{"id":9948,"date":"2020-07-24T11:44:34","date_gmt":"2020-07-24T16:44:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/?p=9948"},"modified":"2020-07-24T11:45:18","modified_gmt":"2020-07-24T16:45:18","slug":"swla-now-hiring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/2020\/07\/24\/swla-now-hiring\/","title":{"rendered":"SWLA: NOW HIRING"},"content":{"rendered":"

With Spotty Application Filing, Some Local Businesses Are Coming Up Short Of Workers<\/strong><\/p>\n

By Brad Goins<\/em><\/p>\n

G<\/span>iven the number of\u00a0locals who\u2019ve spent\u00a0months staying at home\u00a0during the COVID-19\u00a0quarantine, we\u2019d expect\u00a0to see at least a fairly\u00a0significant shortage of employees in certain\u00a0businesses in the area. Lagniappe\u00a0found that while there are some problems\u00a0with employee shortages, the problem\u00a0is by no means universal in Southwest\u00a0Louisiana.<\/p>\n

Some of the busiest restaurants in\u00a0town seem to be getting by just fine. An\u00a0employee at the Popeye\u2019s on Prien Lake\u00a0Road told me that the operation has \u201ca\u00a0full staff.\u201d And she emphasized \u201cwe\u2019re\u00a0always hiring.\u201d\u00a0At the Burger King on Martin Luther\u00a0King Highway, I was told that the restaurant\u00a0now has a backlog of almost 100 job\u00a0applications.<\/p>\n

And at 121 Artisan Bistro, a staff\u00a0member told me the business had a full\u00a0crew. She was also quick to add, \u201cWe are\u00a0hiring.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Other Side\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

But things are very different at other\u00a0busy restaurants.\u00a0When I asked a worker at Casa\u00a0Ma\u00f1ana if the situation of having a hard\u00a0time finding workers applied where she\u00a0worked, she answered, \u201cI think it applies\u00a0everywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

A worker at Pitt Grill on Prien Lake\u00a0Road also said the shortage of employees\u00a0was a real problem.<\/p>\n

She noted the shortage existed mainly\u00a0among the servers. She felt one reason\u00a0workers weren\u2019t coming in was the relatively\u00a0large unemployment payments they\u00a0were collecting at home.<\/p>\n

But another reason, she said, might\u00a0be that with the number of servers reduced,\u00a0those who do come back have less\u00a0revenue to look forward to.<\/p>\n

The fewer the servers there are, the fewer the number of tables they get.\u00a0Fewer tables means fewer tips.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the most striking case of a\u00a0local restaurant that isn\u2019t getting enough\u00a0employees is Darrell\u2019s.<\/p>\n

For weeks, the restaurant has been\u00a0persistently advertising for workers.\u00a0\u201cWe\u2019re barely getting applications,\u201d\u00a0says general manager Tyler Benoit.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe may not get an application in three\u00a0weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n

He says he recently gave the kitchen\u00a0manager a batch of 12 online applications.\u00a0When the people who filled them\u00a0out were contacted, only one of the 12 applicants\u00a0said they were interested in work,\u00a0and even that one was \u201ca maybe.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve never been this short-handed in\u00a012 years,\u201d says Benoit.<\/p>\n

When the COVID-19 quarantine began,\u00a0the first wave of lost employees at\u00a0Darrell\u2019s came from parents with young\u00a0children who suddenly needed to have\u00a0day care. Darrell\u2019s lost six to seven employees\u00a0in the first week of the quarantine\u00a0for this reason.<\/p>\n

But as the lockdown continued, it became\u00a0clear that potential employees were\u00a0staying home due to their generous unemployment\u00a0payments. Benoit says he had\u00a0some people who wanted to work \u201ca few\u00a0days a week,\u201d but not so much that they\u2019d\u00a0lose their unemployment benefits.<\/p>\n

Benoit thinks the restaurant has lost\u00a020 employees since the COVID-19 quarantine\u00a0started. The consequences have\u00a0been significant. Those in drive-thru lines\u00a0must now wait a little longer for food.<\/p>\n

Darrell\u2019s must often shut off its Waitr service\u00a0because it doesn\u2019t have enough staff\u00a0to keep up with the orders. Worst of all,\u00a0at times there is now only enough staff to\u00a0man one of the restaurant\u2019s two kitchens.<\/p>\n

Benoit sums it up succinctly: \u201cWe\u2019re\u00a0just having a hard time getting people.\u201d\u00a0The recent announcement that L\u2019auberge\u00a0Lake Charles will lay off 441 employees\u00a0by August is probably not going to be a\u00a0positive for employment in the local service\u00a0sector.<\/p>\n

Outside The Service\u00a0Industry<\/strong><\/p>\n

Perhaps we\u2019ll get a clearer picture of\u00a0the employee shortage problem if we assume\u00a0that all the shortfalls aren\u2019t taking\u00a0place in the service sector.<\/p>\n

For instance, Lori Morrison, manager\u00a0and partner of Coastal Staffing Service,\u00a0says there is an \u201cacross the board\u201d shortage\u00a0of workers in the \u201cconstruction side\u201d\u00a0of the SWLA economy. The shortage is\u00a0hitting each major area: utilities, construction,\u00a0commercial.<\/p>\n

She thinks this is very much a result\u00a0of COVID-related unemployment\u00a0payments to potential workers who are\u00a0at home. Before the COVID measures\u00a0kicked in, Coastal Staffing routinely got\u00a060 calls for unemployment per week.\u00a0Now it\u2019s down to 15 a week. And most of\u00a0those 15, says Morrison, are coming from\u00a0Texas.<\/p>\n

As anyone who\u2019s been on unemployment\u00a0knows, the recipient is required to\u00a0provide evidence that he\u2019s seeking work.\u00a0The customary way to do this is to provide\u00a0a list of businesses where one is supposed\u00a0to have applied for a job. Morrison\u00a0says a number of people in the Lake Area\u00a0are doing this at Coastal Staffing, but are\u00a0not seriously seeking the jobs they claim\u00a0to have applied for. Technically, says\u00a0Morrison, this is unemployment fraud.\u00a0But, she thinks, the state\u2019s unemployment\u00a0agencies are far too \u201cbacked up\u201d right now\u00a0to concern themselves with such matters.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a struggle for a lot of employers,\u201d\u00a0says Morrison. \u201cThey\u2019re just\u00a0trying to get people to go back to work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Risk Versus Wage<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Thomas Clemons, strategic partner and co-owner of PrideStaff<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not going to discount\u201d the problem\u00a0of people finding enough employees,\u00a0says Thomas Clemons, strategic partner\u00a0and co-owner of PrideStaff. But he doesn\u2019t think the\u00a0bumped up unemployment payments are\u00a0\u201cas big a problem as some would lead us\u00a0to believe.\u201d<\/p>\n

He does think that as a result of the\u00a0amount of the unemployment payments\u00a0\u201cpeople are realizing they were vastly underpaid.\u201d<\/p>\n

And there\u2019s more to it than just dollars\u00a0and cents. \u201cThere\u2019s still a lot of anxiety\u00a0about the environment we\u2019re working\u00a0in,\u201d he says. Those sheltering in place are\u00a0\u201ccomparing the risk factors [of the workplace]\u00a0to the low wages.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a competitive environment …\u00a0It\u2019s been a paradigm shift … It\u2019s incumbent\u00a0on businesses to make that adjustment.\u201d<\/p>\n

I asked Clemons for an example of\u00a0an area where he\u2019d seen a wage adjustment\u00a0in response to COVID conditions.\u00a0He referred me to the local hospitality\u00a0sector. Before the lockdown, wages were\u00a0routinely $10 an hour or less. Now many\u00a0businesses have set a benchmark of $12.\u00a0And some of these are offering bonuses.<\/p>\n

As you can see, the present employment\u00a0situation in Southwest Louisiana is\u00a0far from uniform. Of this much we can be\u00a0sure: those who want employment at present\u00a0should have no problem getting it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With Spotty Application Filing, Some Local Businesses Are Coming Up Short Of Workers By Brad Goins Given the number of\u00a0locals who\u2019ve spent\u00a0months staying at home\u00a0during the COVID-19\u00a0quarantine, we\u2019d expect\u00a0to see at least a fairly\u00a0significant shortage of employees in certain\u00a0businesses in the area. Lagniappe\u00a0found that while there are some problems\u00a0with employee shortages, the problem\u00a0is by no [&hellip<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":9949,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[38,1679,148,2303,2230,4,2304,2305,2306],"yoast_head":"\nSWLA: NOW HIRING - BestOfSwla<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/2020\/07\/24\/swla-now-hiring\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"SWLA: NOW HIRING - BestOfSwla\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"With Spotty Application Filing, Some Local Businesses Are Coming Up Short Of Workers By Brad Goins Given the number of\u00a0locals who\u2019ve spent\u00a0months staying at home\u00a0during the COVID-19\u00a0quarantine, we\u2019d expect\u00a0to see at least a fairly\u00a0significant shortage of employees in certain\u00a0businesses in the area. 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