Let’s talk post pandemic economics for a moment. Many of us small and medium size business owners have had a tough time finding new employees. And by tough time I mean it’s nearly impossible and businesses are cutting their hours simply because they don’t have enough people to work.
As you know if you’ve done any research or reading at all during the pandemic, the government relief packages have included what I’ll call enhanced unemployment benefits. What this basically boiled down to was that people who qualified for unemployment, and this was a very large group of people, could get an additional sum of money weekly on top of their regular unemployment pay. In the first stimulus package that sum was $600. Everyone who qualified for unemployment benefits got an extra $600 per week regardless of the amount of their base unemployment pay. To put this in perspective someone qualifying, based on their past earning, for $50 or $500 base unemployment pay could now get a $600 per week kicker. The second stimulus package delivered a similar, albeit reduced additional sum of $300 per week.
What this additional sum effectively did was to allow a large number of unemployed people to earn more on unemployment than they were earning working full time before the pandemic. The pandemic was a terrible burden and there were a lot of people who legitimately needed this additional funding and many still do. However, the unintended effect of the kicker was that people who were earning more on unemployment than their previous job had no incentive to find work. This effectively crippled small businesses.
During the pandemic this was somewhat invisible because there was a severe shortage of jobs particularly in the service industries. Even if these people had wanted to go back to work, there were no jobs for them to go back to.
Flash forward to 2021. The world is slowly opening back up and with it, businesses everywhere are working to replace the employees they lost during the past year. In fact, businesses aren’t just replacing one for one, they are trying to increase their number of employees. This is due to a rush in business as literally everyone in the world goes out to make up for lost time.
The problem is the stimulus package is still in effect and many many people are choosing to remain on unemployment as long as possible because financially they earn at least as much or more than if they actually work. While the additional benefits have helped individuals, they’ve done extreme damage to small businesses. So much so that some states now are actually rejecting the federal funding for the additional benefits in an effort to help small businesses hire people and get back on their feet. This is good news! If you’re a small business trying desperately to hire people, help is on the way!
I was at Starbucks this morning and the barista taking my order was clearly a new employee, in fact everyone working there looked like a new employee. I found myself getting annoyed with her when she took a while to get my nonfat latte with no whipped cream order. As I sat down to drink my coffee, I realized that I needed to step back and see the larger picture. That new person behind the counter was there because she wants to work and is likely grateful to have found a job. This is in contrast to those people still sitting at home collecting extended and beefed-up unemployment benefits. We all make choices, I understand that, but my respect and my gratitude go to that not quite yet competent barista showing up to work and doing her best in a new situation.
To that person and those like her I say, with complete sincerity, thank you, you are the perfect employee and the full fat latte with whipped cream that you made me was excellent!
Another great article you might enjoy
Independent Contractor verses Employee
https://www.thepetbusinesscoach.dog/independent-contractor-v-employee-which-one-is-right-for-you/
About Eliza
Eliza is the owner of two successful pet related businesses; Preferred Pet Partners, a pet sitting and dog walking company, and The Pet Business Coach, offering coaching and resources to aspiring or current pet related business entrepreneurs. She maintains two awesome blogs. One for pet parents https://preferredpetpartners.com/blog/ and one for pet business owners https://thepetbusinesscoach.dog/blog-page/. Eliza also supports various animal rescue and shelter organizations. Eliza and her husband have a growing pet family. Visit her websites: www.preferredpetpartners.com or www.thepetbusinesscoach.dog.
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