'Nobody wants that job': Some businesses are turning to robots to solve labour shortage woes

Five years ago, if someone asked him if he would swap out his Cimbali espresso machine for a $20,000 Swiss-made coffee maker, he would roll his eyes and talk about how to make the perfect latte.

Rahim is the owner of Grounded Kitchen and Coffeehouse in the city. All you have to do is push a button and it will make a better product than a human.

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After attending a restaurant industry expo in Toronto, the change of heart was caused. He would turn corners and walk down a line of booths and see the walls of boxes holding customers' pick up orders. He didn't know what to think.

As a labour shortage made it hard to hire staff, Rahim decided to automate as many parts of his new restaurant-cafe as he reasonably could.

He said that he was using an automated process to find people to do the job.

Labour woes

Business owners are having a hard time finding workers. The latest jobs data from Statistics Canada pegs the unemployment rate at 5.2 per cent, which some economists say is a sign of full employment. Statistics Canada counted nearly one million vacancies in the second quarter, a record, and hourly wages are growing at an annual rate of around five percent.

The Bank of Canada governor said at the Public Policy Forum in Toronto that the economy is in excess demand.

Some business owners believe that the solution to their labour problems is with the machines.

The food service industry has struggled to find enough workers in the wake of COVID-19 and the move to automation might make sense. The sector had the highest vacancies in August with more than 130,000 unfilled jobs. Employers hired 18,000 new workers in May, the first positive increase of jobs since then. There are still a lot of openings.

Food service jobs are hard to find because nobody wants to do them.

A lot of people think that automation is bad because it takes away people's jobs. I wouldn't have a problem hiring people if they wanted the job.

Automation and productivity

Stephen Tapp said that the country's companies should automate more.

Tapp said that Canada's productivity performance has been pretty abysmal over the last 20 years.

Canadian businesses did not match the capital investment spending of their US counterparts during the low interest rate era. According to a report by the C.D. Howe Institute, Canada's investment in machinery and equipment has fallen since 2015, in part because of the oil crash. Residential investment made up more than 85% of Canadian gross domestic product for the last seven years.

For every dollar the U.S. spent on business investment, Canada spent less than half that.

There has been a change in the economy. Even though the central bank has signaled it will need to raise rates further to cool an overheated economy, demand for labour hasn't stopped.

The unemployment rate in June was the lowest on record, but it is not sustainable. Macklem said that the tightness in the labour market is a symptom of the general imbalance between demand and supply.

Business investment faces headwinds

If sales aren't slowing down, businesses may continue to invest in automation. He flagged rising interest rates as a problem for automation.

The central bank says that companies' intentions to invest have moderated for three quarters in a row. Firms that face capacity constraints are more likely to invest in technology and automation.

Business investment will probably be one of the better performing sectors during recessions due to the fact that it will increase in 2022. We think that business investment will be softer next year.

The Canadian dollar could weaken. The Canadian dollar could make it more expensive for companies to import automation machines and technology from the US. He said that the threat of interest rate hikes made it more costly for companies to invest in productivity- boosting equipment.

Businesses are having to come up with solutions to keep output flowing because of Canada's lackluster productivity statistics. Tapp said that the time could be ripe to invest in automation as companies come out of the Pandemic and reexamine aspects of everyday operations.

Even if interest rates go up, that doesn't mean it's a bad time to invest Some of the best companies, some of the strongest companies, some of the most innovative companies, are built in times of dramatic transitions and recessions according to research.

Labour shortages are hitting key sectors of the economy, including construction, manufacturing and accommodation.

Tapp said there is probably the strongest incentive for them to find ways to invest in capital and still increase output.

The robot solution

The chance to automate his restaurant will solve a big problem for him. He thinks his new restaurant, which is set to open by the beginning of December, will provide the perfect blend of human and robot service that won't offend customers who still want a face-to-face dining experience.

Diners will be able to order and pay for their food using their phones, eliminating the need for waiters. When the chefs finish cooking the meal, they will put it in one of the cubbies that will make up a wall between the kitchen and dining room.

When the meal is ready, customers will receive a notification on their phones that will prompt them to flash in front of a control panel to open their cubbies.

Customers can still enjoy cups of coffee at the new Grounded Kitchen and Coffeehouse, but they will most likely be made by the Swiss machine with a barista pouring the milk.

You want someone to wake up at 5:30 in the morning and show up at 6:30 to serve a bunch of coffees to a group of people who don't want to go to work? You can't find them. They don't want to do it It is so time consuming. It is difficult on your wrist. It's dirty. The temperature is hot. People don't want that job.

In order to be profitable, I wanted to automate.

The email is bbbharti@postmedia.