The Great Resignation of 2021

[SlugSlinger]

It's a risky thing, borrowing money to start or buy into a business. Borrowing for edumacation, too. Supposedly I make a good living, but I still have to watch money, in actuality my primary paycheck goes to bills.

94% of my after-tax paycheck pays my mortgage (with insurance and taxes in escrow) plus my student loans and business loans.

You and your industry is the perfect example. Most people see the income and not the liabilities. Most do not see the blood, sweat and tears you have invested in the future. Or the time and the amount of dollars it has taken for you to get to where you are at. Those folks will never understand or appreciate the effort or time, but they sure do have an opinion about it.

 

[tRidiot]

I have an opinion, too...

 

[Glocktogo]

The real world doesn't work like that. A business owner must have a return on investment for all the risk they have taken on. Most aren't capitalized where they "can adjust to the market". That means they would need to borrow more money to stay in business. Most are scraping by. Except for those like big tech or big box retail. We are going to see a lot of businesses fail due to many reasons. Small businesses are not competitive and they are the largest employers.

Why don't all these folks who have the attitude that business owners are cold hearted start their own business? I can tell you why, because they would rather work for someone else or live for free.

This doesn't tell the entire tale. One of the biggest reasons small businesses fail (particularly in the first 5 years), are poor business management practices. If they manage to survive and exceed their local niche market, they're competing directly with large corporations, which operate on economies of scale and favorable tax law that small businesses can't take advantage of.

Yes employee salaries are one of the biggest operating costs, but a successful small business will strike a balance between salary, benefits and work environment that helps them retain good employees. Those companies will retain at least a core of competent employees to train new hires as turnover dictates. Any small business owner who simply says "I can't get ahead because people are lazy and won't work for $X.XX, needs to look in the mirror. Much of the time, they're their own worst enemies.

 

[SlugSlinger]

I have an opinion, too...

At least your opinion is educated.

 

[tiasman]

Some employers don't have the option of raising rates or charging more to offset increased employee costs.

Agreed! Some employees don’t care to go back to the previous labor/pay situation.

that’s a free market but now that employees have some leverage employers are crying, like they used to mock employees for doing, saying “that’s a free market, baby!”

 

[tiasman]

The real world doesn't work like that. A business owner must have a return on investment for all the risk they have taken on. Most aren't capitalized where they "can adjust to the market". That means they would need to borrow more money to stay in business. Most are scraping by. Except for those like big tech or big box retail. We are going to see a lot of businesses fail due to many reasons. Small businesses are not competitive and they are the largest employers.

Why don't all these folks who have the attitude that business owners are cold hearted start their own business? I can tell you why, because they would rather work for someone else or live for free.

Ha! I own my own business and business owners are the crowd I socialize with.

Believe me, they are the first to accept govt handouts and are all upset now that the shoe is on the other foot.

In this market, labor has leverage and you better adapt or a free market says you won’t survive.
Guess what? Someone else will step in to take your place!

ive told many employees this same thing over the years.

I don’t want to hear us business owners crying now.

 

[tRidiot]

Ha! I own my own business and business owners are the crowd I socialize with.

Believe me, they are the first to accept govt handouts and are all upset now that the shoe is on the other foot.

In this market, labor has leverage and you better adapt or a free market says you won’t survive.
Guess what? Someone else will step in to take your place!

ive told many employees this same thing over the years.

I don’t want to hear us business owners crying now.

We did accept PPP funds to keep the doors open, but at the same time, the business OWNERS took a YUUUUGE pay cut (50%+ for some) in order to keep employees on the job and not a single one of our 40 employees lost a single day's wages during the pandemic due to that. They spent most of their time playing on their phones on Facebook for at least a couple of months, but they don't remember that part - they remember the people who got to sit at home on unemployment making more money than they did - and complained loudly about it.

As one of the ones who took the pay cut, that did irritate me a good bit.

It's always a tradeoff in trying to retain good employees - we're losing a couple next week to higher salaries elsewhere. I broached the topic of raising base salaries again, which we did 2 years ago. I was outvoted and told that our base salaries right now are competitive with our peers. So it seems.

It's a constant battle. I don't want to take further paycuts, no, but I want to take care of my employees, too.


And I got notification that our Blue Cross/Blue Shield plan will not be available next year. Which means we will be shopping for another one - and you can bet it isn't going to be a better one, we've changed every year with benefits going down each time. This year I have an almost $8,000 deductible personally, almost $16,000 for the family, not to mention the monthly premiums.

Plenty of small business owners out there want to take care of their employees. They also want to keep their businesses afloat and viable, AND be able to support their own families and have some kind of recompense for the expense and risk of being a business owner.

 

[tiasman]

We did accept PPP funds to keep the doors open, but at the same time, the business OWNERS took a YUUUUGE pay cut (50%+ for some) in order to keep employees on the job and not a single one of our 40 employees lost a single day's wages during the pandemic due to that. They spent most of their time playing on their phones on Facebook for at least a couple of months, but they don't remember that part - they remember the people who got to sit at home on unemployment making more money than they did - and complained loudly about it.

As one of the ones who took the pay cut, that did irritate me a good bit.

It's always a tradeoff in trying to retain good employees - we're losing a couple next week to higher salaries elsewhere. I broached the topic of raising base salaries again, which we did 2 years ago. I was outvoted and told that our base salaries right now are competitive with our peers. So it seems.

It's a constant battle. I don't want to take further paycuts, no, but I want to take care of my employees, too.


And I got notification that our Blue Cross/Blue Shield plan will not be available next year. Which means we will be shopping for another one - and you can bet it isn't going to be a better one, we've changed every year with benefits going down each time. This year I have an almost $8,000 deductible personally, almost $16,000 for the family, not to mention the monthly premiums.

Plenty of small business owners out there want to take care of their employees. They also want to keep their businesses afloat and viable, AND be able to support their own families and have some kind of recompense for the expense and risk of being a business owner.

Agree with all you said.

Don’t even get me started on the health insurance scam.

The only people left that are satisfied with their plans are the very young and those milking the govt jobs.

something is gonna snap.

this year my premiums for a family of four are $17k annually with a $12k deductible that pays 80% after that lmao

on the Obama exchange it is over $20k annually for a similar plan double lmao

 

[Adhdferret]

You and your industry is the perfect example. Most people see the income and not the liabilities. Most do not see the blood, sweat and tears you have invested in the future. Or the time and the amount of dollars it has taken for you to get to where you are at. Those folks will never understand or appreciate the effort or time, but they sure do have an opinion about it.

100 times this right here. They dont care, nor will they ever. It is as if the words they scream about how as an employee you mean nothing, just screaming to the wind.

I just became profitable with my own business and average 13k a month take home now....I could see hiring someone if it wasn't for the idea they have zero skin in the game.

They didn't sleep in their car for months or go without dinner....your sacrifice means nothing to them. So screw it....not bringing anyone with me on my dime.

 

[tiasman]

100 times this right here. They dont care, nor will they ever. It is as if the words they scream about how as an employee you mean nothing, just screaming to the wind.

I just became profitable with my own business and average 13k a month take home now....I could see hiring someone if it wasn't for the idea they have zero skin in the game.

They didn't sleep in their car for months or go without dinner....your sacrifice means nothing to them. So screw it....not bringing anyone with me on my dime.

I understand, but the real money comes when others are making it for you. It’s crazy once you flip that part of your business on at the right time.
My point in this thread is I’ve had the leverage at times, employees have had the leverage at times.
That’s how our system works.
All the screeching from business owners now that labor has some leverage just seems a tad hypocritical to me.