Impossible to keep reliable staff/vent
Sole-prop here in Ontario. I have six staff under me. I pay $20 an hour with paid breaks and time in car and have been planning to raise my staff to $22 an hour.
I have run my business for two years and it is the most stressful part of my life. When I’m fully staffed and the staff show up, it is smooth sailing for the most part. I do the office admin work behind the scenes daily, home accounts by myself, train my staff and i have staff work the smaller evening shifts.
But lately I cannot go a single day without staff being late, or calling in. So I am working day and night. I cannot take summer holidays because trying to create a schedule and work around everyone’s availability is next to impossible. I notice the new workers I hire just sometimes don’t show up. I get ghosted frequently.
I’ve learned no one cares as much as me the business owner and I’m having a hard time with this. It’s burning me out. I treat my workers fair, I pay well. EVERYTIME I get a raise I raise their hourly pay as well. I provide paid breaks as well and free meals all the time for them. I’ve been told I am a good boss but I believe my niceness has now let people walk all over me.
Does anyone have advice or can just relate? I don’t want to be thinking about work all the time. I can’t do all the accounts by myself like I used too, on top of all the paperwork. It’s too much. How do you have a balance? How do I find reliable staff, is this type of work a revolving door?