Help wanted in Holmes ... but not necessarily found
Signs like this one are located all over Holmes County, but businesses have struggled to find enough people to fill the many positions needed.
One decade ago people were standing in lines hoping to find some source of employment.
How times have changed.
Today, help-wanted signs are everywhere, littering front yards of businesses seeking able-bodied employees, hanging in the windows of shops and restaurants hoping to find employees who are willing to work.
It hasn’t been easy.
Holmes County currently sports the lowest unemployment numbers in the state of Ohio, and employers’ hopes of finding people to fill myriad types of positions, both in management and in the daily workforce, continues to be a struggle.
Recently, the Holmes County commissioners met with Dan Jackson, director of Holmes County Job & Family Services, as well as Mark Leininger, executive director of Holmes County Planning Commission, to talk about the growing issue of businesses not being able to find employees who want to work.
Commissioner Rob Ault said it simply boils down to this: The county currently has more jobs than it has people.
The solution to this conundrum continues to be one that eludes leaders, not just in Holmes County, but also many other towns and cities throughout the United States.
“We have racked our brain to solve this problem, and nothing is evident yet,” commissioner Joe Miller said. “I will say that these types of situations tend to run in cycles, and right now we are in a cycle when the demand for people is so great that businesses are struggling to fill positions.”
Ault said the hope is that when high school graduation is completed later this spring, a portion of those graduates will be able to fill some of the vacancies. He then said while Holmes County has seen an influx of workers coming in to work from outside the county borders, he believes seeking even more people from the outside will help fill some of the voids the county is currently facing in employment.
Even that option appears difficult with the cost of travel expense including steadily rising gas prices deterring people from driving too far to find employment.
Leininger said perhaps one big step toward a solution will be for area businesses to take steps in creating an environment that is more suitable to the faith-based community in Holmes County.
Holmes County is a faith-based, family-oriented county where people put a high value on family ties. That means many people are not willing to work overtime, afternoons, nights and weekends.
That has led to some businesses unable to sustain normal hours. Boyd & Wurthmann Restaurant has recently moved to closing its doors at 3:30 p.m. on some days, not because of a lack of patrons, but because it can’t staff during the afternoon and evening hours.
Jackson said in the most recent census, Holmes County has brought in more workers than it has sent out in every contiguous county but Wayne County. He also said the national unemployment isn’t doing the industry any favors in offering people on unemployment extra benefits, meaning there is far less desire to go out and find gainful employment.
“It’s financially better for some people to stay on unemployment right now,” Jackson said. “That hasn’t helped the situation.”
A recent wages and benefits survey done by Leininger has shown the county is in line with the state and nation in terms of what employers are offering as wages, so that hasn’t been the issue.
“We are effectively pulling employees from other counties, so that isn’t the issue,” Leininger said.
Leininger added facilities that operate 24/7 are having the most difficulty finding people to fill positions, and third shifts or weekend work is something not being sought by many in the county. He said even seeing recently adjusted wages to better reflect the national average hasn’t provided answers.
Miller said low, affordable cost of housing also would help bring prospective wage earners into the county at a quicker pace, but housing in the county has been skyrocketing for years.
Miller then said there are several companies in the area that are not having issues bringing in people to work, those being companies that are designed with servant leadership in mind.
Miller said in this community those types of companies are desirable among the faith-based working population.
“People here like the idea of having someone on a staff who is going to talk to them about problems at home, spiritual concerns and everyday life,” Miller said. “These companies are also willing to provide days off for people to attend a wedding or on the first day of hunting season. Companies used to have this attitude that leaders thought, ‘you work for me, so you’ll do whatever I ask.’ That may not work anymore. Companies have to be flexible, and committing to servant leadership is one way to draw in people in our community because they respect that and it is enticing to them.”
Leininger said it isn’t feasible to ask companies to just slow down their growth and expectations because they can’t fill positions in the workforce, so he has seen some companies get more creative in the way they do business, and that has created some positive results.
“The challenge is to create a culture that would attract certain local employees,” Leininger said. “For companies that are outside entities, learning to understand that culture becomes critical. If you want to find a solution, you have to become creative and understand that you may have to be more forgiving with flexibility with family or church obligations or perhaps creating an e-bike charging station.”
Jackson said this topic is one his people have talked about in-depth, and he agreed there are no easy solutions, other than perhaps waiting for the cycle to work its way through.
At a recent virtual job fair that covered Holmes, Wayne and Ashland counties, Jackson said they had a grand total of 40 people participate, a very low number compared to prior such events.
“Being virtual was interesting, but it may have had something to do with the lower numbers,” Jackson said. “But it shows the growing issues area business leaders are facing right now.”
The local government is not immune, having just one applicant to fill a county maintenance position that would normally have seen dozens apply.