Staff a Warehouse During the Summer When

¶ … staff a warehouse during the summer when there are employee shortages caused by higher than usual vacations and sick days. In the past, replacement works have been difficult to come by. Most likely causes include the low base pay of only $6 per hour with the necessity to pay union dues and purchase costly steel-toed boots and the requirement for these workers to be on-call for two shifts without any guarantee of minimum hours.

For Reed to be more successful with staffing issues in the summer, he will need to take several steps to address these problems. For starters, Blue Grocery Stores should consider an upward adjustment in hourly pay. Employers should expect to pay a premium for workers that are willing to be on call and that receive no benefits. Based on the current minimum wage, it appears that doubling the hourly rate to $12 would be reasonable. Because temporary workers do not receive benefits, they should be exempt from paying union dues.

And, the company should provide the steel-toed boots and have them returned after employees complete their work assignments. Finally, the requirement to be on-call for two *****s without any guarantee of minimum hours is unreasonable. Instead, Blue Grocery should offer a minimum number of hours per week in exchange for this type of on-call flexibility. Other than doing more to attract replacement workers, the only other alternative Blue Grocery has it to try to control.