Restaurants, bars and supermarkets dismiss 1 in 5 employees due to Covid-19 or flu

The departures of professionals who work in restaurants, bars, supermarkets and malls across the country have skyrocketed with the recent rise in cases of Covid-19 and influenza. According to the main entities of the sectors, about one in five employees have been away from work due to illness at the beginning of the year.

The increase in cases and consequent lack of staff is another setback in the pandemic for the service sector, which expected a resumption of family spending in early 2022, driven by the expansion of vaccination.

A survey by the ANR (National Association of Restaurants) with more than one hundred companies concentrated in the Rio-São Paulo axis indicated that 85% of them currently have staff on leave. Employees on sick leave make up about 20% of the workforce at these establishments.

Abrasel (Brazilian Association of Bars and Restaurants) also disclosed that one in five employees in the sector was removed due to suspected Covid-19 or influenza between the end of November and the last week. The entity points out that the biggest difficulty now has been testing employees, who are removed when they show symptoms and take up to eight hours on the public network and five days on the private network to get a test result for Covid-19, when available.

The president of Sincovaga-SP (Union of Retail Trade of Foodstuffs, which brings together from large supermarket chains to grocery stores), Álvaro Furtado, believes that the proportion of staff on leave in the sector is similar to that recorded in restaurants and bars. “Companies have reported about 20% to 25% of personnel affected, without prejudice to operations, despite the lack of staff”, says Furtado.

According to the director, the supermarket chains with more absences in the capital have promoted the relocation of employees between units to make up for the lack of personnel. The recommendation to associates is to test employees at the first symptoms, to prevent the spread of the new, more contagious variant, ômicron, from harming the sector’s operations.

The increased availability of tests in the public network is also a demand from restaurants, says Fernando Blower, executive director of ANR. “It is very important to have access to testing, which is expensive when we have to resort to private laboratories”, he says. “Our sector depends on intensive labor. The human factor is essential, so the impact at times like this is more significant. With the crisis that affected the sector in the last two years, restaurants were already operating with reduced teams and little margin maneuver”, he says.

This is the case of Occhi Ristorante, in the south of São Paulo, which has 32 employees. Three were laid off in the first week of January — one of them hospitalized with influenza. Others, who showed symptoms, were also removed afterwards.

The establishment grants the license to the first symptom and releases the return after the negative result of the exam, says the owner, Ronaldo Occhi. The immediate isolation of symptomatic patients is the recommendation of the main health authorities in the world, such as the WHO. “Our team was extremely reduced. And now we have a case of reinfection by Covid”, he says.

The businessman observed a drop in public movement because of the new strains of flu and Covid-19, intensified by the expected reduction in customers during the January vacation period, and says that the sector feels abandoned by the public authorities. “There was no moment for help or encouragement. Every moment is a different crisis, and we pay the bill.”

At the Carillo bakery, east of the capital, Covid-19 and the flu took away 10 of the 28 employees in the first days of the year. The lack of confectionery and fresh pasta professionals affected sales expected for Christmas and New Year, says Guilherme Carillo. “It was an avalanche. Every hour a new scare. Now we are without our oven, who is suspicious.”

Thanks to the pay-and-go system, however, the bakery has doubled its turnover during the two years of the pandemic and is now using the resources to hire new employees, who must support the team in case of new leaves. The owner is also betting on the recovery of the sector and is investing in expanding the house and creating a customer service in the salon.

Abrasel estimates the sector’s growth of 4% in 2022, despite fears of the impacts that the high inflation, drop in purchasing power and uncertainty of the election may bring to the sector in the coming months. “With the resilience acquired in 19 months facing Covid, the sector is doing well and we will continue to offer a good service”, says Percival Maricato, president of the entity.

According to him, the sector’s attention is now focused on the House’s rejection of President Jair Bolsonaro’s veto of the new Refis. “For our industry, it could be a tragedy equal to or worse than the pandemic.”

Shopping malls do not have numbers on removals

While restaurants and supermarkets agree on the impacts of the new variant and the flu among their staff, mall shopkeepers differ on the volume of removals and the measures to be adopted.

Ablos (Brazilian Association of Satellite Shopkeepers) announced this Sunday (9) that it would ask malls to reduce opening hours and reduce rents to deal with the lack of manpower and the reduction of the public in the stores. The entity is carrying out a survey on the removals, informed the leaf.

Alshop, however, is vehemently opposed to any new hours restrictions, says chairman Nabil Sahyoun. “We have already overcome Covid. Of course, the number of deaths is worrying, but they have decreased a lot. People are returning to their normality, knowing how to live well with Covid”, he defends.

Sahyoun states that the entity does not have the numbers on current absences and has not received demands from associates on the subject. He argues that stores affected by staff leave should hire temporary workers and negotiate their situation directly with the malls’ administrations.

The bar and restaurant sector employs around 5.4 million people. Alshop’s member stores employ around 1.5 million workers in approximately 660 shopping malls.