Labour Shortage

[Manny01]

For the last 40 years, capital has reaped more power and an ever increasing portion of the economic prize, compared to labor. Now labor has a little spring in their step and capital thinks the apocalypse is here. Interesting turn of events, LOL.

And before someone offers up their diatribe, I am capital. I'm a SVP at a Mega Corp and my wife owns and operates a thriving small business. We've seen a clear demarcation between companies that offer good comp, bennies, share in profits, treat and manage their employees well, etc. vs. those that don't.

It's a shifting paradigm, and not necessarily a bad one.

[fiveohwblow]

Originally Posted by Manny01

For the last 40 years, capital has reaped more power and an ever increasing portion of the economic prize, compared to labor. Now labor has a little spring in their step and capital thinks the apocalypse is here. Interesting turn of events, LOL.

And before someone offers up their diatribe, I am capital. I'm a SVP at a Mega Corp and my wife owns and operates a thriving small business. We've seen a clear demarcation between companies that offer good comp, bennies, share in profits, treat and manage their employees well, etc. vs. those that don't.

It's a shifting paradigm, and not necessarily a bad one.

I can’t say I disagree, however I think there is an additional dimension. What is being asked of the labor, and if there is a price to place on it worthy of the exchange. For instance, I asked myself the other day if my employer would double my salary if I would stick around and have new found value in the exchange. My answer might be similar to many others which would scare many. I’ve found employees are being squeezed harder than they should be and this is part of the labor frustrations we’re seeing.

[ASAP]

Originally Posted by Manny01

For the last 40 years, capital has reaped more power and an ever increasing portion of the economic prize, compared to labor. Now labor has a little spring in their step and capital thinks the apocalypse is here. Interesting turn of events, LOL.

And before someone offers up their diatribe, I am capital. I'm a SVP at a Mega Corp and my wife owns and operates a thriving small business. We've seen a clear demarcation between companies that offer good comp, bennies, share in profits, treat and manage their employees well, etc. vs. those that don't.

It's a shifting paradigm, and not necessarily a bad one.

I will say this... I work in a very high gross margin business... I know our overhead spend, I know our entire P&L.

Would our company suffer even if they did something extreme like give absolutely everyone 15% raises?

Not even in the slightest bit... the question is how greedy do they want to be?

Those margins are going to have to come down sooner or later for everyone or there will be no one to work.

[LookBothWays]

More people are realizing the social contract has been broken, the one that says if you work hard and give us years of your life you'll be rewarded. Their lives consist of congested roads to a cubicle and when they're home meaningless electronic entertainment. They will never get ahead so why try.

[dreamingat30fps]

I dunno what's going on, BUT what I do know is that now having my own business and working from home for the past 5 years or so it would take a LOT to get me to go sit in a cubicle again. I mean... I would probably sell everything and go live in my RV before going to sit in a cube. I don't know for how many people that's a factor, but once you go wfh you can't go back.

[Nativetexan]

Originally Posted by ASAP

I will say this... I work in a very high gross margin business... I know our overhead spend, I know our entire P&L.

Would our company suffer even if they did something extreme like give absolutely everyone 15% raises?

Not even in the slightest bit... the question is how greedy do they want to be?

Those margins are going to have to come down sooner or later for everyone or there will be no one to work.

Not all businesses are high gross though…in fact I'd bet the a high majority is not.

If a business runs on less than 50% margin, then a 15-20-25% increase in wages is a big deal!

And no volume can't always make up for that.

[freakystyly]

They recently pulled the monthly payments to stay home in Canada so maybe in the next couple weeks people will hit the job trail again. The days are getting shorter too so that big ball in the sky wont scare them after being locked up for a year. Sorry just bitter a bit.

I agree with the spike in cost of living being unreasonable. I also am unhappy when everyone seeks higher pay just to survive, leaving the actual important "low" paying jobs empty. The trades used to be a good paycheque but now you can sit in your bedroom and code or whatever for 3x more... I think in a roundabout way I blame it on useless high paying jobs that don't benefit society.

[ASAP]

Originally Posted by Nativetexan

Not all businesses are high gross though…in fact I'd bet the a high majority is not.

If a business runs on less than 50% margin, then a 15-20-25% increase in wages is a big deal!

And no volume can't always make up for that.

Trickle down my friend... if a company like that can show greediness... then you know how it goes.

[cmyx6go]

Putting truck drivers aside for this conversation, I am only having a problem filling new positions. For the most part, my employees come and stay. I have a lot of 10, 15, 20+ year employees. We pay well, incentivize with performance bonuses, offer medical and 401k and do annual reviews for increases. We also treat our people well. I treat employees the way I want to be treated. I worked for assholes and for good people before having my own business. It taught me a lot. The low end or entry level positions are difficult. People don’t show up for interviews. People accept jobs and don’t show up. People have unrealistic salary expectations for their experience. I don’t care if you just graduated college. You have no experience, you can’t make $100k annually for a clerical position.

We have been very successful partnering with the local HS and getting part timers that work full time in the summer and stay on after they graduate either full time, or part time as they continue their education. We also partner with a local university that specializes in supply chain for paid interns, many of which become full time employees after they graduate.

Please forgive typos. Long post from my phone.

[gjm120]

Thankfully I'm not in the workforce or even very near it now, but I'm seeing from personal familiarity that there is a very big shift (and not upward) in work ethic.

And these are people who had and still have good jobs.

Couple the deterioration in work ethic with the natural pull on goods and services that come from a recovery and throwing money around, and we're headed for something not too good.

[upstatedoc]

A friend is asking about one of these hundreds of positions that are open. The problem is his contract states he cannot have other employment. My friend has plenty of time in his off hours and enjoys working in his underwear.

[Tommy-G]

My BodyShop normally has 17 total employees and hovers around $350k work in process.
We currently have 16 employees and $710k work in process and every other good shop in town with the same scenario.
No leads for skilled help, out of state workers can’t find housing and unskilled apprentices drop out during the hiring process usually

[rebekahb]

Originally Posted by upstatedoc

A friend is asking about one of these hundreds of positions that are open. The problem is his contract states he cannot have other employment. My friend has plenty of time in his off hours and enjoys working in his underwear.

This is the 2nd time you posted about working in your underwear. Maybe you should start a half naked telemed service from your couch. I'm sure there are some wackos out there that would pay to see you in your skivvy's with a stethoscope around your neck waiting to diagnose their illness

[upstatedoc]

Originally Posted by rebekahb

This is the 2nd time you posted about working in your underwear. Maybe you should start a half naked telemed service from your couch. I'm sure there are some wackos out there that would pay to see you in your skivvy's with a stethoscope around your neck waiting to diagnose their illness

You may be onto something

[M_Six]

Originally Posted by King Rudi

Yep. Burn it down and rebuild it. I feel like this is just one of the many cogs in the machine that is causing our current issues. I'm seeing employee retention concerns from where I sit as well. Contractors I hire unable to keep workers, not to mention our shelf life of new hires is roughly about 3 days to maybe a week and a half for our production employees.

I'm also seeing some of our corporate folks leaving at alarming rates. We can't seem to keep a Director of IT for longer than a few months.

I also feel like our current JIT (Just In Time) management strategy is semi-related. Everything works great, to save money on the front end, as long as everything runs like a well oiled machine. due to supply chain issues, this is not currently the case. This also adds to stress, especially for those in fields related to mine. If a person is able to go elsewhere and work, or find a new profession completely, I imagine this adds to the employ Chinese fire drill going on.

Speaking as a former (now *very* happily retired) IT geek, I wonder how much of this is due to a company's unwillingness to invest in IT. (Not pointing to you specifically.) My former employer (not corporate) looked at IT as a cost to be controlled and trimmed to the bare minimum (IMO, below the bare minimum). A Director of IT who recommends changes/upgrades to security and is rebuffed may decide to leave a sitting duck company just to protect his/her reputation.

[IB M]

Are mandates reducing ur available labor? Supply and demand drive price. Looks like more mandates = less supply.

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by upstatedoc

A friend is asking about one of these hundreds of positions that are open. The problem is his contract states he cannot have other employment. My friend has plenty of time in his off hours and enjoys working in his underwear.

LOL

[JP10]

Originally Posted by IB M

Are mandates reducing ur available labor? Supply and demand drive price. Looks like more mandates = less supply.

Not yet, but it has a chance to. Awaiting what OSHA has to say.

[BMWILUVU]

Going to get worse because in large part bad government policies and their bad timing are to blame and they're getting worse.

[Alfisti]

It is startling what mediocrity is being paid, clearly competitors are not really grilling some of these individuals on their skill set because I know for a fact they really struggle with certain aspects of the job and they are being paid a salary where that is not going to be good enough.

Surprised to hear how "employers treat their employees like crap", has that really been the case? Let's forget about the laughable min wage in north america until a few years ago but professionals, were you'all really being treated that badly?

One thing i don't understand, coming from Australia where min wage is much, much, much higher than here, i mean blipping groceries is $25 an hr, why is there not a HUGE delta in prices? If I go to a restaurant here vs back home, it costs about the same but the staff are being paid double back home. Where does the money go here?

[tdott]

If a company can't attract or keep talent they need to start looking internally.

[CTinline-six]

Originally Posted by Alfisti

Surprised to hear how "employers treat their employees like crap", has that really been the case? Let's forget about the laughable min wage in north america until a few years ago but professionals, were you'all really being treated that badly?

Corporate loyalty is a thing of the past. Gone are the days where you could work for a company for years and be treated fairly. I read some statistic a year ago or so about how many jobs the average millennial will have in their lifetime, and it was a lot more than I expected.

Example:

At my last employer we had a technician on my team who was an outstanding individual. Young and energetic, knowledgeable, good with clients, and knew the sites well that she worked with and kept them running. This employer started people low, so her salary was a bit lower than most on her level, but she was proving to be valuable. She did some training on the systems at one of the sites and wanted a bump at the next review. My director said it wasn't something they could do, and instead offered her something laughable. I noted the reviews from our client sites, training she had done, reliability, etc. The bump in pay she requested really wasn't abnormal in my mind.

Turns out a month later she got an offer from another employer for much more, and took it. Well that caused all sorts of chaos at those client sites, lack of coverage, lack of support, etc. To this day (several months later) that company is still trying to fill that position with the starting salary listed being a bit higher than that good employee asked for in the first place.

Idiots. And they are one of those companies telling you it is hard to find good people.