Trevor this is your restaurant. I know you need staff, I've been watching you, you know
work the phones trying to get them, even this morning.
We've posted two jobs in the last four weeks for three locations, one of which is here.
We had a hundred and fifty hundred, hundred and sixty applicants.
For Cooks, the first week we confirmed 18 interviews.
One showed up.
We hired that one person. Of course.
She quit after two, two shifts, so, and we don't know where she went.
So it's it's the 'where did they go' question. Yeah, where did they go and are they coming back? Right.
So that, that is the thing that we're trying to tackle because you know as we all know the
statistics are pretty eye-popping. You know, we're in we're in a period of, sort of, record vacancies for jobs.
Rose, you run a construction company. Um you can't find workers obviously, you can't find employees
You know we had an ad out for admin assistant and uh bookkeeping and three, four interviews
didn't show up. I hired two, three people. Didn't show up. No text, no phone call but what happens with
our, you know, our long-term employees, they end up working overtime
or they get, they get more put on their plate. And you know, they get stressed out.
So then you're caught in this web where, like the reward for loyalty for your employees, the ones who are loyal
is that they get worked harder and harder and harder.
Right. So, I I see Lindsay here nodding like this you were a nurse at sick kids.
Does that ring true to you?
That burnout from being asked to work extra hours and extra days, and more, more, more and the guilt that comes with it
and having my vacations denied, my loyalty was to there.
I had spent most of my career working there and the reward was work harder with less, work harder with less
So you left? I left. I actually just didn't work for a few months because I literally couldn't.
I didn't have, I got to a point where I didn't have one more shift in me. I have, at this point
no intention of going back to the bedside.
We now have a culture where we can work from home, more.
That's hurt the mindset of going into work or especially if you come from industry where it's physically arduous.
I think the money is not the issue anymore.
So, everybody in a way is talking about you. Right? So, Jay you left right?
You, you were a really good employee with a tech company and you said I'm done.
We were always, obviously, under-staffed like everybody else was we were always overworked right?
But the the game changer part was where, like, covid hit.
The way we used to work, changed a lot. And I was eventually at a point, you know what?
I don't have to do this.
So, what are you doing now?
So, I actually, um, part-time, just because when I was in between jobs looking for something
I was driving for Uber and then I did get a job with the company for, as an insurance advisor.
I don't even have to leave my house for it. It's a better job, with a better salary, more job security.
You don't want to hear what he just said there. Like, that, that's got to hurt
because you consider the food industry, right? I, I definitely did.
But then again, don't get me wrong but... Would you want to do it where you'd have to go out there
stand on your feet all day long, as you mentioned before and probably understaffed like every other place
My answer to that is that there are good operators out there
who are willing to listen to employees if they're ready to have the discussion.
We can't even get to the table to talk to people.
Yeah, this is why Armine is here because Armine, you know, as an economist
as someone who studies, like, the future of workers these four anecdotal experiences
I'm guessing they all ring true to you. 100 percent.
So the labor market is actually growing, more people are working, and doing more things.
But the other thing that has happened is almost 600 thousand people
have crossed that line from under the age of 65 to over the age of 65 and there's fewer people
about thirteen thousand fewer people in the ages 15 to 24, so we've got more exits from the labor market than coming into the labor market
The challenge for us is we don't see a pipeline
right, and we think that, so I think as of this summer we have a hundred and, over 160 000 vacancies
in food service across the country which represents over 13 percent of our workforce.
And not only is there no pipeline but the whole world is going through this,
We are in an international foot race to find enough workers
So you talked about this International foot race, let's, can you just break down for us
what's happening in the global North and the global South just to make that very clear
Okay, well let's look at this map, I mean if you were to draw an imaginary line across the middle
where the equator is you would see that the colors in the north part are darker than in the south
Fast forward 20 years 30 years we've got one of the highest shares on the surface
of the planet of the population who is 65 years of age and older.
If it was just aging, if it was just that train coming at us, why does it feel so incredibly urgent right now?
It's because we're in the middle of a perfect storm, so yeah slowest train in the world coming at you, don't prepare for it
On top of that introduce a pandemic that nobody saw coming that is upending our demand for
health care as well as people getting sick and leaving the labor force and the third factor is
there's just so much pent-up demand for housing, for, so for construction, for finally going out
and eating out, right like, people have got money burning holes in their pockets and they want to go out and play
and they need places to live and there's just not enough workers or supplies
to actually make that happen in a timely way.
When I was burned out and I was trying to find a way to keep going
because I didn't want to be where I was, right, I went to my employer and asked for time off
But we are so short staffed they could not accommodate it.
I drove home that night and put in my resignation
The problem is they're asking me to do seven more jobs just to make that same money
But then later I realized that it was just taking a toll on my health. Yeah.
As an employer though sometimes your hands are tied you know we bring up covid, we didn't know, we all, you know
I thought okay let's go home for two weeks when we come back everything will be good and back to normal
and the construction industry didn't stop. It continued we lost some employees because
they were at that that point where you know 62 63 I have to do what, you're making me do what, I don't need this.
There are so many issues here that can be resolved with better preparation
and making more of the people we've got. We look at labor shortages as uniquely a problem and it is a problem
but it is also the pathway, it kind of gives you sight lines on what's the pathway to
actually a better labor market where more people have got more of what they want a living wage
Time off that they need to take care of themselves their loved ones and to learn to upgrade their skills
But while you wait for that, you know, Rose and Trevor, you're in a position where you, you're triaging
What are some of the things, like really tangible micro things you're doing to hang on?
As owners we were even taking shifts as dishwashers. Part of our service now is we actually don't even serve on regular dishware anywhere
because we can't wash our dishes right now? You can't clean em?
Offering to pay for interviews. What, pay somebody to come and...
Offering to pay for their transportation to be here and for their time
so if they're here, you know for an hour, you know we're offering to pay for them to come for their interview
So, there's another part of this conversation that sometimes gets
whispered, and it's a little bit nasty, right, which is where people say, you know they'll talk about
the labor shortage and then someone will lean in and say, but the problem is, people just don't want to work anymore
Right? You've heard it, right, they don't want to work they don't want to work hard
How crazy does that make you? I had about 16 people in my team, 12 of us left.
We still talk and we, everybody is working, nobody's jobless. Somebody might be looking for a less physically draining work
Somebody might be looking for something that has more salary
Every single metric in statistics would say
people can't work anymore right now. That's why we're having a problem.
Unemployment rates are at half century lows, vacancy rates have never been this high in our history before we started measuring them
We as a workforce feel disrespected and I think that my generation, and maybe I'm wrong
My generation is not willing to be...
considered for, you know, we're not willing to settle.
We're not willing to be considered for less than what we bring to the table.
I know that for hospitality sector we need to make our industry attractive again because no one wants to be in our industry
I, I grew up in a restaurant my dad opened with my grandfather as the chef. I love this industry deeply
It's what I live for, but I love it a lot less. I agree. I feel the same
The passion, I have days now where I get up and I want to tap out I, I actually don't want to do it anymore but...
But I don't have the option and I don't know I don't know what else to do. Yeah
I also feel like there are people at home who see themselves in your experience and and some who are maybe surprised by
the depth of the emotion that is connected to this. Because it's a loss. Bverybody is talking
in terms of grief in one way or another. So I want to thank all of you for taking time with us