Employers who are desperate for workers are finding that even offering cash to simply apply may not be enough to tempt potential employees.
“At this point, if we can’t keep our drive-thrus moving, then I’ll pay $50 for an interview,” said Blake Casper, who owns 60 McDonald’s restaurants in and around Tampa, Florida, according to Business Insider.
He said he went with the idea after telling staff to “do whatever you need to do” to find workers.
“The biggest challenge out there is the federal government and the state government are going to continue with this unemployment, because that is truly creating the incentive to not work right now,” he said. “And, how do you blame somebody? You can make more money on unemployment — and so, we’ve got to be at least above that.”
The $50 bonus simply for applying did not produce much in the way of results.
Regular checkin to how the labor market is right now… pic.twitter.com/pPq6zbCiah
— Dan Nunn (@danyay) April 15, 2021
James Meadowcraft, who manages one of the McDonald’s in Tampa, said he thought the idea would get attention.
“I tried to make a little splash,” Meadowcraft said of a sign posted outside his restaurant advertising the bonus.
But the results were awful.
“No one responded,” Meadowcraft told the New York Post. “I didn’t even get anyone trying to scam us.”
The worker shortage is hitting restaurants everywhere.
“We use to have people clawing for jobs, and scratching for extra hours,” said Tom Taylor, owner of Sammy Malone’s bar and restaurant in the Syracuse suburb of Baldwinsville, according to Syracuse.com. “Not anymore.”
“The government is making it easy for people to stay home and get paid,” Taylor said. “You can’t really blame them much. But it means we have hours to fill and no one who wants to work.”
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Mark Bullis, the owner of several local restaurants in the Syracuse area, said he is competing with unemployment benefit — and losing.
“It’s insanely serious,” Bullis said. “The unemployment benefits mean that anybody who can do arithmetic can figure out it might pay them not to work. We put out job offers, and no one calls back.”
Credit Suisse analyst Lauren Silberman said COVID-19 remains a factor, according to Business Insider.
“I think there’s a fear element,” she said. “Because these are frontline workers, and we’re still in the midst of a pandemic.”
John Motta, a Dunkin’ franchisee and chairman of the Coalition of Franchisee Association, said that due to labor shortages, “People are closing early, people are not opening lobbies.”
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“This is the COVID of 2021,” Motta said. “This is the pandemic of 2021 — lack of people to work.”
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
