cooks on their sofa and say there’s a shortage of cooks. Believe me, they’ll get up if you offer them $35 an hour! »
This view reminded me of that of Heidi Shierholz who served the Obama administration as chief economist of the Department of Labor. In 2021, she said that the statement “I can’t find employees” should rather be said “I can’t find employees at the price I want to pay”1.
It is clear that by doubling the normal salary of a position, we will end up filling it. But in reality, it often comes down to undress Paul to dress Pierre. Those who left to work at Sushi by Scratch2 to improve their standard of living have certainly left a less generous restaurant.
Another problem: companies that pay their dishwashers $30 an hour cannot sell their soup for $4 a bowl and still be profitable. They have to drive up the prices on the menu, which feeds the inflation that we curse so much.
In short, by solving one problem, you can create another. Wages have to be decent and lift workers out of poverty, of course, but it’s all about balance.
Even if the principle of wages which vary according to supply and demand on a daily basis sustains Jean-Philip Dubreuil, it must cause inequities which can be difficult to manage for employers and unpleasant for workers who rub shoulders. And, like nurses, some kitchen workers prefer to stay in an agency, which increases recruitment problems. But this system has “no choice to exist”, he pleads, because there will always be sick, absent or resigning employees.
Admittedly, what is happening in the labor market in Quebec is complex, with 83 young people entering it for every 100 retirees. The easy solution that solves everything, at once, everywhere, simply does not exist.