Recruiting and...house hunting

It's the summer headache for seaside resorts: where to house the army of seasonal workers who have come to help businesses cope with the influx of tourists? With a general shortage of accommodation, Luxembourg is no exception to the rule, and companies sometimes have to use their imagination to attract talent to the country. Such is the case of Carlo Cravat, owner of the hotel of the same name, who decided 25 years ago to buy a house to accommodate some of his employees, mainly trainees. For him, the problem is not new, even if the situation has become more tense in recent years: "My wife saw that there was a problem finding accommodation for our young people. We found a house that we renovated, with seven bedrooms. We reserve them for trainees and young people who arrive until they find their own accommodation, which is taking longer and longer, " he explains.

Today his team is fairly stable, so his long-term employees have permanent accommodation, but it's the young trainees that the boss is worried about: "They are the main issue. A lot of landlords don't want to rent for a few months, and politicians don't take it seriously. I've currently got 8 trainees looking for accommodation for September, and it's really very complicated for them, especially given the rents for a single room", says the boss, who can't accommodate everyone in his house. For those lucky enough to live there, the rent is 800 euros, "all inclusive", which is paid to the employer. Unlike other benefits in kind, employers do not deduct the cost of accommodation from their employees' pay, as is the case for other items such as company cars or luncheon vouchers, which are subject to tax deductions.

Carlo Cravat tries to see the glass as half full and still considers himself lucky when he compares it with other European capitals: "I have a colleague who told me that in Berlin there can be up to 40 people queuing up for accommodation. My son is a student in Amsterdam. It was hell trying to find something as a foreigner, and I had to pay 6 months' rent in advance on top of all the other costs – that's a lot! So if you compare the situation in Luxembourg, we're still not at that point."