Ballarat business operators battling increasing costs and staff shortages are banking on population growth and the Commonwealth Games to give them the boost they need.
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Commerce Ballarat's latest Business Confidence Survey found shortage of staff was the most significant concern for hospitality, retail, manufacturing, and professional services business owners in the 2022/23 financial year, with difficulties filling vacancies because applicants lacked required skills or simply because of a lack of applicants.
Contributing to staffing issues were accommodation shortages, and caution about catching Covid-19, meaning people "have less tolerance for a work environment/circumstance where they deem the risk of catching the virus to be relatively higher".
Suggestions to aid recruitment included measures to facilitate skilled immigration as well as the government "reducing or discouraging unemployment payments".
The overwhelming majority of respondents (80 per cent) expected the cost of running their business to increase in 2022/23 because of high inflation, increasing interest rates, employee demands for higher salaries, and supply chain constraints.
Survey questions around changes brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic revealed increased use of online technologies allowed greater flexibility but on the other hand decreased opportunities to build face-to-face rapport with customers.
Post-pandemic, employees were also more likely to prioritise their work-life balance and expect employers prioritise staff wellbeing.
Overall, optimism was high, with a mean level of 7.8 on a ten-point scale.
Business growth was a top priority among those surveyed, along with financial stability and customer experience.
The 2026 Commonwealth Games were seen as a "major opportunity" but was also seen as a challenge by some respondents, in terms of providing visitors with "high-quality, sustainable facilities".
Commerce Ballarat board member Anne Alexander said the business sector was excited about the Games but also viewed the event with a degree of "trepidation".
"There's a lot of confidence around the Commonwealth Games but trepidation as well in terms of hopefully we have enough skilled workers and tradies to do what we need to do prior to that," she said.
"But it is certainly something that's giving confidence to business for the future as well."
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Ms Alexander has owned hospitality business The Sporting Globe Bar & Grill for the past seven years and said she maintained good staffing levels even at the height of the pandemic by fostering a strong team culture and not being "scared" to take on and train up unskilled workers.
"I'm a big believer in training and I think our industry - hospitality - has a responsibility to train these people for the future," she said.
"Obviously, there are a lot of businesses that do need skilled people - but I think in hospitality, sometimes, people may want a certain skill level but don't really need it.
"You just have to be committed to training them and working with them and that's what we've done.
"It can be difficult initially but you either have no one and you have to close or you teach them to do those jobs."
Ms Alexander agreed with survey respondents that parking was an issue affecting business confidence and that "anything that gives you more ability to park is a good thing" , especially coming in to the winter months when walking around town was "not ideal".
She said building a multi-level carpark was the only realistic option because there was not "a big enough space anywhere to make an impact".
"It is challenging to park in the Ballarat CBD - people that want to will find a way, but then there are also people that just won't bother," she said.
Commerce Ballarat conducted the survey in partnership with Federation University and the City of Ballarat.
The full report is available online.
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