By Ben Casselman
New York Times, Oct. 19, 2021, Updated Nov. 3, 2021
Fall was meant to mark the beginning of the end of the labor shortage that has held back the nation’s economic recovery. ...
Some businesses are already changing how they operate. When Karter Louis opened his latest restaurant this year, he abandoned the industry-standard approach to staffing, with kitchen workers earning low wages and waiters relying on tips. At Soul Slice, his soul-food pizza restaurant in Oakland, Calif., everyone works full time, earns a salary rather than an hourly wage, and receives health insurance, retirement benefits and paid vacation. Hiring still hasn’t been easy, he said, but he isn’t having the staffing problems that other restaurants report.
Restaurant owners wondering why they can’t find workers, Mr. Louis said, need to look at the way they treated workers before the pandemic, and also during it, when the industry laid off millions.
“The restaurant industry didn’t really have the back of its people,” he said. ...
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