We appreciate it when you contact us about interesting stories unfolding in the Lake Travis area, and this one definitely fits the bill. Perhaps the bill you were waiting on for 20 minutes with cold queso on your table …
We’ve heard rumblings of poor service in some of our local establishments and we’re wondering if you’ve heard it too?
People who work in the service industry in the Lake Travis area are certainly skilled and friendly, but there seems to be a shortage of them.
Wait staff have too many tables, bartenders have too many drink orders, and some of our favorite go-to pizza places can’t deliver quickly because they don’t have enough help in the kitchen.
We know Lake Travis is amazing, which is why so many businesses want to be here. New growth attracts new residents and new residents bolster new business. It’s a cycle that makes sense.
Is our community in an awkward situation where new businesses have to sacrifice the customer experience because they can’t find enough people to adequately staff open positions? Positions that are necessary to run the business.
In a recent survey conducted by the Lake Travis Chamber of Commerce, 61% of respondents said they are having trouble hiring employees.
Let’s take a quick glance at local demographics to get a better understanding of why this could be happening.
If you look at Lakeway, our population is around 11,331. And out of that number 1,190 people are between the ages of 18-34. Depending on which report you read, the median age in this area is 44-46.
Based on a recent US Census Bureau, there are 330 homes and non-family homes owned/rented by people age 15-34, versus 2,497 homes owned/rented by people age 35-59. Could this be the root of our problem?
Now let’s use Oaks at Lakeway as an example. We already know H-E-B needs 320 employees to run the new store. High 5 has stated they will be hiring 130 employees. And then there are the rest of the shops, restaurants and businesses that will also be tenants there.
For the sake of this equation, let’s guesstimate the total number of employees needed to operate Oaks at Lakeway to be 600 people, which is probably a low number. That means 50% of Lakeway’s population of people between the ages of 15-34 would need to be employed there to run it efficiently.
We love these companies for bringing job opportunities to the Lake Travis community, but are there enough people living here to fill them?
When we looked at the number of jobs posted on the Hill Country Galleria website, there are more than 42 job openings, 12 of which are at Sonesta Hotel Bee Cave. Plus, we noticed Sonesta Hotel mentions that a vanpool is available from designated areas in town.
We’ve also heard that at least one restaurant in the area sends a van into Austin to pick up its employees and drive them into the Lake Travis area.
The more we explore this topic, the more we’re convinced there is a growing shortage of skilled employees in the immediate area.
On Wednesday, October 28, the Lake Travis Chamber of Commerce is hosting an event at Fore about this exact topic. The event is called: Now Hiring! – Having Difficulty Hiring Employees? where local business owners and Movability Austin, a transportation management association, will discuss this challenge and explore possible solutions.
One of our roles here at Lake Travis Lifestyle is to discuss happenings and issues that are important to our community. Some of these happenings and issues can become touchy topics. We always welcome your feedback and insight — just remember — it must be expressed in a professional and respectful way.
Post image via Creative Commons, Alachua County on Flickr.
My previous town (a very upscale neighborhood on the outskirts of a city) had this same exact problem 25 years ago. Everything was fixed when they set up a public bus system. Changed everything for the better! It was a very small bus system, but it allowed for people to work in the city who couldn’t necessarily afford to live in the city.
How about some affordable housing? The jobs mentioned are all of the lowest wage positions out there. They can be found most anywhere in both counties. Please tell those same people why they should drive the extra 20 miles round trip on the 620 snailway wasting even more gas in bumper to bumper traffic. Please provide where they can get an apartment for less than 1000 min a month on a take home income of 320 a week? While paying the rest of the monthly bills? Car payment, health and car insurance, electricity, try an build credit with a 800 dollar maximum limit card, eat properly and not romine noodles, have maybe enough money for a date once a month? I suggest talking to the City Manager and some developers willing to loose money on a piece of land they would normally make a killing on as a 4/3/3 home occupied by 2 people.
Sorry I forgot the phone bill, possible tuition to get out of the trap, new tires, and the occasional “mistake financially” and a trip to the doctor or dentist, which they usually blow off but eventually pay a much higher fee later in life.
Nail on the head. I worked in Bee Caves for 6 years in retail. Raises were few and far between, and shoddy. Had to work elsewhere in town to get better pay.
Not to mention, why serve a population that expects to be waited on, hand and foot, by a working class that lives in poverty? It’s the poor serving the rich. Change the dynamic and we might get somewhere. You get what you pay for, and the greedy business owners out there won’t pay a living wage so that their teams can actually reside in the community they work in. This dynamic forces people to move on when they experience this massive income inequality staring in their face every day.
You can’t sustain a community on such horrendous dynamics. You can’t treat people like slaves and expect them to provide top notch customer service and a solid work ethic.
Cathy, so what you are saying is that Trump’s plan to deport millions is not the answer? we have a skills shortage? some should send him a fax.
It just shows that the unemployment problem in this country is not a function of a shortage of jobs or immigrants stealing jobs from hard working people but a much more complex social problem.
I don’t necessarily like Trump but you are way off in la-la land. This isn’t about unemployment or Immigration. With the information provided by the US Census, we can see that 2827 homes are owned or rented in the area. The issue is, that these people commute into Austin for good paying jobs. No one is buying a home on the lake working at the local H-E-B, Galleria, or Torchy’s. The job postings that Cathy saw are for positions like these. You simply cannot expect to fill these jobs when the cost of living is so high in this area. I would certainly understand if you were not willing to fly to Dallas each day for your job. Why would these business owners expect their employees to endure a 2 hour commute for burger flipping money?
This has been an issue for use for several years now!! We can not keep up with the sales growth. We need at least 10 more servers at Mimi’s Cafe. I know for a fact our teammates make $17-$20 an hour, daily! Affordable housing and public transit is a must!! We have offered a $100 sign on bonus to qualified candidates and $200 finders fee. What else are we going to do? This issue needs to be addressed if the cities of Bee Cave and Lakeway want to succeed!