By Natalie Mojica
Due to labor shortages, the U.S. food industry has become more reliant on temporary workers now more than ever.
Typically, temp workers cost more per hour than permanent staff, making them less cost-effective for business owners. However, as COVID-19 continues to disrupt the labor markets, restaurants around the country are tasking short-term staff with unloading trucks, transporting goods, assisting in-store cooks, and more.
Food companies have increased hourly pay, offered bonuses, and tried to make jobs as lucrative as possible but still struggled to retain permanent workers during the pandemic. Some companies, like Associated Wholesale Grocers Inc., have gone as far as hiring hundreds of temporary workers for their distribution centers. AWG must now provide housing and transportation because its workers aren’t local to the wholesaler’s locations.
The pandemic isn’t the only reason the food industry has come to rely on temporary workers. Recent strikes from permanent staff have also contributed to the labor shortage problem.
On Jan. 12, approximately 8,000 unionized workers at Kroger’s King Soopers stores in Denver walked off their jobs demanding better wages and benefits. As a result, Kroger had to bring in temporary staff and fly in employees from other parts of the country on short notice to keep its stores open. The leverage worked in the union’s favor, and Kroger offered workers new contracts to end the nine-day strike. The three-year agreements include higher wages, better healthcare, and pension benefits.
Kroger also changed the closing times in some supermarkets from 10 p.m. to 9 p.m. to remedy the labor shortage problem. Other supermarkets, like Whole Foods, are reducing employee break times to save money.
Even celebrity restaurant owners like Guy Fieri are struggling with the labor shortage.
“The biggest challenges in the restaurant industry used to be fighting for a market share of [the] business, making great food, and being consistent,” said Fieri.
Now factors like the loss of the food industry’s workforce and “costs going through the roof” have made it more difficult than before to succeed in a business with the “smallest margins in the world,” Fieri insisted.
Business owner Roger O’Brien, CEO of Santa Monica Seafood, appreciated the role temp workers are filling in the food industry but couldn’t help acknowledge the disadvantages. In O’Brien’s experience, productivity suffers, and several temp workers have stolen hundreds of dollars’ worth of inventory.
“It’s hard to build up a loyal workforce when you have temps, and they don’t know if they’re going to be here for a day or a month,” he noted.
Even temp agencies are struggling to find people, the demand for short-term staffing is increasing faster than their hiring rate. As a result, their costs are rising too. From car giveaways to increasing referral bonuses, staffing agencies like Qwick Inc. are doing everything they can to increase their workforce.
