Local companies cautious about workforce future

Local employment experts agree that the worst of Sonoma County’s job losses are behind us. The local unemployment rate has plateaued at 20 percent over the last few weeks. The bad news is that a correction back to normal might not be swift and painless, even after counties move further through the re-opening process.

“My forecast for the near future is that we’ve seen the worst, and we will crawl our way back to reversing the course,” says Joanne Sanders, the founder of Bolt Staffing, a staffing and recruiting company based in Sonoma.

As a provider of workers to firms in labor-intensive industries like production and construction, Bolt has seen many of its clients furlough or lay off workers, said Sanders. No sector was damaged as decisively as Sonoma’s bread and butter, the hospitality industry.

“Our clients are devastated by what happened. Hotels, wineries and suppliers to those industries; their business is just down to nothing,” said Sanders.

With tourism effectively halted for months, hotels and restaurants had to fire or furlough many of their service workers. Small wineries, without local restaurants to pour their selections, also suffered, said Sanders.

Small businesses that focus on local products, which also attract tourists, have been hard hit financially during the quarantine. “Small businesses are a key element in this county,” Sanders said. Local government has historically promoted the development of small businesses in Sonoma, since it cultivated a “small town charm that attracts so many tourists.” And yet, Sonoma’s reliance on small businesses for jobs around tourism has “made us vulnerable,” said Sanders. “They don’t have the resources to withstand this kind of closure,” she said.

Federal aid programs like the payment protection program have been created to help buoy businesses with extra cash, but conditions were placed on when that cash had to be spent. When the program was passed in May, firms only had until June to spend the money and receive loan forgiveness, despite many counties all over the U.S. still observing shelter-in place restrictions. Recently, Congress extended the loan forgiveness timeline to 24 weeks, though it’s uncertain if this will give enough businesses they window of time they need to bring operations back to normal.

“It’s a real dilemma,” Sanders said. “The value in that loan is in reimbursing payroll, but if the business can’t open, you can’t put workers back to work because there’s nothing to do.”

Many of those workers who were laid off have not yet begun a search for new opportunities. “Some are scared to get out and work,” said Sanders, and many are receiving generous unemployment and stimulus benefits, which when claimed together, are the equivalent of earning a $26.80 hourly wage. This payout is difficult to beat, and for many workers, these benefits are more generous than what they might earn if they were employed right now. However, this, too, may change as enhanced employment benefits will expire July 31.

Joe Madigan, the chief executive officer of Nelson Staffing, a recruiting company that matches employees with firms, has also noticed that few people are job hunting right now. “They still have fear about returning to work,” he said. “We’re having to be very proactive in reaching out in our recruiting.”

Right now, Madigan says, Nelson is helping a handful of businesses trying to replace staff that may have lost employees as a result of coronavirus, had to leave work to care for a sick relative, or due to medical conditions that might make them higher-risk should they contract the virus.

Nonetheless, Madigan is optimistic about the future. “Businesses want to get back online,” he said. “In Sonoma, we’re seeing a slight uptick, 2 percent, in job openings.” Many of these are essential businesses and those that allow people to work in person for now, but Madigan says that he’s “optimistic that our businesses will be doing better in the second half of the year,” and in a position to take on a larger workforce.

Some job openings are already trickling in. Sanders’ Bolt Staffing has 22 job openings right now, with jobs in customer service, administration, operations and those associated with the fall harvest.

The main obstacles are the shelter-in place restrictions. “Companies are waiting to find out when their employees can get back to work,” said Sanders.

Rosier conditions may be ahead as the re-opening continues but this has not necessarily translated into job opportunities. Wendy Swanson, who works in the College and Career Center at Sonoma Valley High School, maintains a list of job and internship opportunities for teens. But she said that since the students’ last day of school campus on March 13, no new jobs have been added to the list.

“It’s hitting teenagers really hard,” said Swanson, “with so many adults unemployed that are looking to fill those same spots.”

A common theme for Sanders, Madigan and Swanson is an overriding sense of still needing to wait and see.

“Everybody is still cautious and confused about what the new workforce is going to look like and what their job is going to look like,” said Madigan. “Everyone is still in evaluation mode,” he said.