As pandemic restrictions are relaxed and restaurant owners around the Las Vegas Valley look forward to what is likely to be a busier summer, some are having difficulty finding employees.
Mark Steele, founder of the Las Vegas-based Restaurant Hospitality Institute, said restaurants are beginning to engage in “mass hiring” as newly vaccinated consumers begin to venture out more.
The problem is a shortage of workers, partly because some former restaurant employees have moved away or gone into other lines of work.
Enter a partnership between job placement organizations and education outlets like the Restaurant Hospitality Institute, which mostly trains servers but also has implemented pandemic-related restaurant-restructuring courses to help eateries manage a changing post-coronavirus landscape.
The on-the-job training program offers paycheck rebates to restaurants that hire people who complete state-approved training.
Through federal funding, restaurants participating in the program can receive up 50% of an employee’s hourly wage for up to six months.
In some cases, business owners could receive close to $10,000 in payroll rebates.
The institute is working with job placement outfits like One Stop Nevada, Nevada JobConnect, Workforce Connections and Goodwill, among others.
“We feel that things are starting to lift with the vaccines coming in and restrictions lifting,” Steele said. “Things are starting to get busier.”
Beginning in mid-March, restaurants in Nevada were allowed to increase to 50% capacity, up from 25%.
To be eligible for the program, employers must be certified as a state-affiliated vendor, though Steele said the certification process usually takes less than two weeks to complete.
Lola Porkorny, owner of Lola’s restaurant, which has locations in Summerlin and downtown Las Vegas, said she recently learned about the program and has already been in contact with Steele about possibly connecting with job candidates.
“We have positions to fill, so I think this could help us,” Porkorny said.
In February, Nevada’s unemployment rate was 8.3%, according to the state’s Department of Employment Training and Rehabilitation. That’s down slightly from January but nearly 5% higher than in February 2020.
Restaurant owners who want to learn about the program can visit silverstateworks.com or call the Restaurant Hospitality Institute at 702-895-6688.