By TONY GUERRERO
Hays Post
The Ellis County Workforce Committee recognized housing shortages as one of many factors driving the region’s broader workforce struggles.
The committee, led by Sarah Wasinger, president and CEO of the Chamber in Hays, met for its first meeting Tuesday to discuss workforce recruitment, development and retention for Ellis County.
"This is hopefully going to be the first of many for a concentrated effort to take some of our biggest challenges that we've been experiencing as a county workforce," Wasinger said.
Several representatives from local institutions, such as Fort Hays Technical Northwest, the city of Hays, Grow Hays, Hess Services, HaysMed, and the Kansas Department of Commerce, attended the meeting.
Almost all attendees cited difficulty hiring and keeping staff, as no new workers are entering the area. Matt Orr, vice president of operations at Hess Services, said housing issues make attracting talent especially difficult.
"We're probably to the point where we're all fishing in the same shallow pool without the opportunity to have something that's driving people into the pool," he said.
Orr said Hess Services is especially in need of welders, heavy equipment operators and drivers, as the company competes with firms from Wichita to Kansas City for the same talent.
Several representatives named the housing shortage as the biggest barrier. Vice Mayor Mason Ruder said the city of Hays has offered incentives to boost construction, but the lack of subcontractors and funding remains challenging.
"We basically opened up every possible incentive you could have to build homes," he said. "The process to get those incentives takes almost a year, and that's before you've broken ground. ... It takes a long time to get the funds to make it viable."
SEE RELATED STORY: Grow Hays expects more housing in 2025
In addition to housing issues, local employers face difficulty competing with the higher wages offered by larger cities and national companies.
Ben Shears, president of Fort Hays Tech Northwest, shared student insights and said many local students and workers are leaving Ellis County to pursue higher-paying jobs.
"The salary competition is real. The wages outside of the area are pulling kids out, and there's no doubt about it," Shears said.
Orr said Hess Services struggles to attract candidates for specialized roles because of its rural location and less competitive pay. The company has had a professional structural engineer position open for about four years.
The Chamber in Hays works with various local organizations. Wasinger said nonprofits' salaries cannot keep up with those of the private or government sectors.
"What a lot of nonprofits are experiencing is not being able to even compete with nearly as much as what the for-profit business centers are able to offer," she said.
Wasinger said her organization could not fill a marketing position because of intense competition in the job market.
The meeting delved deeper into Generation Z workers and their workplace behaviors, highlighting how priorities like flexibility and quality of life shape a new generational mindset around job expectations.
Shears said Gen Z is highly transient and won’t hesitate to move on in search of a better school or work experience.
"They work to live, not live to work," Shears said. "Gen Z wants something they can get behind and that has a mission they attach to. If employers can't give those things, they're gonna have a real struggle trying to pull Gen Z."
Ruder said he’s spoken with several local business owners who have unrealistic expectations about the type of employee they hope to hire.
"They want them to have all these credentials before they get there, with no investment from the employer to employee aside from 'Here's your salary. Here's the job. Do it. Then we'll talk as we get down the road,'" he said.
Ruder said the most effective approach he has seen among small businesses is hiring and training employees by working directly with them.
Katie Dorzweiler, chairwoman of the Chamber Board of Directors, said she sees employees often have unrealistic expectations, such as expecting to advance quickly right after finishing school.
"I feel like what we're seeing is a different expectation from the employee standpoint, that they're going to make the salary right out of the gate," Dorzweiler said.
Julia Brown, Workforce Services Specialist with the Kansas Department of Commerce, also attended the committee meeting and recommended using virtual job fairs and posting openings on the KansasWorks website. She added Ellis County has seen low turnout for job fairs.
Several representatives at the meeting discussed scholarships and programs that have succeeded in keeping the next generation of workers within the area. These sponsorships often include agreements for students to work for the business after graduation, which helps build local retention.
The next workforce committee meeting is at 2 p.m. on April 29 at the Hays Convention and Visitors Bureau.
You can follow the Chamber in Hays on Facebook.