Ask a Manager: balancing my labor shortage sympathy with annoyance at the inconvenience it causes

[jadelennox]

A reader writes:

I want to start off this letter by saying I support workers 100% in organizing for better conditions and wages, whether by leaving their jobs or organizing for better treatment either via a formal union or collective bargaining. I applaud the people doing this right now and making the job market more employee-focused than employer-focused.

But … it kinda sucks in a practical way. Vendors and clients are late with everything because they don’t have the staff to meet deadlines anymore, which can make me and my company seem unreliable. When I had to go on an emergency road trip due to my mom’s failing health, I had to pee in the woods off the interstate because every gas station, restaurant, hotel, church, and store had their lobby or bathroom closed within a 50-mile radius at 12 p.m. on a Wednesday. (My mom is fine now, but it was good I could go.)

My friends and family are very split on this issue, and many are in the “suck it up and get back to work” camp, even though I strongly disagree and have always defended the side of worker’s rights when in these conversations. But it’s kind of tough to do that when I’m peeing in the sparse greens off the interstate and a trucker is honking at me because the sixth McDonald’s/gas station combo in a row won’t let me come in to use their bathroom, even though they’re all inside doing take-away food, and frankly it was dangerous for me as a woman traveling across the country alone. And I know, I know it’s against policy and could get them in trouble and I don’t want to do that, so I didn’t insist or anything but I did start asking around mile 30 (explaining my situation) and even felt crappy for trying to circumvent their stated hours…

I guess I’m just looking for advice on how to help advocate for workers better and not get overly frustrated in times of labor shortage like this.

Be frustrated! Just don’t be frustrated with workers. Be frustrated with the companies and social and political structures that are responsible.

No one has an obligation to work at any given job. If someone decides that a job isn’t safe enough, doesn’t pay enough, doesn’t treat them well enough, or otherwise doesn’t suit their needs, they have zero obligation to pay their dues to the capitalist machine by working there anyway. If they’re able to support themselves in a way more aligned with their own well-being, why wouldn’t they? (Hell, even if a job pays generously and treats workers well, people still have no obligation to work there. This is sort of the whole point of a free society.)

And really, if people feel they have options other than working at low-wage jobs in unsafe conditions … that’s a good thing for society as a whole, even when it causes personal inconveniences.

If employers with shortages really wanted to staff up, there are some well-proven ways of doing that: raise wages, improve working conditions, treat people well, be a workplace where people are willing to show up even when they have other options. But companies have gotten used to not having to do those things, and some of them are strongly resisting doing them now. That’s on them. They can’t say “the market supports this” when underpaying and mistreating people is to their advantage and then cry about that same free market when conditions turn against them.

(And for all the stories you see out there about labor shortages at companies that are offering good pay and decent working conditions, I say: read those stories with some skepticism. Last week’s post about companies trying to hire obviously wasn’t a scientific study, but it was full of accounts from people whose companies say they’re desperate to hire but are still paying way below market and haven’t taken obvious steps to make themselves more attractive to workers. That doesn’t mean there aren’t exceptions to that … but there’s a larger picture to the stories some companies are telling about themselves right now.)

So by all means be frustrated! But look at what’s happening with clear eyes and be frustrated with the employers and the system that got us here.

Comments

[sporky_rat]

This is all good advice, but there's some stuff missing.

"As someone who does pee a lot on the side of the road due to driving in rural areas, 1) you don't pee where people can see you (but you do want to be able to see around you), 2) get a stand-to-pee device if you need one, and 3) if you have to poo, keep a trowel, toilet paper, and a supply of dog-mess bags handy. (A little bit of dirt in the bag can help keep any smells down if you've got to drive with the bags for a while.) Don't leave human solid waste around, dispose of it properly."

[lilysea]

Also: if you have to choose between safety and privacy, choose safety

as an Australian, I would rather pee behind a tree close to the road/track and risk someone seeing

than go into long grass/low bushes that may well have venomous snakes...

[sporky_rat]

Yes! Safety first! (That is the number two reason I got the stand to pee device, I could pee much closer to my vehicle that way.)

[jadelennox]

😬

(This part of the US doesn't even have fire ants or spiders that leave more than a little welt, let alone venomous snakes. I always need to remember when hiking anywhere else that there's worse things in the grass than ticks.

I mean, the ticks'll give you lyme disease, you gotta be careful. But they aren't venomous.)

[lemonsharks]

IIRC there's a new mRNA Lyme vaccine in trials finally, since the old guard of the antivax movement killed the perfectly safe original Lyme vax.

[jadelennox]

some people in the comments suggested (2)! also adult diapers, which is worth considering.

I should get one of those things. It is really hard for penis-less people to pee in the woods without falling over or staining pants, man. I get so jealous of dick-havers when hiking.

(I mean, I assume it's an attribute of dick-havingness, but I don't know. I hear apocryphal stories of people without who are good at aiming. Maybe with enough kegels.)

[sporky_rat]

I was never able to aim. I was recc'ed the P-Style and I rather like it (I also appreciate that it comes in lots of colors!)

[lilysea]

Adult diapers can lead to UTIs / thrush / vulval dermatitis... :(

[conuly]

Perhaps all those other people who were not at their jobs at noon on a Wednesday were also visiting sick mothers. There is, after all, an ongoing pandemic.

[ioplokon]

? Is the bathroom being closed a labor shortage thing or did they stop in-place dining bc of COVID risk? Seems like LW has two different, but related, issues. 1. Labor shortage causing problems at work and 2. Sick of COVID. I sympathize with both as my own workplace is experiencing some churn and obviously we're all sick of COVID.

I guess the thing I would say to LW is to maybe think about how they handle frustration and if they could do it differently. It seems like they vent a lot, which can help sometimes but not always. Personally, I need to do something physical or that energy just stays with me and gets worse.