PTIThe second wave of Covid-19 has dealt another blow to jobs in the hospitality sector, with uncertainty over the duration of lockdowns and curfews across states. Executives at restaurant chains, bars, hotels, salons and multiplexes said the uncertainty is forcing them to sack employees, cut salaries and put workers on leave without pay. Many have no option but to go back to their hometowns and villages.
“We are back to square one. Buzzing businesses have once again become unknown delivery operators; the industry will be compelled to let go of some people,” said National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI) president Anurag Katriar.
States that have a large exposure to dining, tourism and multiplexes, including Delhi, Haryana, Maharashtra and Rajasthan, have announced staggered lockdowns and weekend curfews over the past five-seven days amid a record surge in Covid-19 cases. That’s bringing these businesses to a halt and reversing the rehiring trend the industry had been witnessing this year, till mid-March.
“Roles of housekeeping, maintenance, foods and beverages, sales are going to be under stress again; they don’t have many options available,” said Aditya Misra, founder of recruitment and staffing firm CIEL HR Services.
Interest Costs
“While in April-September 2020, nearly 100,000 jobs were lost among the organised players, in January-March, we saw recovery of about 10,000 jobs,” Misra said. He said the organised sector is likely to slash the number of casual workers at hotels and airports by 60% at least.
“Since the sector is on life support again, we will have to let go of some employees; to an extent salaries will also have to be rationalised all over again. There have been some super-spreader events, so there’s uncertainty all over again and we don’t know when the lockdowns will end,” said Riyaaz Amlani, MD of Impressario Hospitality, which runs Social and Smokehouse Deli. “Unfortunately, all this is happening when the dining-out sector was recovering well in February and March.”
Executives said many companies had taken loans to restart their businesses late last year once curbs had begun to be lifted, in expectation that the pandemic impact would taper off this year. Now they will have to deal with interest costs as well as steep, fixed operating costs. The unorganised sector is likely to bear the maximum brunt of the second wave on the hospitality sector.
Mukesh Kumar, chairman of the Shopping Centres Association of India (SCAI) and chief executive of Infiniti Malls, said almost 12 million livelihoods are directly and indirectly associated with malls and retail.
“Nearly 80% employees working at retail stores and restaurants belong to economically weaker sections and their livelihood will be impacted the most,” Kumar said. During the last lockdown, almost 25-30% of jobs were impacted in the overall industry, he said. A majority of them had been rehired by March 2021.
“While so far, we are protecting basic salaries of our employees, the question is how long the uncertainty and lockdowns will last,” said CK Kumaravel, co-founder of Naturals Salons, India’s largest organised salon chain, which runs 680 outlets.
“We are back to square one. Buzzing businesses have once again become unknown delivery operators; the industry will be compelled to let go of some people,” said National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI) president Anurag Katriar.
States that have a large exposure to dining, tourism and multiplexes, including Delhi, Haryana, Maharashtra and Rajasthan, have announced staggered lockdowns and weekend curfews over the past five-seven days amid a record surge in Covid-19 cases. That’s bringing these businesses to a halt and reversing the rehiring trend the industry had been witnessing this year, till mid-March.
“Roles of housekeeping, maintenance, foods and beverages, sales are going to be under stress again; they don’t have many options available,” said Aditya Misra, founder of recruitment and staffing firm CIEL HR Services.
Interest Costs
“While in April-September 2020, nearly 100,000 jobs were lost among the organised players, in January-March, we saw recovery of about 10,000 jobs,” Misra said. He said the organised sector is likely to slash the number of casual workers at hotels and airports by 60% at least.
“Since the sector is on life support again, we will have to let go of some employees; to an extent salaries will also have to be rationalised all over again. There have been some super-spreader events, so there’s uncertainty all over again and we don’t know when the lockdowns will end,” said Riyaaz Amlani, MD of Impressario Hospitality, which runs Social and Smokehouse Deli. “Unfortunately, all this is happening when the dining-out sector was recovering well in February and March.”
Executives said many companies had taken loans to restart their businesses late last year once curbs had begun to be lifted, in expectation that the pandemic impact would taper off this year. Now they will have to deal with interest costs as well as steep, fixed operating costs. The unorganised sector is likely to bear the maximum brunt of the second wave on the hospitality sector.
Mukesh Kumar, chairman of the Shopping Centres Association of India (SCAI) and chief executive of Infiniti Malls, said almost 12 million livelihoods are directly and indirectly associated with malls and retail.
“Nearly 80% employees working at retail stores and restaurants belong to economically weaker sections and their livelihood will be impacted the most,” Kumar said. During the last lockdown, almost 25-30% of jobs were impacted in the overall industry, he said. A majority of them had been rehired by March 2021.
“While so far, we are protecting basic salaries of our employees, the question is how long the uncertainty and lockdowns will last,” said CK Kumaravel, co-founder of Naturals Salons, India’s largest organised salon chain, which runs 680 outlets.
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