UNDERSTAFFEED AND OVERWORKED THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC LEADS TO LOCAL AND NATION WIDE LABOR SHORTAGES

BY GABY EMENIKE

manager Kie ButlerHill said. “Most days I’m worried that someone is unhappy and will quit there on the spot and put me in a position. I try to be a fair manager, but I’m also still learning to be firm.”

A large percentage of restaurants took mainly online and pick-up orders during the pandemic to ensure the safety of their customers and workers. Having such large yields of customers now returning to their businesses makes it not only difficult for them to be able to handle the work, but also challenging to train new employees due to the rushes.

Local clothing shops and boutiques are also having to once again settle into the new normal.

“There definitely has been a very big impact on this boutique because of covid,” a Gypsy Rose boutique employee said. “We have basically recovered now, but when Covid first hit we weren’t open for a little bit. We were trying to open our other location in Market Square, but that got postponed and we had to close down for a bit. I think now we have fully opened, but for a while people weren’t coming in because they weren’t really going to leave their homes.”

But with all of the open jobs, many teenagers have found an opportunity to join the workforce. Although these younger employees have taken the initiative to fill the roles left by the older workers, they have been met with a somewhat warped version of the working world. With unbelievable hours and numerous tasks per shift, it makes it extremely difficult for teens to balance their education and job.

“We are so short staffed now, and it was the same issue at my previous job before I came to Subway,” senior De’Yanni Stephens said. “It’s just so hard finding people who are willing to work. It’s physically draining because I have to work longer hours, and Subway is a pretty fast paced job, so it’s always busy and I’m on my feet for six hours straight.”

Accompanied by local and national communities finally taking notice of the stress service workers are being put under, the discussion of how to solve the issue must emerge. Companies like Zaxby’s have raised wages to $11 per hour to lure in more workers, but with minimal success. So, until a solution is reached, either more people are going to have to take one for the team and join the service industry, or patrons will have to become accustomed to longer wait times.