Too few workers

As labor shortage worsens, companies tap foreign market

By KRISTI ALBERTSON

The Daily Inter Lake

Last Sunday, the "snow rush" began.

When the storm hit, drivers scrambled to get their snow tires on. Cars crammed into parking lots and formed long lines down the street. Just as it does every year, the demand will continue for five or six weeks, then slow again.

During that hectic time, tire companies will experience what other Flathead employers struggle with all year: Too much work for too few workers. For those businesses, finding creative ways to work in spite of the valley's labor shortage will continue long after the snow rush dies down.

Tire companies aren't exempt from year-round shortages, either. Around the time last weekend's storm hit, Whalen Tire on U.S. 2 East in Kalispell lost a couple of employees.

"A couple of days ago, someone left," Manager Duwayne McSloy said. "Today, one guy didn't show up."

Currently, four employees are handling the work typically shared by seven - a challenge on any day but one exacerbated by the sudden demand for snow tires. McSloy says he regrets making customers wait, but that there's no help for it.

"It's all we can do, have longer lines," he said. "We're about five hours backed up."

Many employers have been in McSloy's position - left in the lurch when an employee simply failed to come to work.

"YOU DON'T usually get them where you get two weeks' notice," Lorri Kriskovich said. "Most of the time, they just don't show up one day."

Kriskovich understands the problem of finding reliable employees. Since she and her husband, Scott, bought Blimpie Sub & Salad six months ago, she's seen many employees come and go.

There was a crew in place when they bought the Kalispell restaurant, she said, but not all of them were qualified employees.

"There were a few really good people, and others - as soon as I could find more people, they were gone," she said.

It took about three months, but eventually she had enough reliable workers to open the store on Sundays for the first time in several months.

"The days were real short, but it wasn't a bad lunch hour," she said.

After about six weeks of operating seven days a week, however, Blimpie began to struggle.

"During a couple of weeks there, we lost almost everyone we had," Kriskovich said.

One went to work for a competing restaurant, lured by the chance to earn an extra 25 cents an hour. Another, who didn't own a car, had to quit when she moved too far away to walk to work. Kriskovich had to fire a third.

As a result, Blimpie had to close its doors on Sunday once more. Since then, Kriskovich has hired a few more people, bringing the total up to eight.

"Right now, actually, if I had one more just part-time person, I think I could [open on Sundays]," she said.

Even if she finds another employee, however, she is hesitant to reopen on Sundays.

RATHER THAN cut back on hours, some businesses are solving the labor-shortage problem by turning to outside help.

The valley's four McDonald's restaurants recently began using Intrax, a work and travel program that hires current college students or recent graduates from foreign countries. Students obtain a J-1 visa, which allows them to live and work in the United States for up to four months.

This summer, the restaurants hired students from Romania and the Czech Republic, said Scott Hadwin, who with his wife Michelle owns and operates the McDonald's restaurants in the Flathead.

"The crew, the employees and managers love it. It's a unique opportunity to explore another culture without traveling," he said.

It also meets a practical need, although Hadwin is confident his restaurants would have found enough workers even without foreign help.

"We tend to fill whatever need we have," he said. "But from my standpoint, will I ever have enough employees? Under today's market, no."

It's a challenge that will only worsen over the next few years, he said.

"Looking forward to the hiring shortage is a big issue right now, but it's going to be nationwide with baby boomers exiting the marketplace," he said. "Our goal is basically just try and stay ahead of it. Actually, I think we're doing pretty well."

McDonald's has requested workers for the winter as well, but Hadwin isn't sure if any will come.

"For the food industry, applications have slowed down in general," he said.

Winter Sports Inc. is working with a similar company, Hospitality and Catering Management Services, and expects about 60 foreign students to work on Big Mountain this winter. They're coming from Brazil, Peru and South Africa to work during their summer vacations, said spokesman Brian Schott.

"We're very excited about it," he said. "It's just going to bring a new element to the resort experience."

In addition to diversifying the workforce, however, recruiting foreign workers helps Winter Sports meet its seasonal employment demands. About 500 people work just at Big Mountain, Schott said; other businesses around the resort employ another 300 people.

The foreign students will work as lift operators, housekeepers and "essentially any sort of front-line, any sort of guest-service positions that would be specific to WSI," he said.

However, like Hadwin, Schott emphasized that hiring foreign students does more than just fill positions.

"What's really important to understand is it's more a cultural-exchange program. This isn't just to bring in inexpensive labor," he said.

The programs aren't meant to take jobs from local workers, either - but the simple fact is that there are more openings than there are available workers. This is part of the reason employers are using the work-exchange programs, Hadwin said.

"Here, honestly, if I had my druthers, I'd stick with what I've got here, but if I can't do that, then I'm glad" to hire foreign workers, he said.

Reporter Kristi Albertson may be reached at 758-4438 or by e-mail at kalbertson@dailyinterlake.com