Companies are having difficulty hiring workers for “technical and operational” roles, namely logistics, transport or even waiters, to cope with the usual ‘peak’ of activity at Christmas, according to recruiters interviewed by Lusa.
Retail, logistics, storage and transport, the food industry, hotels and restaurants and the area of e-commerce (electronic commerce) and customer support are some of the sectors that most use temporary hiring to cope with “increased demand” during the festive period.
And, although, as a general rule, recruiters interviewed by Lusa report that there is an increase in demand from companies for temporary work solutions, they admit difficulties in finding candidates for “technical and operational” roles.
“Hiring difficulties end up extending to all areas, but are particularly noticeable in technical and operational functions, namely in specialized logistics, drivers with specific licenses, qualified warehouse operators and production technicians”, says Daniela Lourenço, brand leader at Manpower.
In the case of hotels and restaurants, “fluency in foreign languages, especially English, is a requirement that continues to limit the number of available candidates”, he adds.
The position is shared by António Carvalho, temp & perm business director at Gi Group, who indicates that “the biggest challenge” concerns the “areas of logistics, transport and production, where demand is very high and the availability of candidates is low”.
In turn, an official source from iU Talent makes reference to “waiters, cooks, receptionists and warehouse operators” and highlights that the fact that Portugal is close to full employment, “with historically low unemployment levels”, and “two structural factors” are the main obstacles to hiring these professionals.
According to this recruiter, among the “structural factors” is, on the one hand, “the departure of young people abroad” and, on the other, “the revaluation of some sectors, such as technology and administrativewhich end up absorbing professionals with versatile profiles who previously worked in retail or hospitality”, he explains.
“The result is a felt shortage, especially in jobs that require physical presence, shift schedules or peaks of intensity, typical of Christmas”, he adds.
In turn, Pedro Empis, operational director of talent solutions at Randstad, highlights that “areas that are very people-based” are those in which there is greater difficulty in hiring and especially “when locations and hours do not meet what candidates are looking for”.
Despite these difficulties, with the exception of iU Talent, the remaining recruiters interviewed by Lusa indicate that demand has increased, even though companies are cautious when hiring.
“The demand for temporary work solutions has been growing”notes Gi Group, stating that it believes that “this scenario is being influenced by greater caution on the part of companies in the face of economic instability”.
“We also feel that companies are anticipating recruitment processes and investing in larger teams to respond to growing demand”, he adds.
Manpower also denotes “greater prudence on the part of companies, a reflection of the economic situation that has been felt throughout 2025”, indicating that this year requests for reinforcement of teams at Christmas are “arriving later than usual”.
“Right now, we have more companies than usual in October sharing their recruitment perspectives with us, although without implementing processes. It can be seen that companies are deciding more prudently, adjusting volumes depending on orders and real demand”explains Daniela Lourenço.
And while Randstad points to an increase in demand this year, “particularly in retail, food industry and logistics”, and whose “growth varies between 10% and 30%”, iU Talent points to an opposite scenario, highlighting that the downward trend “is widespread” and affects “the three sectors that are most looking for team reinforcement at this time”: hospitality, with a drop of 9.9%; customer service, with a decrease of 8.1%, and logistics and distribution, with a decrease of 0.7%.
To overcome recruitment difficulties and attract candidates, companies ‘wave’ with incentives such as performance bonuses, meal and transport subsidies or the possibility of future integration.
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