Construction, hospitality; just two sectors which have been experiencing difficulties with recruitment in Mallorca. The island's hairdressers can now be added to the list, the president of their association, Alma Cenarro, warning that salons will have to stop opening on Saturdays if they can't solve the staffing problem.
"We can't find workers and want to convey the problems we have with finding qualified professionals and offering the highest quality service our clients deserve."
Cenarro says that practically all salons in the Balearics are having great difficulty finding qualified staff and that some are already only opening on Saturdays for events such as weddings. It's usually the self-employed who work Saturdays, or who work the longest hours, as salaried employees can only work 80 hours of overtime per year.
"The problem is that we can't double our staff to cover a single day without the business becoming unviable. That's why Saturdays will be reserved for events only.
"In WhatsApp groups, we're all asking if anyone knows professionals interested in working, to the point that some go to one salon in the morning and another in the afternoon. I've never known anything like it."
Another problem hair salons face is that new staff are less well-trained than in the past. "Training centres need more resources; schools are doing everything they can." And Cenarro denounces the unqualified individuals who are working in the sector. "Anyone can open a hair salon, as no qualification is required." In her opinion, this is incomprehensible, given that they work with chemicals and not everyone is qualified to do so.