‘It puts more pressure on the remaining staff – you have to divide the work’: a spice importer on life without EU workers

From overtime to having to cut back its next day delivery service, Tasneem Alonzo’s ingredients business has been hit hard by a lack of warehouse workers and drivers

It has been, says Tasneem Alonzo with a sigh, “really stressful”. She is the joint managing director of her family’s food business, EHL Ingredients, which imports and blends spices and seasonings for food manufacturers and wholesalers, along with nuts, fruit and dried legumes. As with much of the UK’s food production industry, workers from EU countries played a vital role in her company. In her warehouse, Alonzo employed a number of Polish, Romanian and Bulgarian people. “We lost quite a few, who went back home, and trying to replace good staff has been really difficult,” she says. “It puts more pressure on the existing staff. We have to do overtime and you just have to divide the work.”

The business has managed to replace some staff, but there are still vacancies and it remains hard to fill them. She is keen to emphasise that it is not about EU workers being better than British ones – “we have some amazing British workers” – but even though she’s had to increase wages to attract people, she’s still struggling to get the right staff. Working in a spice warehouse is not an easy job, she says – staff have to understand allergens, blending spices can be messy and the smell can be strong.

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from The Guardian https://ift.tt/3DtzlTM