This labor shortage is sooooo draining

[biggeemac]

That about sums it up. Its mentally exhausting trying to keep a business afloat with staff shortages.....not to mention the fact that some of the staff we have is of low quality. At this point, just having bodies is necessary for us. But finding a GOOD employee now is a little like finding a real diamond at your local Goodwill thrift store. And raising wages doesn't seem to be having any impact.

Has anyone solved this problem. Just wanted to open this topic up....if nothing else, so we can all vent about it.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[WestCoast]

Hi @biggeemac. What type of work are we talking about here?

Little more context would help a bit.

 

[Itizn]

In oil there was already a labor shortage before the pandemic, due to the boomers retiring, and younger generations not really being intrigued enough with the industry.

Fast forward to today, that situation is all the more amplified. I had a contact tell me he couldn't get any candidates to pass a drug test.

There is MASSIVE opportunity for anyone involved with or interested in starting a staffing or temp agency.

 

[BizyDad]

I've been giving this a lot of thought. What is everyone's theory on why the shortage is so pronounced? Personally I've got lots of ideas and maybe it's all of the below:

1. People leaning into Biz Owner/Freelancer more (I heard Amazon is posting huge #'s of new accounts for example.)
2. People trading crypto and making $ ( Survey Suggests 4% of US Workers Quit Their Jobs in the Past Year After Successfully Investing in Crypto Markets )
3. If you have no threat of eviction, you have less need to work
4. Unskilled labor would rather do something other than unskilled labor
5. Still fearful of catching COVID
6. Families having become used to cutting back are now finding ways to make do on one income

I'm sure others have ideas on the why's. As for what to do about it:

The clients that I have who are attracting talent have managed to positioned themselves as a different place to work. They have made the job seem meaningful somehow. Or they have sold a vision of the future and the person's role in this future. Or they are offering different things others aren't, like a flexible schedule or work from home possibilities.

The ones who just approach interviewing like "Hey we have this job, do you want it?" or "We're a family business, wanna be part of the family?" are definitely struggling.

One good way to stand out in this labor market:

Ask not what the applicant can do for you, but what you can do for the applicant. Take a deeper interest in them and their life goals while asking questions to reveal their qualifications for the job. Talk about how you can set up a plan to get them to their goals.

Even if the person doesn't have goals, they will still feel like you are a better boss to work for than the next person they interview with.

HTH.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[biggeemac]

I've been giving this a lot of thought. What is everyone's theory on why the shortage is so pronounced? Personally I've got lots of ideas and maybe it's all of the below:

1. People leaning into Biz Owner/Freelancer more (I heard Amazon is posting huge #'s of new accounts for example.)
2. People trading crypto and making $ ( Survey Suggests 4% of US Workers Quit Their Jobs in the Past Year After Successfully Investing in Crypto Markets )
3. If you have no threat of eviction, you have less need to work
4. Unskilled labor would rather do something other than unskilled labor
5. Still fearful of catching C0VlD
6. Families having become used to cutting back are now finding ways to make do on one income

I'm sure others have ideas on the why's. As for what to do about it:

The clients that I have who are attracting talent have managed to positioned themselves as a different place to work. They have made the job seem meaningful somehow. Or they have sold a vision of the future and the person's role in this future. Or they are offering different things others aren't, like a flexible schedule or work from home possibilities.

The ones who just approach interviewing like "Hey we have this job, do you want it?" or "We're a family business, wanna be part of the family?" are definitely struggling.

One good way to stand out in this labor market:

Ask not what the applicant can do for you, but what you can do for the applicant. Take a deeper interest in them and their life goals while asking questions to reveal their qualifications for the job. Talk about how you can set up a plan to get them to their goals.

Even if the person doesn't have goals, they will still feel like you are a better boss to work for than the next person they interview with.

HTH.

Well, thats one of our strengths. The ones that we do manage to attract and keep DO say that we have a more pleasant environment than most others that we compete against. I have bent over backwards to express my appreciation for our staff, we voluntarily raised everyones wages, try to give out perks whenever we arent swamped busy ourselves, are very understanding of illnesses or personal time, we make it a point NOT to work people overtime to prevent burnout. The people that leave are usually terminated, not quitting, so I know we are at least half way there. Its more of an issue to stand out in the crowd on attracting good applicants ..... thats the area we struggle with.

 

[BizyDad]

Well, thats one of our strengths. The ones that we do manage to attract and keep DO say that we have a more pleasant environment than most others that we compete against. I have bent over backwards to express my appreciation for our staff, we voluntarily raised everyones wages, try to give out perks whenever we arent swamped busy ourselves, are very understanding of illnesses or personal time, we make it a point NOT to work people overtime to prevent burnout. The people that leave are usually terminated, not quitting, so I know we are at least half way there. Its more of an issue to stand out in the crowd on attracting good applicants ..... thats the area we struggle with.

Establish an employee referral program? Offer 200 bucks to your employees if they're referral stays for more than 3 months?

 

[Parks]

Being in a business/industry with a high churn rate of employees, if you want to win when managing people you need to establish the same principles as in MJ's books it seems. Need a Productocracy for employees but more of a StayandAttractocracy.

I've seen Dutch Bro's do this with their small incremental promotions that only result in a 50 cent raise. Having their crew leaders call their newer employees giving them props and advice on their previous shift. Seems like a great environment they are building there.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Guest-5ty5s4]

We had 200 employees before 2020, then we went down to about 50, and are now up to around 100.

For us the key is hiring back people who have worked with us before, plus getting referrals through friends and family of other workers.

Truth is, when that unemployment check got so big, lots of people decided they’d rather stay home and get paid by the government instead of work.

They told us that directly.

(I don’t own this business outright myself so I can’t go into more detail, but those are the facts)

 

[woken]

We had 200 employees before 2020, then we went down to about 50, and are now up to around 100.

For us the key is hiring back people who have worked with us before, plus getting referrals through friends and family of other workers.

Truth is, when that unemployment check got so big, lots of people decided they’d rather stay home and get paid by the government instead of work.

They told us that directly.

(I don’t own this business outright myself so I can’t go into more detail, but those are the facts)

True.


And once those start earning some money online it’s very hard to have them come back.

Especially with all the corporate bullshit employers request from the employees.


“Where do you see yourself in 5 years?”
“How do you plan to grow within the company?”
etc etc etc


While as a business owners you are looking for somebody that cares about their work, most “work” is not that important.

Most people have a job, they don’t care much about it except they’re getting paid. Why do I need to make the employee uncomfortable by making him/her lie?


“Why do you want this job?”

Well, I’d rather not starve and keep my roof above my head.


That’s the reality for most people. The employers that realise that know that an employee that cares about his job is a rare gem and should be kept. The others are just a numbers game unfortunately.

 

[David Fitz]

Instead of looking at it as a problem, look at it as an opportunity.

In every adversity there is a seed of of equal or greater benefit

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Guest-5ty5s4]

I second the idea of staffing agencies. Those would be very useful in the current climate!

 

[Ing]

I know it that way: all good workers try to get to the big manufacturers. BMW is a big near one. In my space( car maintenance) nealy everyone went there.
Min 1.5 x wage. More holidays, secure planning.
So what stays out of the big factory s often are peoples with worse preconditions.
Bad certificates. Or no certificate.

So I know some people, who have for example no certificates from Highschool from any reasons, but I would hire them immediately. Maybe you look for such people having had problems at school, but now got their life going.

 

[woken]

So I know some people, who have for example no certificates from Highschool from any reasons, but I would hire them immediately. Maybe you look for such people having had problems at school, but now got their life going.

Congrats to you !

I’m one of those.Doing well on my own, because I chose to study what interested me. Those subjects were not taught in school.


But I’d definitely have a hard time getting hired by someone looking for formal qualifications.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Kevin88660]

I've been giving this a lot of thought. What is everyone's theory on why the shortage is so pronounced? Personally I've got lots of ideas and maybe it's all of the below:

1. People leaning into Biz Owner/Freelancer more (I heard Amazon is posting huge #'s of new accounts for example.)
2. People trading crypto and making $ ( Survey Suggests 4% of US Workers Quit Their Jobs in the Past Year After Successfully Investing in Crypto Markets )
3. If you have no threat of eviction, you have less need to work
4. Unskilled labor would rather do something other than unskilled labor
5. Still fearful of catching C0VlD
6. Families having become used to cutting back are now finding ways to make do on one income

I'm sure others have ideas on the why's. As for what to do about it:

The clients that I have who are attracting talent have managed to positioned themselves as a different place to work. They have made the job seem meaningful somehow. Or they have sold a vision of the future and the person's role in this future. Or they are offering different things others aren't, like a flexible schedule or work from home possibilities.

The ones who just approach interviewing like "Hey we have this job, do you want it?" or "We're a family business, wanna be part of the family?" are definitely struggling.

One good way to stand out in this labor market:

Ask not what the applicant can do for you, but what you can do for the applicant. Take a deeper interest in them and their life goals while asking questions to reveal their qualifications for the job. Talk about how you can set up a plan to get them to their goals.

Even if the person doesn't have goals, they will still feel like you are a better boss to work for than the next person they interview with.

HTH.

Seems to be an issue with U.S. mainly. Must be Uncle Joe paying them not to work.

 

[InspireHD]

A friend of mine works in a factory inspecting parts that eventually go into Ford trucks. Earlier this summer, his supervisor asked him if he wanted to take a voluntary layoff while production slowed down. He declined as he wanted to keep working.

The next day they announced the temporary layoff and everyone else took it. His supervisor ended up with shortened hours but my friend continued working. He was literally the only one showing up at the factory.

Everyone who took the layoff ended up making more money than if they stayed working because of the unemployment benefits plus the additional pandemic money the state was giving away on top of it. He was pissed. He tried to do the right thing and got screwed.

 

[Hai]

There is very big shortage in service industry as well.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Jobless]

Labor shortage or welfare surplus?

What about recruiting an immigrant? Someone willing to move for a job, or somebody that just got off the boat. Legal or illegal?

 

[becks22]

Staffing agencies aren't exactly the golden goose. They still need to find the employees to then sub out to companies.

 

[Andy Black]

I think @IceCreamKid wrote that he sometimes found staff for his cleaning business in restaurants etc. He’d approach the ones with good customer service and work ethic.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Stargazer]

I think @IceCreamKid wrote that he sometimes found staff for his cleaning business in restaurants etc. He’d approach the ones with good customer service and work ethic.

Well known secret.

Walk into any Indian Restaurant. The owners kids have been working everyday helping out since they were kids. They don't want to work in them now though but the work ethic is still there as they have only ever seen parents who worked hard and didn't expect a magic fairy to appear out of nowhere.

You watch in the next 20 years as the Indian Restaurants in the UK start closing as the kids move to something else.

Dan

 

[Kevin88660]

A friend of mine works in a factory inspecting parts that eventually go into Ford trucks. Earlier this summer, his supervisor asked him if he wanted to take a voluntary layoff while production slowed down. He declined as he wanted to keep working.

The next day they announced the temporary layoff and everyone else took it. His supervisor ended up with shortened hours but my friend continued working. He was literally the only one showing up at the factory.

Everyone who took the layoff ended up making more money than if they stayed working because of the unemployment benefits plus the additional pandemic money the state was giving away on top of it. He was pissed. He tried to do the right thing and got screwed.

How much is the Covid relief unemployment benefit?

When is it ending?

 

[InspireHD]

How much is the C0VlD relief unemployment benefit?

When is it ending?

If I remember right they were getting their unemployment plus an additional $300 per week. From what I could find it ended at the end of August. Some of the people he worked with rode it out as long as they could, even declining to return because of their “concerns.”

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[biggeemac]

If I remember right they were getting their unemployment plus an additional $300 per week. From what I could find it ended at the end of August. Some of the people he worked with rode it out as long as they could, even declining to return because of their “concerns.”

Yes, I watched a youtube guru that said that things are lingering on because the M2 money supply had built up. People literally have stacked funds into their savings accounts and it will take time for them to burn it up and for us to start seeing improvement in the labor market. I dont know if this is accurate, but it could be.

 

[ALC]

Seems to be an issue with U.S. mainly. Must be Uncle Joe paying them not to work.

Oh no this is all over the Europe & France here this is a real problem, people here received a lot of governement support during Lockdowns they enjoyed staying at home being paid doing nothing.

We have a governement plan that support people for couple months when they quit their job, 6 months of work = 8/10 months of being paid doing f* all at home until they find a new job. And so the youngsters just do that constantly, stay 6/8 months then go on doing nothing for a full year.

And until this change, every businesses will be impacted because during this lockdown people began to switch into the mood of needing to reflect on their life & personnal choices and what they want to do of their life,
Which cause a huge issue to businesses in big need of labor.


The only way things can change is to reduce governement support overall for people being at home without a valid reason and keep for those who can't find a job because they are old or have handicap.. etc, stop letting people becoming lazy snowflakes and putting everyone back to work.

Being honest, i can't see that happening anytime soon which is one of the main reasons i want to leave this country despite a lovely history & culture.

 

[inabox1]

Talk about how you can set up a plan to get them to their goals.

Love this.

Very in the line of thinking of Patrick-Bet-David's thought process regarding hiring - stand out from the market by showing how you can help the person, and not making them feel like they're another cog in the machine.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Choate]

Locus of control in action - external factors (labor market/shortages, unemployment checks, less people working) vs. internal factors (such as creating an environment that attracts and keeps talent).

“any team, in any organization, all responsibility for success and failure rests with the leader. The leader must own everything in his or her world. There is no one else to blame. The leader must acknowledge mistakes and admit failures, take ownership of them, and develop a plan to win.” - Jocko

Jocko's book Extreme Ownership seems relevant here.

As you said, you don't think you have an issue retaining talent (pleasant environment, appreciating your staff, raising wages, good perks, understanding of illness/personal time - the issue is attracting talent in the first place.

So the problem is that as the labor market has shrunk, workplaces have become more competitive in attracting what good workers are left. We see this across the board, even as fast food places raise their wages to $15 or $18 an hour. If I were in your shoes and applied Jocko's mindset to this, I'd think that I have a sales problem. Not of my services or products, but on selling employees the reason why they should work with me.

Then I would sit down and think: is my sales problem because I am not reaching a critical mass of people (hustle/marketing) or is it because the perceived value of my offer isn't high enough?

If the perceived value of your offer is high enough then you need to work harder on outreach. If it's not, then you can do outreach all day but you're going to end up comparing a good employee to finding a diamond in Goodwill.

Sounds like the outreach is there. The value of working for you is there. But you're not selling your why well enough to get great potential employees in the door. But maybe you're just not getting your offer in front of enough people in the first place - only you can know for sure.

 

[Ing]

Congrats to you !

I’m one of those.Doing well on my own, because I chose to study what interested me. Those subjects were not taught in school.


But I’d definitely have a hard time getting hired by someone looking for formal qualifications.

BUt what else should a recruiter look on other than formal qualification?
I think, that is a very big issue in Germany, a great issue in UK, but not so a problem in USA. In USA they tend to take someone, who can do a work, not someone with qualifications.

But a recruiter will allways make a first decision on this.

 

[woken]

The person’s ability to do the job. That’s all that matters

BUt what else should a recruiter look on other than formal qualification?
I think, that is a very big issue in Germany, a great issue in UK, but not so a problem in USA. In USA they tend to take someone, who can do a work, not someone with qualifications.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Kevin88660]

Oh no this is all over the Europe & France here this is a real problem, people here received a lot of governement support during Lockdowns they enjoyed staying at home being paid doing nothing.

We have a governement plan that support people for couple months when they quit their job, 6 months of work = 8/10 months of being paid doing f* all at home until they find a new job. And so the youngsters just do that constantly, stay 6/8 months then go on doing nothing for a full year.

And until this change, every businesses will be impacted because during this lockdown people began to switch into the mood of needing to reflect on their life & personnal choices and what they want to do of their life,
Which cause a huge issue to businesses in big need of labor.


The only way things can change is to reduce governement support overall for people being at home without a valid reason (handicap.. etc), stop letting people becoming lazy snowflakes and putting everyone back to work.

Being honest, i can't see that happening anytime soon which is one of the main reasons i want to leave this country despite a lovely history & culture.

Work for six months and get paid the next 8 month doing nothing. Serious?

And the middle class is paying 50% tax rate for that…

 

[SteveO]

I guess I have been lucky. Only lost one person last year out of 40 employees and it was a welcome departure.

One of my managers will be retiring in February. We are interviewing applicants now. He will stay on as a consultant for a while.