Emails: questions@thejobapplicantperspective.com
Column Name: Off to Work
Question:
I had someone who started working for me for a week and then quit right after. I hear of this happening to other employers around me. What is going on with people, and why don’t they want to work?
Answer:
Your frustration is understandable. No one wants to invest in multiple interviews only to have it fall apart, especially when you’re a small business owner juggling countless responsibilities. That said, there are many reasons for these situations, and it's important not to jump to conclusions.
Work isn't everyone's passion, and not wanting to work occasionally is natural. However, most people seek employment out of necessity, driven by the same needs for food, water, and shelter. If you, a reasonable person, hired someone likely possessing those needs, they probably wanted to work. So, we’re left with many other possibilities, and it's crucial not to make assumptions about their intentions. What people intend to do doesn’t always align with what happens.
Looking at behavioral trends, it’s very likely this has nothing to do with you. Whether it’s a dream job they were waiting for, a mental health challenge, or something else, the chance your job was the cause of their leaving is minimal.
Consider this: Sometimes, it’s about too much work. When I was a Peace Corps volunteer in Tanzania, I was frustrated that a local math teacher was missing class two days a week. I later learned he was working two full-time jobs because the school couldn't afford to pay him adequately. It completely changed my perspective on what I was observing. This is just one example of how easy it is to misinterpret behavior without understanding the bigger picture.
In general, the gig economy and rising costs have placed enormous pressures on young people. As I’ve written in other columns, the job market infrastructure has become increasingly brutal, and job seekers often put in 45 hours of labor per week just searching for work. These struggles are real, but the world often dismisses them with a “stop complaining” response, while job boards profit from ghost jobs that don’t benefit job seekers.
As difficult as it is to be struggling to hire, these situations often call for empathy and understanding. There exists a world where job seeking is in fact, a whole lot more traumatizing than you realized and is affecting your ability to hire in a way you didn’t expect. It may just be that you are interacting with people with a level of trauma in the job market that you didn’t expect. The well-being of U.S. job seekers is directly linked to the health of businesses, both big and small. So, if you notice a pattern of newly hired employees struggling, start asking what their unmet needs are. Empathy is the foundation of long-term solutions. While this doesn’t provide an immediate fix, it opens the door to sustainable change.