“Build team loyalty”: among employers, improvements but still difficulties in seasonal recruitment

La restauration reste le principal pourvoyeur de contrat saisonnier sur le territoire. Midi Libre – FRANCOISE TALLIEU

Malgré une année qui s’annonce meilleure que les autres sur le front du travail saisonnier, les gros employeurs éprouvent encore des difficultés  dans leurs recrutements.

"We placed three adverts and got lots of feedback straight away". Unlike the last two particularly complicated years, Claude Herzog, boss of the beach bar union in Sète, readily confides: "2024 is a good year for seasonal work". In high season, the man hires up to fifty people, mainly divers, waiters, cooks or bartenders, but always on seasonal contracts.

Same observation, a little more nuanced, at the Le Solehau Mileade holiday village in Balaruc-les-Bains. "Every year c&rsquo ;is complicated for recruitment, but this year promises to be better than the previous ones", testifies Elsa Pellier-Medina, the director.

The catering and hotel industry, leading employers

Carrying out an inventory of seasonal work in the region means coming up against complex and diverse realities on the ground. As evidenced by Yamina Chihib, director of the local youth integration mission in the Thau basin (MLI), which lists the main employing sectors. At the top, we find catering, followed by hotels and outdoor hotels. In fourth position is mass distribution, which precedes the real estate and agricultural sectors.

If all these sectors are faced with the same problem of accommodation of the workforce (see opposite), not all are in the same way. As evidenced by Elsa Pellier-Medina, whose holiday village can by definition accommodate seasonal workers who number up to 70 people when the tourist season is in full swing. The director admits that she still encounters recruitment problems. "Honestly, I don’where that came from, she asks, however, we do everything for the well-being of the employee."

At what age can you start working ?

In France, it is allowed to start working from the age of 14, but under certain conditions. Me Rocheblave, specialist in labor law, specifies that authorization from the labor inspectorate as well as parental authorization is necessary. This should only be light work carried out for a maximum of 14 working days during school holidays. No overtime is permitted and longer, recurring breaks must be arranged. Likewise, consecutive rest must be 14 hours compared to 11 hours for adults. Regarding 16-17 year olds, the legislation is a little more flexible. Daily rest increases to 12 consecutive hours and overtime is authorized up to 5 hours per week.

Find the right seasonal worker

"Finding beginners is easy, competent profiles are more complicated,summarizes Elsa Pellier-Medina. The question of training and experience of workers regularly comes up in employers' discussions when they talk about their difficulty in hiring. This is also what Pierre observes Lary, deputy director of the Archipel de Thau tourist office. A major provider of seasonal contracts, the tourist office employs the equivalent of 110 months of work each year.

"We started recruiting from Escale in Sète. Today the teams are complete", he explains. However, Pierre Lary affirms " keep a few CVs aside" to compensate for withdrawals when the time comes. At the tourist office, it is mainly reception positions that are to be filled. Positions that require certain skills: "Contrary to what one might think, the reception profession is complicated, it requires a certain interpersonal skills and mastery of foreign languages".< /p>

Retain staff loyalty

On the agricultural side, it is the market gardeners who attract the most seasonal jobs in the Thau basin, first and foremost market gardeners. "The agricultural professions are difficult, what we seek above all is to build team loyalty&quot ;, says Guilhem Viroux, secretary general of the chamber of agriculture.

With this in mind, farmers sometimes come together in groups of employers: "This allows us to make staff work all day ;year". Sustaining staff, retaining worker loyalty, objectives which are also at the heart of the commitment of the local integration mission which accompanies young seasonal workers.

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