Sunport businesses offer hiring bonuses to attract new employees

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The once-quiet Albuquerque Sunport is starting to get busy again with more travelers. However, restaurants inside the Sunport aren’t quite up to speed.

"Generally our staffing is about 500 employees, and right now we were downward down to 150," explained Fresquez HR Director Tamara Gandara. "So we’re trying to get back up to that. We had to furlough a good amount of our employees during COVID."

Gandara said it’s been a struggle to find people to turn in those job applications.

Other business owners across New Mexico are facing the same problem.

The Sunport is trying to sweeten the potential deal by offering something we usually hear about in multi-million dollar sports contracts: signing bonuses. New employees will receive $500 dollars plus an additional bonus for referrals.

"The hiring process has definitely been a lot different for us," said Gandara. "This is something that we’ve really had to do now after the pandemic. We’ve had to get very creative in our hiring, and this has been one of the things is doing these bonuses that is bringing in more traffic for us."

They’ve basically got openings for anyone. Some positions even include medical, dental, and vision insurance.

Gandara said they’re looking to hire help as soon as possible.

"We’re going to be hiring on the spot. So we’re looking for full time, part-time, some of our positions are entry level so we can train, so there’s just so many different opportunities, and we would love for people to attend," she said.

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