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From a small business perspective, turnover is a lot higher, and a lot more of it is because the employees are simply not doing their jobs and have to be let go

From a small business perspective, turnover is a lot higher, and a lot more of it is because the employees are simply not doing their jobs and have to be let go. I think this is the tight labor market at work, actually. Good workers are being retained because there is enough demand for them. If they move, they are not on the market, they're recruited and cherry picked. The available ones responding to ads have usually been let go before for cause. A single example of people complaining each year does no more to debunk the observation than the complaints do to affirm it. This forum frequently talks about the 10x performer, the 1x performer, the 0.1x performer and the negative performer. In other industries, maybe you won't have a 10x, but you can definitely get ranges from impressive performance to destructive interference in your employees. What we really need is to study engagement and effectiveness in various industries to determine whether there's trends of more hard work or more slack, but in lieu of that we will find journalists interviewing the guy at the diner for the story, and that will become the zeitgeist. I personally feel like things are more hectic and busy than ever before, and I don't know how much of that is due to the increased distraction power of all of our "tools". Or whether it's a symptom of aging or long COVID or whatever.

spamizbad 3y ago
> From a small business perspective, turnover is a lot higher, and a lot more of it is because the employees are simply not doing their jobs and have to be let go. Many of these small businesses were tying up a ton of talent. During COVID, their workers left to go work for larger companies and (in the case of the service industry) took office jobs. To add to this, a number of these small businesses engaged in PPP fraud by taking out loans to designed to keep payrolls going but ended up "spending" it on an owner's draw. This was not the intention of the program: It was to stabilize the workforce. But by shedding headcount, these businesses handed over a ton of labor to white collar employers. They're likely never getting those workers back. And I will also say, especially among younger people, small business owners have earned a reputation for being difficult to work for. So you're right, in a sense, but the other factor at play is that small businesses scare away good workers.
- projektfu 3y ago
  Maybe, so it kind of sucks to be the business that reduced hours (=revenue) during COVID and used the PPP loan to keep paying full time employees while they're working part time. Being an essential business, we didn't close. Now that things are back, it's hard to find employees, even with increased wages.
javcasas 3y ago
> a lot more of it is because the employees are simply not doing their jobs and have to be let go You are trying to find a cheap and good employee at the same time. Those tend to be scarce. Yet you keep scrapping the bottom of the barrel, and finding low quality. Have you considered a change of other parameters of your search? For example, the budget or the availability required.
- projektfu 3y ago
  Yes, the only way to hire is to ask people who have jobs to come work for you. And to raise prices to keep the lights on.

spamizbad 3y ago

> From a small business perspective, turnover is a lot higher, and a lot more of it is because the employees are simply not doing their jobs and have to be let go. Many of these small businesses were tying up a ton of talent. During COVID, their workers left to go work for larger companies and (in the case of the service industry) took office jobs. To add to this, a number of these small businesses engaged in PPP fraud by taking out loans to designed to keep payrolls going but ended up "spending" it on an owner's draw. This was not the intention of the program: It was to stabilize the workforce. But by shedding headcount, these businesses handed over a ton of labor to white collar employers. They're likely never getting those workers back. And I will also say, especially among younger people, small business owners have earned a reputation for being difficult to work for. So you're right, in a sense, but the other factor at play is that small businesses scare away good workers.

projektfu 3y ago
Maybe, so it kind of sucks to be the business that reduced hours (=revenue) during COVID and used the PPP loan to keep paying full time employees while they're working part time. Being an essential business, we didn't close. Now that things are back, it's hard to find employees, even with increased wages.

javcasas 3y ago

> a lot more of it is because the employees are simply not doing their jobs and have to be let go You are trying to find a cheap and good employee at the same time. Those tend to be scarce. Yet you keep scrapping the bottom of the barrel, and finding low quality. Have you considered a change of other parameters of your search? For example, the budget or the availability required.

projektfu 3y ago
Yes, the only way to hire is to ask people who have jobs to come work for you. And to raise prices to keep the lights on.