The signs are at different locations — restaurants, gas stations, shops, grocery stores — but the message is the same: Help is wanted.
Many local businesses have “help wanted” and “now hiring” signs posted on their windows, their doors and their marquees as the search for employees continues.
Chamber of Commerce President Greg Fox said he believes everyone is challenged as a whole in getting help.
“It’s not particularly retail versus restaurants,” Fox said. “If you’re looking for employees, you’re struggling to find them.”
Because of this, businesses have reduced hours and sale volumes with some raising employee pay, Fox said.
“I think you may see more of that until the workforce grows and replenishes,” he said.
Fox said pay is a factor that comes into play in the job search. Minimum wage is set at $7.25 in Indiana and has been that way since 2009.
“I think most people can agree that is not a living wage, but what should it be is the big question. For someone working they need to make enough to be able to sustain themselves and their families, but then on the business side that is additional costs and where do you push that cost?” Fox said.
“You have to pass it onto your customers, at some level. You could get some of that absorbed through some efficiency and being prudent on your spending, but you’re not going to make all of that up, so you have to pass that cost onto your customer.”
Fox said he doesn’t believe Brown County or Indiana are unique in being unable to fill open jobs.
The national unemployment rate was 5.2 percent in August and Indiana was at 4.1 percent.
But compared to August 2020 there have been improvements. In August 2020 Indiana’s unemployment rate was 7.3 percent and nationally it was 8.4 percent, according to the Indiana Department of Workforce Development.
With the pandemic arriving on the scene in 2020 and leaving some working from home or even jobless, Fox said that he also believes there was a shift in people evaluating what they actually want to do for work.
“Now that they’ve had the opportunity to step back regardless of the reason for that, whether it was forced through COVID or they made a personal choice and collected unemployment, I think people now they are taking this time to re-evaluate. ‘What do I want to do?’ versus ‘What do I have to do?’” he said.
“Like following their passion and figuring out what really matters to them versus just getting a job. I think we’re probably seeing more of that.”
Those on unemployment in Indiana had been receiving an additional $300 weekly in federal unemployment payments, but that expired earlier this month.
The additional benefits “probably” affected unemployment Fox said, but he questioned whether or not that is what kept people at home because there is no data to support it.
“You hear a lot ‘If you need a job. Anyone is hiring. You should drive down the road and everyone has a help wanted sign.’ You do see that, definitely,” he said.
The Chamber is considering providing materials or courses to member businesses on how to recruit, hire and retain employees.
“I think retention is very important,” Fox said.
In his own business, the Nashville Spice Company, they have had little turnover, he said. He attributes some of that to the culture they cultivate.
“Some of that is through COVID we paid our employees, we stayed the course and even though it was hard we didn’t put people on unemployment, but we had to pay the price for that,” he said.
“That was an investment to get to where we are today and today we’re still working ahead with our same set of employees.”
Fox said when he sees a business with a high turnover rate, he wonders what factors into that, like pay or the environment.
“There has to be something more than people coming and going all the time because if people like what they are doing or like who they are working with they will stay a little longer,” he said.
‘Difficult to attract anybody’
Fearrin’s Ice Cream and Yogurt Depot has placed two classified ads in the Brown County Democrat for four weeks in 2021: One for a supervisor and another for part-time help.
Owner Don Fearrin said that he’s in a position now where he wishes to hire two or three qualified applicants.
Fearrin’s is open from early spring to late fall, depending on the weather.
In a normal season, Fearrin’s is open seven days a week. Right now, they are only open Friday through Sunday. Fearrin said he has increased what he pays people on staff, and is looking to hire a supervisor at $18 per hour, but has not found anyone with enough experience or who he considers reliable.
For part-time positions, he relies heavily on high school-aged kids. He’s had a few return from last year with retention not being greatly impacted by COVID in 2020.
Of the 30 years he’s been in business, Fearrin said he had seen an ample supply of people looking for work, but within the past five or six years, he said it’s been a “desperate” search.
“This year, it has been exacerbated. It’s difficult to attract anybody. I don’t know the reasoning for that,” he said.
He’s going to try and open the shop a few more days in October, primarily using family staffing.
“I’m 81 years old,” Fearrin said. “Without the rest of my family, I would probably hang it up.”
‘Couldn’t get anybody to work’
After 19 years in business, Knight’s Trash Removal closed due to a lack of employees. The business was sold to Rumpke Waste & Recycling in August.
Owner Art Knight said that there were a few factors in contributing to their decision to sell, but it was mostly due to problems in finding help.
“We couldn’t get anybody to work,” he said. “At one time we had eight drivers then we were down to just three.”
Knight said that most employees would walk off or not show up for work. “I never had anybody come up and give a reason why they were quitting,” he said.
He’d advertised job openings online and received no response. “We gave up, hunting for anybody,” he said.
“It was hard to believe. When I was young, everybody wanted a job,” he said. He said he “never dreamed” of having to close because of lack of employees.
At 72, Knight said he was also “tired of working.”
Art’s son John will continue to operate Knight’s Corner — where the trash removal company was located — with roll off and drop off removal for larger waste items. He also owns Johnny’s Grub to Go with his wife Ginger, which is also located at Knight’s Corner.
The trash removal business was started in 2003 at Knight’s Corner. Art’s father, Leo, bought the land for Knight’s Corner in 1940.
“We had so many customers, but just felt like we couldn’t give them the service they needed,” Art said of the sale.
“It was a very hard decision. We just hate it so bad, we really do.”
Limited operations
The Seasons Lodge and Conference Center has a new restaurant, Rafters, which opened on Sept. 9 despite a continued search for staff to run it.
Owner Kevin Ault said they are still looking to staff at least 12 to 14 positions in the restaurant including servers, bartenders, cooks, hosts and hostesses.
Usually local establishments have trouble finding employees willing to work weekends, but that is not the case now as the search is for employees to work midweek, Ault said.
Rafters is currently open Thursday through Sunday. “We’re still short for even the hours we are open,” Ault said.
With limited staffing, he said there’s little flexibility for current employees.
“If someone asks for a day off, we’re in a bind,” he said.
When the remodel began, Ault said that individuals who were staffed in the restaurant were able to help with the project, to keep them employed.
Ault also owns Hotel Nashville. The restaurant is not open there partly due to staffing and the owners not knowing what to do with the space. Hotel Nashville also has a shortage of housekeepers and front desk employees.
“It’s adequate, but not enough,” Ault said.
“There’s people who want a job and there’s people that want to work. … We want someone that wants to work.”
Ault pays $12 to $15 an hour depending on experience then $5 per hour for servers and $10 per hour for bartenders, plus tips. Ault said they did increase the hourly wage in order to hire new people along with increasing current employees’ pay.
“It’s a domino effect,” he said.
He said people may complain about a $12 hamburger, but it should be expected with rising costs of meat and other products then hiring in workers at $15 per hour.
“It creates a problem,” he said.
Keeping up with business
At McDonald’s in Nashville at least 25 or 30 employees need to be hired to continue business as usual. They have about 30 now and have had to limit their hours Sunday through Thursday as a result.
“I went back and forth on that (decision),” owner Mike Stieglitz said. “I’d rather not be open if I know for a fact that the people I do have working won’t be able to keep up with the business.”
Stieglitz said he wants to provide customers with a nice experience when they visit and that’s not able to happen at full hours with a limited staff or only offering drive-thru.
Even offering $13 per hour for anyone with full time availability — and even up to $16 per hour — has not brought anyone in, Stieglitz said.
“I’m chalking it up to the unemployment bonuses,” he said. “It’s ended now, so hopefully we see an uptick (in workers).”
In May or June McDonald’s began experiencing staffing issues and have operated the entire summer on a short staff. “We’re doing what we can, but we’ve had to get awfully creative,” Stieglitz said.
Like the Seasons, McDonald’s has had a difficult time filling weekday spots mostly because they have younger employees.
“We’re able to staff our weekends more than during the week because of having young workers,” Stieglitz said.
“We get that little bit with after school, but with labor laws they can’t work after 9 p.m. That doesn’t help us throughout the weeks.”
The biggest issue they have is finding workers who can work full time and anytime. If those positions were filled, it would give the business flexibility, Stieglitz said.
Stieglitz has six different locations, but is thankful for a solid management team at the one in Brown County.
“We’re always looking for the best Brown County has to offer,” he said. “Send us your best and we’ll be able to give the best.”
With his experience working in his own businesses and serving with the Chamber of Commerce as president, Stieglitz said that countywide staffing shortages have been a long time coming due to a small workforce and the number of residents here who work outside of the county.
COVID-19 only became a factor that magnified the already existing issue, he added.
“It’s been brewing for a long time,” Stieglitz said.
“The county and town are not a growing population of young families, it’s an aging community. COVID was the perfect storm that broke the camel’s back, from a labor force perspective. … It’s been a tough labor market way before COVID ever came around.”
