Right on. Thats a good employer.
Thanks, I try. I'm always learning.
We have close to 400 employees and haven't had a real issue up until this year but it’s gotten pretty bad.
At that size, I'm not sure I can give any advice. Likely you have exceeded the talent pool in your hiring/base area, and are probably traveling a lot for the work?
To hire guys temp in the area that you're at each time, isn't going to be easy, the good guys have a steady gig somewhere, so you're left with the guys that can't keep a steady gig.
Its tough to pay enough to keep guys on the road, when they can make the same money staying home. The only solution is to pay outrageously well, and even then most good guys don't want to go on the road.
As far as the "no one wants to work", I personally don't think that's true. I know young guys in the industry who are probably far more mature than I was in their day. They are more comfortable with the computers and technology than I am. I'm probably more comfortable taking a sledge to something that won't fit than they are.
But I don't think there's any difference today in "good" guys than there was when I was their age. I know I was a idiot when I was 18 and did all kinds of stupid stuff. 20 year old guys are going to do 20 year old stupid stuff. I don't expect them to do the same mistake twice. But we were all there, and you don't learn it all on the first month.
The number of 20 year olds today, that grew up around equipment from the time they were 10 is miniscule. I grew up in a midwest farming area, so was around equipment early on. The acres that were farmed by ten families, are now farmed by one or two. So there's a talent pool disappeared.
A lot of the boomers that are leaving/ gone, grew up and got drafted, so they got exposed to equipment in the military that they never would have otherwise, so there's another talent pool gone.
We lost a lot of young guys from 2008 to 2014 in the construction industry, because the rest of us that had some experience, were trying to hang onto our jobs, and there weren't any jobs for young guys, and they went to other industries. Those are the guys that were supposed to be learning 10-15 years ago, and running jobs now. And they aren't here because we didn't train them, because there wasn't a job for them. The boomer population numbers ensured a steady supply of workers yet at that time, and there isn't a left over talent pool now.
At 400 guys, you may just have to live with what you have and be thankful, or really stretch to find the young good guys. They are out there. You just have to make it the job and adventure they are looking for.
