Are you finding all the people you need in your business? Or do you have trouble finding reliable folks?
Susan Urbach at the Oklahoma Small Business Development Center Blog has posted on this topic.
The comment has been – we just can’t find people who are willing to work hard. If they want to come to work, they are crack heads or do other drugs. So they find immigrant workers, and there you get into the issue of you get all the proper documentation and you hope it’s not forged. But it seems to be a real problem.
I’d really like to hear feedback out there from other small businesses – are you frustrated as well? Or if you have been able to find good employees, how did you find them?
Urbach does not allow comments on her blog, but she will take emails (preferably from Oklahoma businesses) at osbdc@osbdc.org.
Anyone can comment here. What is your experience with finding good people?
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We have run into a number of troubles with people flaking out before they arrive. Over the course of a year, we have had 1 hire show up for one day, and then the next announce that they are going to ‘find themselves’ in Europe. Two others, after setting everything up soon take jobs elsewhere for a variety of reasons. However, maybe because we are in a high tech industry, after they arrive we usually don’t have any troubles.
Owen, thanks for sharing your experience. The different industries (high-tech vs. trades) may account for the difference in reliability once people are on the job. But it’s interesting that you have some of the same recruiting issues.
Thanks again, Owen. Glad to have your input!
We have tremendous difficulty finding people with the skills we need. Only 40% of the people in our rural county have high school education or GED, and even they don’t seem to have basic math and verbal skills. It is rare to find someone here who knows how to read a ruler, a thermometer or a scale. Pounds vs ounces is a real struggle.
Measuring things properly is very important when you make handmade soap.
Fulfilling web and mail orders is pretty durned slow (and unprofitable) when an employee struggles to read customer orders, pulls (and perhaps ships) the wrong product, and can only write a note when they’re sitting down and have lined paper to help them determine how high their small letters should be.
Thank you for sharing your challenges! Some readers may scoff at your story, but I understand that this is reality in many areas.
As our available workforce shrinks, skills and training become increasingly important.
Thanks again for sharing.