New director was hired. Immediately started cutting down on everything, mostly labor (he wants more than half of what has been the historical cost cut, equivalent to staffing a fast food restaurant with one person). He also wants to “rebalance the wages” (aka, go back to wages pre-Covid, as in my area they have gone up slightly since then.) His unofficial plan was to have everyone quit so that he could hire new people at the old starting rate. He essentially wants to have new hires for the entry rate, that do the labor of two people… same labor, half the cost.
After only a few weeks, the man made it happen. He successfully created his vision. We don’t have enough staff to even stay open full hours, when we are.. we’re berated by customers for slower service and not being open more. He summons a manager meeting and wants to know “why can’t we find good people!?” I explained that due to industry standards and pay increases, people can do less and get paid more just a few hundred feet down the road.. and that’s for standard employees and those with special skills or truly hard-to-replace skills employees expect a higher wage. Another manager says most of her employees have left because we have cut hours and they found higher paying jobs, some even working from home.
I really thought paying people a livable wage and showing them respect while they’re here.. would improve employee happiness and retention. However, I have been assured multiple times by our director that pay is definitely not the issue. We’re having another meeting next week to try and figure out why we can’t keep people and how we’re going to keep everything operational. Until then, “you all need to find people for our stores, no excuses! When we meet next week, I don’t want to hear about money”
He’s such a smart guy with an MBA and boomer years of experience.. so I know myself and others are definitely wrong here. Anyone know what might be the problem?