Desperate For New Hires, Delta Fredericton Offers $2,000 Signing Bonus
Fredericton—After its culinary job postings went unfilled for more than three months, the Delta Fredericton turned to a new way of enticing potential hires.
On June 13, the hotel took to social media to announce a $2,000 signing bonus for three culinary positions: sous chef, chef de partie, and first cook.
Marion Ann Berry, the human resource director at the Delta Fredericton, said the hotel started offering signing bonuses to attract culinary talent. The posts were promoted in other provinces to gain attraction to the available jobs since the culinary talent pool in New Brunswick has shrunk.
“We had this discussion that [the Delta] never really had to do signing bonuses [before]. Working for the Delta was enough at one point with the benefits, pension plan, and all the other perks that come along with working for Marriott International,” she said.
Berry said the benefits that normally came with working for the Delta didn’t seem to be attracting the people it needed anymore. She talked to friends in other hotels and they said the same thing was happening to them.
The job postings for certain culinary positions started back at the beginning of March and up until June 13, when the most recent post was made, the positions were still unfilled. Berry said the hotel was receiving a few applications but applicants didn’t have the required experience and training.
“I don’t want to say it’s sad, but it is that nobody’s looking to apply,” she said.
The hotel started off the signing bonus with $1,000 because no where else in the city of Fredericton was offering that. It added the signing bonus when it saw other places in Canada offering to pay new hires rent for a month, or similar incentives to attract more people.
When the hotel raised the bonus to $2,000, it got a lot more resumes, not just from local talent but from people outside the province. Some people who applied had even retired but wanted to come back and start working again.
The kitchen n the Delta Fredericton does all the food preparing for the STMR.36 BBQ and Social restaurant, the patio once the renovation is done, conferences, and banquets.
Many of the culinary positions, such as the chef de partie, sous chef, and first cook, require experience and Red Seal certification. Some who applied for positions who didn’t have any culinary experience still got hired to work as a second cook, working for the banquets. The second cook position doesn’t require chefs to have their Red Seal so these individuals were not offered a signing bonus.
“Banquets is more like the introductory. They have a little bit of experience, they’ve gone to school, and now they’re ready to learn. The beauty of being in a hotel, in any restaurant, is that when you start off, you’re learning, you’re just getting your feet wet and then you learn all the other details.”
Berry said when the first signing bonus of $1,000 was announced, she did not see a difference in the number of applications coming in. She received a couple applications for the chef de partie position, where she was able to successfully hire someone, but the other positions of first cook and sous chef still went unfilled.
After the $2,000 dollar signing bonus was released, the hotel received more applications.
Berry said within the first week and a half, she received about 10 applications per position. The hotel was able to hire two people to the first cook position, one banquets chef and a chef de partie.
The signing bonuses work by dividing the lump sum of money through the three-month probation period. The new hires will receive the first half of the signing bonus when they start and the remainder when the three months is over. Berry said this lines up with the full-time benefits employees get after their probation as well.
The Delta is still looking to hire for the sous chef position. Berry said this position is more than just cooking but involves a leadership role as well.
Jessica Saulnier is a summer intern for Huddle. Send her your story tips: [email protected].