Last year places like restaurants had to close their doors but now that they are open again, they are having trouble finding workers.
Restaurants just like Jimmy’s Egg in Killeen, are struggling to get people to come work for them making the employees here work twice as hard just to keep the customers happy and sometimes, it’s not enough.
This time last year restaurants were mostly take out only and the number of employees dropped leaving a lot of people out of work.
Now restaurants like Jimmy’s egg in Killeen can’t seem to find enough people to fill their staff and provide the kind of service they want to.
”When it was that we could open up 100 percent, our staff was at 50 percent. So, we needed to staff up but there was no workers available,” said Carrie Ulwelling, Manager at Jimmy’s Egg in Killeen.
According to Workfoce Solutions of Central Texas, part of the reason it is hard to find workers is how fast the economy is bouncing back after COVID-19.
”It’s just a two edged sword. It's a blessing to have that kind of going but, many of our restaurants and retailers are feeling the pinch of it because jobs are growing faster than the population is going,” said Charley Ayres, Director of Industry and Education Partnerships at Workforce Solutions of Central Texas.
Current employees at restaurants are feeling the sting of the shortage too. Especially, when dealing with impatient customers.
”It’s hard, they’ve got to understand that we don’t have a full staff. It’s tough,” said Jillian Johnson, employee of Jimmy’s Egg in Killeen.
It's not just the increased workload and hours that are result if short staffing in restaurants like Jimy’s Egg, there is also the issue of poor moral among staff.
”Keeping that moral up is the hardest thing because their exhausted. Their tired mentally and physically,” said Ulwelling.
Jimmy’s Egg in Killeen and Temple are both severely understaffed and they say that if it wasn’t for the loyal staff the have now, they wouldn’t be able to keep going.
Restaurants all over Texas need more people to apply and at Jimmy’s Egg, they really need more people in the back of the house so customers don’t have to wait so long to get their food.
