The catering industry has been desperately looking for staff, especially since the end of the pandemic. Many service employees have changed careers and found jobs in other industries. In order to tackle this challenge, Coople and GastroSuisse, the Swiss association for the hotel and restaurant industry, have joined forces and launched a course for career changers. The aim is to help restaurant owners to find more staff again in order to face up to the shortage of skilled workers.

“Service staff needed urgently”. At the moment, you can see ads like this all over Switzerland. According to an estimation by GastroSuisse, around 30,000 service employees in Switzerland quit their jobs during the pandemic and did not return to work. Businesses are desperate. Especially in view of the business during the holiday season, the only option left to those restaurant owners with a lack of staff is to work more themselves, adjust opening hours or offer fewer tables and smaller menus. However, by doing so, they lose the business that is now urgently needed after two years of pandemic.

Coople and GastroSuisse join forces

Coople tries to counteract this shortage of employees by aiming to win flexible workers for the food service industry. Together with GastroSuisse, they set up a two-day basic course on Service. During this gastronomy training, people interested in working in this field can acquire new skills and refresh old ones. David Bernet, project manager for courses on Service Basics at Coople, explains: “We want to encourage our employees to take a first step, to get a taste of the gastronomy sector and to learn the basics. Of course, not everything can be learned within two days. However, a certain basic knowledge and a good level of quality are ensured.”

The courses are a small contribution to combating the shortage of skilled workers, and providing further training for interested Coopers, i.e., flexible workers who work via the digital platform Coople. The participants of the gastronomy training are people who have not worked in the food service industry before or who want to refresh and deepen their knowledge in this field.

Course participants are introduced to the topics Service and host personality, Preparing and setting the table, Looking after guests from A to Z, Banquet service, Service rules and Taking orders. After successfully completing the course, each participant receives an official certificate from GastroSuisse.

Course participants’ different motivations for further training in gastronomy

At the first basic course, which took place from 26-27 September 2022 at the Hotel Management School Zurich (HFZ), the participants had very different motivations and backgrounds.

For example, 40-year-old Estefanus: he already works part-time in a restaurant in Zurich and has worked 60 jobs via Coople, but wants to learn something new and expand his knowledge, and his goal is to obtain an official, up-to-date certificate

Jolanda (58) and Denise (34) both have years of experience in the food service industry. They know the catering business from an early age ― but are looking forward to this course to deepen the basics they have learned intuitively and to close some knowledge gaps. By completing the course, they have proof of their experience and can significantly improve their chances of getting hired.

All of the gastronomy training participants we talked to have one thing in common: They were not aware of training opportunities in the sector before the course, and none of them would have taken the course if it had not been funded.

Beata’s answer also shows that this type of training is not only useful for reintegrating older people into the job market and actively counteracting the shortage of skilled workers, but also for increasing the workers’ self-confidence: “I will have to continue working even after retirement. […] At over 60, I am, in fact, already completely written off in the job market. So, I’m happy every time I can fill in somewhere. But of course, it’s of little use to the companies if someone like me comes along and has no idea about the industry without any training.” Why is she attending this course? “I saw this on Coople and thought, this is exactly what I need. […] Now, I’m really happy here.”

For the time being, there are four courses taking place between September and November, offering 100 available spots in total. Depending on the demand for the courses and their success, there will be more courses on gastronomy on the future.

A survey among over 4,000 employees, conducted by Coople in June 2022, also showed that people are interested in further training opportunities: the overwhelming majority of respondents were interested in further education. Find out more about the survey results here.

Further education opportunities in the workplace is key to gaining new qualifications and supporting one’s professional development. Further education not only offers attractive possibilities to employees, but also proves to be a helpful tool for employers in order to attract quality candidates.

In June 2022, an internal survey was sent to over 4,000 employees of Coople, the digital platform. Those who had worked at least once since 1 January 2022 were asked about their interest in further education, as well as other related factors and industry-specific insights. The average age of survey participants was 36, of which 59% are female and 41% are male. The survey was conducted in three languages (German, French, English) and the results speak clearly about needs, trends and the demand for action.

The vast majority of respondents are interested in further education

Out of the 4,000 users who were interviewed, 94.3% showed interest in further education. Among the few percent who expressed no interest in further education, the most frequent reason given was that they had already completed further education (26.8%), as well as lack of time (22.8%) and lack of financial resources (21.4%).

Wide range of motivations for further education

In terms of individual motivations for further education, participants cited higher wages (16.9%), greater career opportunities (16.2%) and more in-depth professional competence (16.2%) as the most important factors. Other strategic and personal aspects were also important: in addition to better career opportunities, arguments such as lifelong learning, a better chance of finding a permanent job and the expansion of the personal network werealso mentioned.

Commercial and language further education are most in demand among Cooplers

The options for further education are vast. However, a majority trend quickly emerged among the respondents. A quarter of the respondents indicated a desire for further education in the commercial sector, closely followed by 20% of participants citing an interest in further education in languages. Further education in the health sector and in logistics was also frequently mentioned. A special focus of the survey on the hospitality industry revealed exciting sector-specific insights. Hospitality employees were keen to pursue further education in the areas of “sales & guest service”, “wine knowledge”, “practical training” (e.g., carrying 3 plates, serving drinks, etc.), “preparation tasks” and “basic service knowledge”.

Duration of further education is a key factor – timing less so

When it comes to the duration of further education, there are clear preferences. Just under a quarter of those surveyed would like further education to last longer than three months in order to be able to deeply and intensively learn about a subject. A full 28.1%, on the other hand, would like further education to last between a few hours and a maximum of one day. Employees want either an intensive examination of certain topics or a rapid expansion of their own skills in order to be able to put what they have learned into practice as quickly as possible. The hour of the day and the day of the week of the further education are of secondary importance – not least because the respondents enjoy flexible work, where their time can be divided up as they wish.

“Our Cooplers are subject to the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) on Staff Leasing and can therefore benefit from a training budget from temptraining. What many people don’t know is that they are entitled to up to 5,000 Swiss francs for as few as 88 hours of temporary work. This benefit enables temporary workers to constantly expand their professional skills and knowledge and to develop professionally,” says Sabina Neuhaus, Group Head of Communications.