Hey Sellers,
This week we’re talking hiring and wages, with an article from Small Business Trends detailing steadiness in small business job growth and a drop in wage growth in the US. I can’t wait to hear your thoughts on how hiring and wages are going for your business too.
Small Business Trends: U.S. Small Business Job Growth Remains Steady Amid Slowing Wage Increase
According to the article, the rate of small business job growth in the United States stayed virtually the same from April to May, increasing the same amount both months. This stability is definitely a hopeful prospect, which could mean that hiring is continuing and small businesses are staying up and running. The other interesting bit is that wage growth is decreasing, with employee pay staying flat across businesses, which can mean that hiring has gotten easier and businesses don’t necessarily need to keep raising wages in order to attract new employees.
Hiring was always tricky in my shop, especially in 2022. Most years we got 75 to 100 applications for our jobs, but in 2022 that dropped down to around 30. It was a lot harder to interview and hire good candidates. We also had to consistently raise wages every year or two in order to stay competitive and keep current and prospective employees interested. Even if it was only a $0.25 to $0.50 increase, our base pay for new employees went up pretty consistently, no matter what.
What’s your perspective:
- How has hiring been going for your business?
- Are you increasing or steadying wages for your employees?
Can’t wait to hear your thoughts!
Pesso
We work state fairs and before Covid we had no problem finding help at any fair we went to and salary was reasonable between 10-14 per hour. After Covid everything changed, we can not find help in any city we go to now. We go on a 5 month trip to the Midwest to work fairs and what we have had to resort to bringing our help on the road with us. We now pay a base salary of 200 a day while setting up and working. Travels days they are not paid, we also pay for lodging which is now VRBO’s , instead of hotels. The world has definitely changed since Covid.
@Pesso Finding people we can trust, when we leave in July we will be on the road for 5 months working throughout the Midwest. We will be riding together and sharing houses we rent. Fortunately for us one lady that travels with us is our age and we all get along well. Two of the fairs we work we will fly in her neice to help us work that, we will fly her in for the first fair and then she will travel with us for a little over a month then fly back home.
The hardest part of the trip is hardly any downtime. We have all our fairs lined up in a row, some of the fairs we breakdown in the morning drive 3 hours then start setting up for the next one. I think from July 15th to Dec. 8th we have a total of 6 days that we will have off.
This year I'm looking to hire at least one part timer and put my youngest son on payroll as well.
We have a job hiring fair coming up at the mall my stores are located in. I plan to do on site interviews and call the candidates I really like back in for a follow ups. I usually have a few people stop in every week asking so I'm praying for a few great candidates.
After believing that I had a full staff, my business took a sharp upswing in year-over-year growth. I was drowning in an ever-growing list of tasks I was letting slide. So, I hired another employee. In my ice cream shop, my only real job requirements are a) be dependable and on time, b) be nice to the guests, and c) do your assigned job! I/we can train anyone to do what we do. It isn’t rocket science after all, like my first career! LOL
I found it easy enough to find candidates, even though I’m only offering part-time seasonal work. It helps that our pay is a little more than competitive, of course. On that subject, every season we bump the base hourly rate for returning employees. They also share in the weekly tip pool, and no one has reason to complain about what they receive per hour from that. Usually the mix of returning-to-new employees each season is enough to balance out small rate increases for the returning employees. And we do, as needed, increase our prices but a few percentage points each year to offset and net increase in total staff hourly rates.
Usually I hire by first asking my employees (most high schoolers and college freshmen/sophomores) if they know anyone looking fun work for more than fair pay. That’s always worked for me about 80% of the time. Indeed, surprisingly enough, has worked for me for the other 20%.
Probably my biggest employee challenge these days has been the generational shift in attitudes toward work-life balance. I’m a Boomer. I’ve never worked any less than 50 hours a week since I was 20. It’s the way I was raised. I definitely agree that this wasn’t the best way to live my life, however, and understand Gen Z’s aversion to it. I’ve learned to change my staffing to accommodate the fact that I’m constantly getting requests off for this concert, that camping trip, etc, etc, etc. I’m over staffed, but I no longer have scheduling issues because I’ve given myself breathing room for the unexpected. Also, I’ve learned not to care when someone complains about not getting enough hours. I remind them why I’m over staffed, and why they can’t complain! LOL
Honestly, I have no complaints.
