Summit County businesses continue to struggle with staffing challenges related

COVID-19 restrictions were loosened in May, meaning the 6-foot physical distancing rule was officially removed along with all capacity restrictions. But lingering pains from the pandemic remained even as those mandates were lifted. As businesses moved away from these rules, they effectively entered into a new phase of hardship where employees were hard to come by. The problems seem to have grown worse as the months have passed.

To get a feel for just how bad these issues are for local businesses, Summit County and the Summit Prosperity Initiative — the economic development arm for the Summit Chamber of Commerce — collaborate to put together an economic recovery dashboard for each quarter. The dashboard relies on a survey filled out by business owners, in addition to unemployment numbers specific to the county, sales tax figures, job postings and more, said Corry Mihm, project manager for the Summit Prosperity Initiative.

According to the dashboard for the second quarter, about 32% of businesses reported needing staff members and that they are struggling to fill positions. About 7% reported they are understaffed by up to 25%, about 10% reported they are understaffed from 25% to 50%, and about 10% reported they are understaffed by more than 50%.

The dashboard stated that “staffing levels have gotten dramatically worse” since the first quarter.

For most business owners, this isn’t a surprise, but rather a trend that most organizations are experiencing. Scott Ciraulo, store manager for the Habitat for Humanity ReStore in Silverthorne, said the store’s staffing challenges forced him to close up shop for a whole week in October. Afterward, the store was only open for three days a week the following few weeks.

The economic recovery dashboard noted that this isn’t unusual. It said that “most businesses reported having to cut operations due to staffing issues,” and that “staff shortages range from 40 to 1,200 hours per week.”

Ciraulo said the store is now operating like normal, but that he’s one staff member away from reducing hours again. He said he has about four part-time workers and usually the store needs eight to 12 staff members to function smoothly. Right now though, Ciraulo said there’s a lack of quality applicants.

“I’m either getting applications with a lot of substance abuse problems or no applicants at all,” Ciraulo said. “The last two people I hired were the last two people that actually filled out an application, and they were good people without any kind of hidden problems.”

Ciraulo said his organization is “lucky” since it’s run by a nonprofit and he’s usually able to staff up with volunteers. But others aren’t so lucky. Lauri Beckwith Pohlman helps run Ein Prosit in Frisco with her husband and owner of the business, Scott Pohlman. She recently posted that Prosit is hiring on the Facebook group One Man’s Junk Summit County in the hopes to garner more…