I always encourage seniors to consider working in restaurants as a fun full-time or part-time job. Just as COVID ended, the hospitality industry was desperate for employees. Today, the industry does not have quite the same issues, but shortages persist, and I still am a huge fan of hiring seniors to work in their local restaurants. Why? Because seniors are spectacular role models for today’s employees. You might be asking, “What makes them so special?” First, if I schedule a senior for 10 a.m., they come in at 9:45, get organized, and by 10 they are at their station, ready to go. This is often not true of many in today’s working generation, who show up at 10, get into uniform, vape, send a few texts, and then eventually get to their station. When we ask seniors to focus 100 percent of their time working with guests, we have an employee who spends 100 percent of their time doing just that. I have never seen any of our seniors trying to sneak into a corner and call their significant other. Today’s labor pool, in terms of numbers, is more stable; however, a great deal of today’s labor shortage consists of employees who accept a job but are unreliable. They show up late, miss shifts, don’t call out. This is the exact opposite of the seniors who are working or are looking for some part-time hours. Seniors may not move as fast, may not lift as much, but they do the…
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