Firms help each other
Small business owners in Hāwera are working together to stay afloat as winter illness and staff shortages bite.
Most of the cafes in the town are looking for staff, and news that Taranaki had the lowest unemployment rate in the country for the second quarter of 2022 goes some way to explaining why.
Between April and June, the region’s unemployment rate stood at 1.8% – down from 2.4% in the January to March first quarter, Stats NZ figures show.
Taranaki’s unemployment rate has not been this low since 2006, when it was also at 2.4%.
Hāwera cafe owner Campbell Mason, of Caffeinate, in High St, surprised a few of his regulars by making coffees in competing cafes Arabica and Someday when they were short-staffed.
‘‘Everyone mucks in and helps everyone else,’’ he said. ‘‘We have to, to survive, and it’s nice to help out.
‘‘We enjoy it. We all like what’s going on.’’
Nadine Vandenberg, owner of Arabica, also on High St, said the business owners kept in touch via a shared social media group so they could react quickly if someone needed help.
‘‘If cafe staff are sick or isolating, they can’t work from home.’’
There was a noticeable staff shortage in the town, she said.
‘‘I know most hospitality businesses here have been looking for staff for a long, long time.’’
Kelvin Wright, chief executive of economic development agency Venture Taranaki, said although the number of people securing work was a positive, there was a downside.
‘‘We know many industries and businesses are still struggling with a restricted supply of labour, which has flow-on effects through all aspects of a business,’’ he said. ‘‘ A restricted labour supply also increases competition for acquiring talent to fill the skill gaps.’’
Retailer Loralee Chittenden, who owns clothing boutique Hello You, in Princes St, said the supportive network went beyond staff shortages, with business owners helping each other in practical ways.
‘‘One hundred per cent for me, these relationships with other business owners have been business-saving and mental health saving.’’
She and Mason recently stepped in to cater another business owner’s 10th anniversary celebration after the caterer dropped out at the last minute. Another business bought prizes only from local traders for a promotion.
‘‘I think the feeling down here is if you can’t make a sale, help someone else to make it,’’ Chittenden said. ‘‘We want the money to stay in town.
‘‘We help each other out – I can’t ship boxes, so the Quirky Fox does that, and Someday [next door] collects all my parcels.’’
Getting expert help when staff were away was vital because times were tough, she said.
‘‘You have to be on point all the time. You can’t afford to have just anyone come in and fill in, because one bad coffee is the difference between them returning or not coming back again. People will move on somewhere else, or shop online.
‘‘There’s the sense that $20 now means a bit more than it did a year ago. If someone will spend that with you, you have to earn that money.’’
Chittenden, a qualified teacher, has returned to the profession this year to teach reading recovery at two schools in South Taranaki, so she has had to employ two staff members to cover the time she is away.
‘‘It’s the last thing you’d do if your business was in trouble, employ staff, but it’s a labour of love, I pay my staff more to be here than I earn doing the job, and the travel.’’