Three Peas Marketing co-founders Kate Robinson and Elisha Salkeld speak out after staff member forced to leave Gold Coast due to rental crisis

Gold Coast businesses are facing a staffing crisis – with the story of one small firm highlighting the scale of the problem. Here’s what’s been happening.

Owners of a boutique Gold Coast marketing firm say small businesses are being robbed of staff by the city’s rental crisis.

Three Peas Marketing co-founders Kate Robinson and Elisha Salkeld said they had been left reeling after a key staff member decided to move to Victoria because she and her partner were unable to secure a new rental.

“Their lease is up this May. They were told by the real estate four months ahead because the owners are moving back in. So they’ve been looking for quite a while,” Ms Salkeld said.

“We even gave her extra hours, we increased her pay, just to try and hopefully help them get a better property because we really felt for what they were going through. But unfortunately it hasn’t helped.”

The pair said their employee had been able to quickly secure a rental in Melbourne after giving up on the Gold Coast.

They will allow her to work remotely, but said the arrangement was “not ideal” because 90 per cent of their clients are on the Coast.

Three Peas Marketing owners Kate Robinson and Elisha Salkeld. Picture: Glenn Hampson.

Her partner, meanwhile, will have to quit his job working for another Gold Coast small business and find a new position in Melbourne.

“It does hurt us now that one of our integral staff members has to leave the Gold Coast,” Ms Robinson said.

“She’ll continue to work remotely with us but it’s not ideal.

“We struggled to find a really good worker and now we’ve lost her to another region.”

Ms Robinson and Ms Salkeld said owners of other small businesses had told them they had also lost staff who couldn’t secure rentals.

Their story backs up comments by Gold Coast Central Chamber of Commerce president Martin Hall, who told the Bulletin in January that businesses were being held back by staffing issues.

“They’re facing chronic shortages,” he said. “... It’s not just casual or part-time tourism and hospitality-based businesses, but everywhere.”

In the December quarter, the unemployment rate on the Gold Coast reached a record low of 2.9 per cent – below the state and national averages.

The state government recently passed legislation to limit rent increases to just once a year.

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