Most are still requiring employees to wear masks all day also. Who the hell wants to wear a mask for 8 hours aside from the fact it’s a serious long term health risk? During the lockdowns many people who were restaurant workers may have realized they want a better job and took steps in that direction.
I’d like to know what and where the “better jobs” people are getting are. As a general rule, those working hospitality/food service/ entertainment/retail arent just going to suddenly become white collar professionals or skilled tradesmen en masse. Teenagers aren’t now middle-managers and college kids aren’t splicing fiber. In our Midwestern city, you can start at a higher wage at Taco Bell than at the packing plant.
There has been a big shift in younger (under 30) workers. You have to specifically avoid work— and many do because they apparently don’t need to. Our state never had mask mandates. We’ve always been open for business—but it wasn’t always there.
We’re hospitality and had to layoff 47 employees in April 2020 and were a skeleton crew trying to keep the doors open and a dozen people employed. We started trying to bring back employees in July 2020 as it was busy. Only a few came back- most were happier getting super unemployment. We’re as busy as 2019 and cannot find employees. Out of ten applicants, maybe four show up to the interview and get hired at $16 an hour. Two will actually make it to their first day. One will work for a week or two and then not show up or quit or get fired and then collect checks. Unemployment fights when you try to deny anyone for any reason (and we are an at-will state!!) and it is just maddening.
Our manufacturing friends can’t find employees ($20+ hourly), can’t find people who can pass a drug test, and can’t get steel or other materials so their previous contracts are in danger and inflated materials costs and delays are killing them.
Restaurants are still closing a couple days a week. A bagel shop is now closed on their busiest day (previously Sunday provided 2.75 days revenue) because they can’t find help. The Noodles franchise is open from 11-5 M-F and missing 60% of its former revenue. A just-opened new Starbucks by us closed “for training” for several weeks after it opened as they found they didn’t have employees. It is now open (drive-thru only) 7-2 M-F. We are sprawl- we don’t have a “business district” and you can get anywhere by car in under twenty minutes. These places are in strip malls and have never had any pedestrian traffic!
I guess we are all supposed to work for the government. Or, maybe not work and let the government give us money. Seems like much less of a hassle and maybe an occasional day off…