How are you finding employees to hire?

[clownhair]

It has become incredibly difficult in the last year especially to even find people to hire. It is particularly difficult to find people who are willing to be a delivery driver. Even when i do get an app in there is an absurdly high chance that they never show up even if they agree to an interview (recently had 2 people out of 8 show up for a job interview about 2 weeks ago). This is a huge issue in my area as every business has giant signs everywhere looking to entice people to apply. There is one place by me that started off by erecting about an 8 x 10 billboard in the front of their building and that has since doubled in size and remains up every day for about 2 years now. Due to the extreme difficulty in hiring I find myself keeping employees who are generally poor workers and hiring just about anyone willing to work the hours. I am sure there is no magic answer but I am hoping someone may have some advice to offer to try and help me find some good employees.

 

[Daddio]

This is a topic that has been discussed here many times. I have learned:

• 
  []pay more to get higher quality staff - most times a $18 per hour person does more work than 2 $10 people
  []hire friends of the good staff members - they are less likely to goof off because it will cause friction in the friendship
• use box toppers to get your message out - your customers can be a great resource and they already like your product

 

[d9phoenix]

While Daddio’s comments used to hold true, in my area they no longer do. I am guessing clownhair is having the same problem i am (after reading his post here).

I have not found a solution to the problem yet, and i have been short handed for 2 years now. The only solution is to get people aged 15 to 22 actually WANT to work. Around here, they do not have to. I haven’t hired a high school kid in over a year. And my last 2 who actually worked out are now in college (they both have no friends who actually work, parents pay for everything).

And on the driver front, it is even worse. With Uber, Lyft, etc etc, people who we used to hire part time are now doing that because they “can” make more money and can work when they want.

Well i am done being depressed now. Going to outside and see the sun

 

[pizzapiratespp]

As Daddio said, have your current staff bring in their friends. About 90% of our hires come from this. We put the word out and people start coming in. Some places pay a bonus for this but I found we didn’t need it. We had a guy a few years ago that brought in upwards of 25 people. He’s long gone but many of his recommendations are still here.

 

[durbancic]

As Daddio said, have your current staff bring in their friends. About 90% of our hires come from this. We put the word out and people start coming in. Some places pay a bonus for this but I found we didn’t need it. We had a guy a few years ago that brought in upwards of 25 people. He’s long gone but many of his recommendations are still here.

This can also work in reverse. We had a good kitchen guy with us for a couple months. He recommended his girlfriend and she was a driver for us - started out well. Then we hired 2 more of his friends; a ice cream worker and another kitchen worker. All 4 are now gone, the last one in was the first one out, etc. I think it may also depend on the age / maturity rate of the people you are hiring in this situation. This was our first real run-in with millenials. Want everything handed to them, it is never their fault, think they can call off with no repercussions, etc.
We are set for staffing now, just hired 2 people back who used to work for us and left on good terms!

 

[Pizza4Life]

My biggest fear is hiring friends of current staff. I worry about horseplay and theft. Unfortunately we have a really loose system in place that doesn’t hold the employees accountable enough. I think the key is a strong system in place that holds employees accountable. This will work the poor employees out fast and bring the best out of the decent employees. I’m still working on creating a culture like this. It’s hard though trying to create a system around old employees that resist change. My partner and I went from running 2 locations to 3 and now we can’t be in all 3 causing us issues. It amazes me when you’re present the employees can work perfectly and productively but as soon as you leave all chaos erupts.

 

[bodegahwy]

My biggest fear is hiring friends of current staff. I worry about horseplay and theft.

I am 180 degrees from you. I much prefer to hire friends of employees. They are a lot less likely to let each other down by not showing up or slacking on the job.

 

[RPCLady]

My biggest fear is hiring friends of current staff. I worry about horseplay and theft. Unfortunately we have a really loose system in place that doesn’t hold the employees accountable enough. I think the key is a strong system in place that holds employees accountable. This will work the poor employees out fast and bring the best out of the decent employees. I’m still working on creating a culture like this. It’s hard though trying to create a system around old employees that resist change. My partner and I went from running 2 locations to 3 and now we can’t be in all 3 causing us issues. It amazes me when you’re present the employees can work perfectly and productively but as soon as you leave all chaos erupts.

I hate to say it, it boils down to having to install security cameras in the kitchens, so that you can call them on their chaos when you are gone so they know they cannot get away with that… we are just a mom/pop shop with a son who wants to take over and open one or two locations in a denser demographic area than we currently are in to finance the labor that isn’t covered by our low density and high competition for $$$ (too many restaurants namely serving burgers/fries/steak/sandwich types – we are the only ‘pizza’ restaurant in 60 miles in any direction) But still, locally people are ‘unwilling’ to actually WORK, they want a paycheck but are not willing to work… thanks to the prominent welfare culture that has been created in recent years… sigh. They enjoy their SNAP cards that provide them anything they care to eat from the grocery store… so they’re really not driven to do well anywhere. I just don’t see how our son can expand with this societal trend continuing to expand. He’s currently overseas, so we ride out our little community and break even with just family doing 95% of the work as it is.

 

[bodegahwy]

people are ‘unwilling’ to actually WORK, they want a paycheck but are not willing to work…

I had a hilarious conversation with an employee that was only making $11 per hour (his calculation) making dough. We pay piece rate. Fast dough makers make $20+ per hour.