AFP, published on Sunday, October 24, 2021 at 12:45 p.m.
To run his newly opened beer tasting room in New York State, Peter Chekijian has no choice: his key employees usually work seven days a week. He struggles to recruit staff to relieve them.
And the brewery’s vats are still not working, for lack of sufficient manpower among the subcontractors.
“It’s a big problem to find people to finish the job,” the owner of a small brewery, Twin Fork Beer, told AFP.
Many companies are currently struggling to recruit in the United States.
More than 10 million jobs were vacant at the end of August. And the activity rate, that is to say the share of people who are working or looking for a job, fell from 63.3% just before the pandemic to 61.6% in September.
There are many reasons.
Some people are still worried about catching the coronavirus, especially if they have children or the elderly at home.
Others took early retirement during the pandemic, want to change their work-life balance, are no longer satisfied with low wages.
The expiration in September of the more generous unemployment benefits put in place at the start of the pandemic has not been accompanied by a rush for jobs.
– “Absolute war” –
At the same time, with the vaccination campaign, restaurants, places of tourism and entertainment have reopened. And now, all distributors are preparing for the holiday season.
“There are so many employers looking to recruit at the same time,” notes Aaron Sojourner, an economist at the University of Minnesota. “It creates an imbalance.”
To attract candidates, “we try to pay as much as we can (…), to offer a set of social benefits”, notes Peter Chekijian. He advertises, does interviews, goes to job fairs. But “it’s terribly slow”. And that “undoubtedly” slows down the growth of his business, he says.
For Maryclaire Hammond, human resources manager for the logistics company GXO which seeks to recruit 9,000 people for the holiday season in the United States, “there is a big competition at all levels (…), a war absolute “.
To ensure that packages will be delivered on time for Christmas, large companies are trying to recruit seasonal workers: 150,000 at Amazon, 150,000 at Walmart, 100,000 at Target, 100,000 at UPS, 90,000 at Fedex …
– Robots et burritos –
Above all, GXO lacks material handlers and forklifts.
To recruit, the company uses targeted advertisements on the internet and social networks, billboards, job fairs.
In some regions, it has increased its minimum wage from $ 3 to $ 5 over the past eight months, offers hiring bonuses as well as a range of benefits (health insurance, pension contributions, payment of costs of employment. ‘university).
But the most important thing is to encourage people to stay, notes Ms. Hammond.
“The current workforce is quite fickle. If a warehouse down the street next door offers a dollar an hour more, they will change,” she explains.
The company tries to create a good atmosphere in the warehouses. “It might sound silly but offering good burritos in the morning motivates people,” says the manager.
To cope, GXO has also increased the automation of tasks in its warehouses by 40% over the past year. “For material handlers who sometimes have to walk up to 10 miles a day in the warehouse, a robot can help them find products more easily,” explains Ms. Hammond.
Looking for a full-time administrative job, 44-year-old Staci Weinsheimer feels the market is turning in her favor.
“I have a lot of interviews, I have a lot of good feedback from employers,” she explains after having met a few companies at a job fair bringing together 27 hotel and restaurant companies in Melville, New York. “There are a whole bunch of different positions out there that maybe weren’t open five or six years ago,” she notes.
Some unemployed people are still struggling to get interviews or question the real willingness of companies to make efforts.
“Employers could spend more money to attract candidates and improve working conditions. Those who do find it more easily,” says Aaron Sojourner.
“But a lot of employers are reluctant to raise wages because it cuts into their profits and would force them to raise everyone else,” he notes. Some prefer to pay more for overtime.
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