How do you fill your lower wage jobs?

Half Fast said:
56% of engineers are over age 55, and could likely retire tomorrow if they chose. The recent stock boom has made our 401k plans very healthy and lots of folks are retiring a bit early.

Heck, from this survey, 70% are over age 50! This is becoming a serious problem. The upside, though, is that retirees can make a boatload of money with a little part-time consulting if they like.
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In the days before H1B, engineering used to be a good professional field. But these days, not so much and the kiddies in college know it. H1B and other factors have kept engineering salaries low, so the smart ones go for other things like IT and programming. Why go through tough engineering school when the BA business guy will be kicking your arse salary wise 10 years down the road?
 
With respect to employing retirees... The SS threshold, and associated tax liability is somewhat of a moving target, but it lies somewhere around 17,000 for many retirees. 1040 hrs/yr means that a part time employee can only earn roughly 16/hr or so before the govt. demands a give back.

If that retiree recieves roughly 20,000 in SS benefits, and earns an additional 17,000, his yearly earnings are forced to max out somewhere in the mid 30's. Depending on where you live in the country, try living comfortably on that income. Quite a reward for a lifetime of labor.

These days, because of many factors, not only the tax situation, the average retiree only earns roughly 25000/yr. I know many Boomers who are more than willing, and are able to work full time, but they lower their standard of living, and make the decision to stay out of the work force because of the penalties. Once again, with respect to employing old people....... barter, or cash, and they'll beat your doors down.
 
Bill Jennings said:
In the days before H1B, engineering used to be a good professional field. But these days, not so much and the kiddies in college know it. H1B and other factors have kept engineering salaries low, so the smart ones go for other things like IT and programming. Why go through tough engineering school when the BA business guy will be kicking your arse salary wise 10 years down the road?
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Really? Probably depends heavily on what industry you enter. Sounds surprising, though. According to Forbes, EE has the highest starting salaries for new grads. https://www.forbes.com/sites/karste...owest-starting-salaries-in-2017/#3e7f44992343

The top-paying bachelor’s degree, by the numbers, is electrical engineering. Though the starting annual salary average is $62,428, a job seeker coming out of school may see a variety of offers when scoping out the jobs market as the salary range for such a degree is between $25,000 and $130,000.

In second place, software design earns new graduates an average $61,466. The salary ranges one might see on the jobs market span from $25,000 to $134,000, depending on a variety of factors like experience and responsibilities involved.
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Also take a look at this article to compare lifetime earnings: http://www.hamiltonproject.org/papers/major_decisions_what_graduates_earn_over_their_lifetimes/
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Another interesting article: https://hellofocus.com/blog/can-an-engineer-become-a-millionaire/


I think engineering looks pretty favorable. Young people I've known that entered STEM fields in recent years have switched majors not due to concerns about earnings or job opportunities, but because things like dif eq's and electromagnetics kicked their butts and they weren't willing to put in the study time. Of course, I only know a half dozen examples, so I don't have a statistically significant sample set.
 
Half Fast said:
This is also seeing an impact from retiring baby-boomers. Seems like I'm going to a retirement party every week or two.

A little off-topic, but...
My profession is being hit hard. Take a look at the pic below from Electronic Design magazine's survey in 2017.

View attachment 59189

56% of engineers are over age 55, and could likely retire tomorrow if they chose. The recent stock boom has made our 401k plans very healthy and lots of folks are retiring a bit early.

Heck, from this survey, 70% are over age 50! This is becoming a serious problem. The upside, though, is that retirees can make a boatload of money with a little part-time consulting if they like.
Click to expand...
It's been my observation that the HW guys (like moi) are all "seasoned", but the devops guys are kids who grew up eating curry.

And, yes, I'm enjoying the boatload times, but full time at the moment and for prob the next 5 years. If I quit now I'd be leaving a lot of money on the table.
 
Bill Jennings said:
In the days before H1B, engineering used to be a good professional field. But these days, not so much and the kiddies in college know it. H1B and other factors have kept engineering salaries low, so the smart ones go for other things like IT and programming. Why go through tough engineering school when the BA business guy will be kicking your arse salary wise 10 years down the road?
Click to expand...
Yep, salary compression and ageism have been around well before my career started in the early 80's, and now the imports have been making it really unattractive to pick engineering/comp sci as majors.
 
Ask your current employees if they have any friends that want a job? Target use to have a reward program it you refer a friend and they get hired the referring friend (current employee) got a gift card.
 
I'm not an employer so I don't know but let me take a stab at it. Raise the wage to the level where you aren't having trouble finding and retaining employee's.
 
Half Fast said:
Thereby raising your prices, becoming uncompetitive, and losing business?
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Yup. Of course not having employees to deliver product is going to have the effect of reducing volume of sales and pizzed off customers. Guess ya just gotta figure out where the sweet spot is.
 
luvflyin said:
I'm not an employer so I don't know but let me take a stab at it. Raise the wage to the level where you aren't having trouble finding and retaining employee's.
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Well that was part of my first post. What in your opinion would be a adequate wage for a unskilled, but trustworthy worker? I figured $13/hr was enough to cover it. I'm not trying to cheap it out, but with the way insurance companies operate I'm trying to keep incidental and incremental costs (which customer delivery is) to a minimum. If the employee is willing and able to take on other responsibilities to make their job more valuable- I figure I can justify better wages, more hours, etc.

Honestly I'm just trying to find a hustler who will grow with the company, but I'd settle for somebody to get my **** out the door and to the customer correctly, on time, and not stolen!
 
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neilw2 said:
Well that was part of my first post. What in your would be a adequate wage for a unskilled, but trustworthy worker? I figured $13/hr was enough to cover it. I'm not trying to cheap it out, but with the way insurance companies operate I'm trying to keep incidental costs (which customer delivery is) to a minimum. If the employee is willing and able to take on other responsibilities to make their job more valuable- I figure I can justify better wages, more hours, etc.

Honestly I'm just trying to find a hustler who will grow with the company, but I'd settle for somebody to get my **** out the door and to the customer correctly, on time, and not stolen!
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I'm not in the job market so I don't know. The only advice I can offer is when you find a 'hustler' who can grow with company, compensate him/her according to their value. Don't try to hit the jackpot yourself from their work. Give em a fair share. You will be competing with other employers for good employees.
 
neilw2 said:
Honestly I'm just trying to find a hustler who will grow with the company, but I'd settle for somebody to get my **** out the door and to the customer correctly, on time, and not stolen!
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I feel for ya man... ideally you should hope to find somebody just like yourself with the same goals and ambitions in growing your business. Unfortunately that's a very rare bird. Seems everybody these days just wants to collect a paycheck and stare at their iCrap all day long. :rolleyes:

Sounds like a temp agency may be your best option for now. That way you can weed out the undesirables on somebody else's dime and not have the headaches or repercussions of hiring/firing until you can find a person that will be the right fit, then you can bring them on full time if they show promise.
 
luvflyin said:
I'm not in the job market so I don't know. The only advice I can offer is when you find a 'hustler' who can grow with company, compensate him/her according to their value. Don't try to hit the jackpot yourself from their work. Give em a fair share. You will be competing with other employers for good employees.
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At risk of become an old man yelling at the sun telling you "How it used to be"...

When I was 14 I took a job at a pharmacy. I worked, first as a stock boy/cashier, then a delivery driver (the same job I am trying to fill now), then I went to pharmacy school, became a pharmacy intern, finished pharmacy school, took a huge pay cut to "do my time" to buy into the biz, and then became an owner and partner of the company.

I paid my own way through college without any outside help, lived at home cause it was cheaper, didn't buy anything ridiculous...well...until I got infected with the pilot bug :)

I never expected to get paid before I showed my worth, and never did. I did get paid better the more I bettered myself and the more valuable I became to the company. I would expect to treat any employee the same way.

I do get frustrated that people aren't willing to actually accept that getting to the point you want to get life will suck for a while, you will be underpaid, and it won't be easy. However, as long as you keep working hard people will notice, and good things will come.
 
Can you subcontract the delivery work ? Leave the trouble of hiring and dealing with drivers to a service provider. Thats how every peach and strawberry make it from the field into the box.
 
Illegals standing on the corner in town.
That's how it's done here in the North East.

Seriously, I feel your pain.
It's getting harder and harder to hire entry level people.When you do get someone they don't actually want to work.
 
weilke said:
Can you subcontract the delivery work ? Leave the trouble of hiring and dealing with drivers to a service provider. Thats how every peach and strawberry make it from the field into the box.
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Thats the angle Im working on now. I think based on my responses from POA, and the market, I am going to try to work a deal w/ a courier service or a temp company. We will see..
 
luvflyin said:
I'm not in the job market so I don't know. The only advice I can offer is when you find a 'hustler' who can grow with company, compensate him/her according to their value. Don't try to hit the jackpot yourself from their work. Give em a fair share. You will be competing with other employers for good employees.
Click to expand...

I quit a job I liked over being undervalued after a year of stellar performance. Well said.
 
neilw2 said:
...............................I never expected to get paid before I showed my worth, and never did. I did get paid better the more I bettered myself and the more valuable I became to the company. I would expect to treat any employee the same way.............................
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That's the point I was making.
 
Half Fast said:
This is also seeing an impact from retiring baby-boomers. Seems like I'm going to a retirement party every week or two.

A little off-topic, but...
My profession is being hit hard. Take a look at the pic below from Electronic Design magazine's survey in 2017.

View attachment 59189

56% of engineers are over age 55, and could likely retire tomorrow if they chose. The recent stock boom has made our 401k plans very healthy and lots of folks are retiring a bit early.

Heck, from this survey, 70% are over age 50! This is becoming a serious problem. The upside, though, is that retirees can make a boatload of money with a little part-time consulting if they like.
Click to expand...

Tell me about it...all the engineers I work with are way older than me. In fact there are only a handful of younger engineers at my entire site of about 500 people lol
 
luvflyin said:
That's the point I was making.
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Got it. You make a good point and I would defiantly pay better if they are making a concerted effort! :)

Again, thanks for yours and all others input. Sometimes when you are doing this nonsense day to day you loose track of what people are actually looking for.
 
I'm curious about the cost of living and wage scales where you are. We have a call center here in the northeastern part of the metro Atlanta area, and have no problem hiring people for $12 per hour.

I'm not in HR so I can't tell you how we find people.
 
Art Rose said:
With respect to employing retirees... The SS threshold, and associated tax liability is somewhat of a moving target, but it lies somewhere around 17,000 for many retirees. 1040 hrs/yr means that a part time employee can only earn roughly 16/hr or so before the govt. demands a give back.

If that retiree recieves roughly 20,000 in SS benefits, and earns an additional 17,000, his yearly earnings are forced to max out somewhere in the mid 30's. Depending on where you live in the country, try living comfortably on that income. Quite a reward for a lifetime of labor.

These days, because of many factors, not only the tax situation, the average retiree only earns roughly 25000/yr. I know many Boomers who are more than willing, and are able to work full time, but they lower their standard of living, and make the decision to stay out of the work force because of the penalties. Once again, with respect to employing old people....... barter, or cash, and they'll beat your doors down.
Click to expand...
I thought that after "full retirement age" your earnings are unlimited with respect to received benefit.
 
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