I have a friend who owns a business who has the same complaint as everyone else. He cannot find and keep people. His business involves providing a multitude of services to his clients. A major part of his problem is no one person can possibly know how to provide all of the services. So he needs multiple people with varied skill sets to provide the services. He has proven over a period of time he cannot keep all of the skills necessary.
There are times when you have to be creative
We were discussing his problem and I told him he needed to quit trying. In my review of the situation it seemed to me to be a lost cause. He thought I was telling him to close his business. I wasn’t, I was asking him to think outside the box and find an alternative solution. I suggested that instead of having employees, he needed to build relationships with other small businesses who had those skills.
My recommendation was to stop trying to have them be employees. But rather have multiple other businesses in each of the skill categories. Then contract with them to provide the services. My experience is if you have three or four in each category, one of them will always be short on work. Now you will need to spend time building the relationship with them much like you do an employee. This will be the key to success. But, you have just eliminated some of the headaches and obstacles imposed by them being employees.
Find another way through a wall other than beating your head against it
This solution has another layer which we need to discuss. One of the fastest growing areas of our economy are people who want to work for themselves. They have had enough of unsatisfying corporate jobs. They want to build their own organizations, no matter how small. Many of these people want to be outside and work with their hands. These individuals can work with numerous companies on all kinds of jobs which need their skills. They can focus on providing the level of quality and build a relationship with the General Contractor. Both parties can have an understanding of what is important and what is not.
It is these types of alternative solutions which will help minimize the labor shortage and eliminate employee turnover.
