Why Hiring Is Difficult | Small Business Issues

Why Hiring Is Difficult | Small Business Issues

What is one of the most common small business issues? It's not uncommon for hiring managers to claim that they're having a difficult time finding employees. Unemployment is actually at a lower rate than we've seen for quite a while. So, it's not the thing to blame. What, then, could be the cause of some of this?

Perhaps it has to do with a lack of adequate pay raises. In a workforce report published in 2018 by Automatic Data Processing (ADP) Inc., they say, "Wages for U.S. workers grew 2.9 percent over the last year, increasing the average wage level by $0.57 to $27.36 an hour, according to the ADP Research Institute Workforce Vitality Report (WVR)." What does this have to do with small business issues? It sounds like a good deal, right?

Well, without perspective about rising food, fuel, and rent costs, it may seem that this wage increase would be adequate. In the face of these factors, we see that wage increases are barely making a dent in employee's ability to keep up with their expenses. And, inflation aggravates their attempts to do so. As inflation continues to rise, they feel more pressure than ever.

What, precisely, does all of have to do with finding workers? You'd think that workers would be knocking down doors to find any employment. This is both true and untrue. The rising cost of living and inflation that we have discussed is one of the multiple small business issues. How?

Because larger companies can often afford to pay workers more and offer better perks, the companies with less capability suffer. We all know that significant benefits are desirable. Things like great healthcare and retirement plans can sway a prospective employee to go with one company over a smaller company that may have everything else that employee wants.

What are small business owners to do about this? Contributor to The Guardian, Gene Marks, makes a claim that small businesses need to pay their employees better. As a small business owner himself, he asserts that they should accept lower profits for the short term to attract a better class of workers. The hope is that these workers will, in turn, create a more profitable business in the long run.

This claim may be a bit controversial. Different owners take a variety of perspectives about how to handle wages. While we don't know one way that will work for everybody, his take indeed is interesting. What are your thoughts about small business issues? I'd love to hear from you.

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