Since the pandemic struck, chaos and uncertainty have been raging across the nation. To this day, a lot of the problems have not been solved such as supply chain issues and labor shortages. It is making life difficult for small business owners and employees of big companies.

There are “now hiring” signs on almost every street and store. At first, it seemed like it was to get jobs for people who had been laid off during the pandemic. As time went on, it became apparent that there was truly a worker shortage, and businesses were struggling to stay afloat.

The worker shortage has caused a lot of effects such as cutting hours to the businesses to avoid their workers from burnouts.

Owner of Flowers Bakery, Kathleen Colace, explains her struggle as a small business trying to navigate her way through the worker shortage.

“I am having to close my shop early so that my workers won’t be exhausted from working ridiculously extra hours than they should.” – Kathleen Colace

The fast-food industry and the big stores are facing the same issues as well just at a higher rate than the small business owners do.

Brandon Greene, a regional manager of Burger King who oversees seven stores in the Cumming and Dawsonville area also voiced similar frustrations as Colace.

Greene said, “Over the past few months, I have been going to all of my stores every day because at least one worker didn’t show up…and there aren’t enough staff to run the store.” He said some days he would be gone from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m.

Also due to the ongoing shortage, managers and workers of Kroger, Publix, and Walmart are being forced to not only work extra hours but take on extra responsibilities.

“I am running around like a chicken with its head cut off trying to make sure that everything is okay for the few workers we have,” said Owen Rodgers, one of the managers of Publix on Free Home in Cherokee County.

Alison Arnold, an employee at the same Publix said, “Due to us not having enough workers I am having to do multiple things during my shift, and I always go home exhausted.” Arnold is also a student at Cherokee High School and said that it is tough having to go to school during the day and work in the evening.

The worker shortage has really caused a lot of chaos for business owners, managers, and workers but all of them are hopeful that they won’t have to face this problem for long.