Construction costs are currently skyrocketing

What do I see pessimistically? I am not prophesying the end of the world. But I consider it an illusion that the promise "children should have it better than their parents" will continue to hold. I don't know where you get your optimism from, but the young talent we get... when we get something "useful," it makes me very sad. No drive, no "passion for the job"... You might be right about IT, everyone fights over the 9 to 5 office jobs. But in the field of worldwide special plant construction? Bleak, very bleak when it comes to young talent. We earn a large part of our money in Germany only through this. Plants are only purchased here if we also build them at the customer's site. If no one does that anymore... then they buy from whoever does.

Is it really the applicants' fault or perhaps yours? I recently had a conversation with a medium-sized company owner who complains that only leftovers apply to him and that they are too dumb to perform the simplest office tasks. When asked about pay, he said: "They should be glad they get minimum wage!" When asked about the monthly salary, he said: "It varies every month; I pay according to actual hours worked. In February, for example, they work fewer days than in July!" When asked about training: "What am I supposed to train them on extensively? I've explained it once. Then I can expect the new employee to be able to do it. After all, they are paid for it." To this day, he can't explain why he doesn't find good new employees and why turnover in the company is so high... What do I want to say with this? It's not always just the applicants' fault. Often, it’s also on the company and how it designs its recruiting and onboarding. If recruiting is already crap, why should I apply there? I recently saw in a documentary the owner of a carpentry business who looks for employees in a target-appropriate way using various social media channels. He searches for civil engineers on Xing and apprentices via TikTok. At the same time, he offers his employees benefits like proper company pension schemes, opportunities for further training, and an "apprentice taxi" to the company and back home in the evening. He receives many and also good applications. Many companies still haven't understood that the labor market has changed in recent decades. The "hire-and-fire" policy combined with "I first hire on a fixed-term contract without reason for one year and then extend for another year to see whether I take the employee permanently" has left its mark, and applicants now look more closely at where they apply. It starts with the working atmosphere, continues with the working conditions, and does not end with appreciation, which among other things is expressed in reasonable pay.

Is it really the applicants' fault or maybe still yours? I recently had a conversation with a medium-sized company owner who complains that only leftovers apply to him and then are too dumb to perform the simplest office tasks. When asked about pay, he said: "They should be glad to get minimum wage!" When asked about the monthly salary, he said: "Every month is different, I pay according to actual hours. In February, for example, they work fewer days than in July!" When asked about training: "What kind of thorough training should I give? I explained it once. Then I can expect the new person to be able to do it. After all, they're paid for it." He still can't explain why he doesn’t find good new employees and why turnover in the company is so high... What do I want to say with this? It’s not always just the applicants’ fault. Often it’s also the company and how it organizes its recruiting and onboarding. If recruiting is already rubbish, why should I apply there? I recently saw in a documentary the owner of a carpentry business who searches for employees tailored to the target group via various social media channels. On Xing for civil engineers and on TikTok for trainees. At the same time, he offers his employees benefits like decent occupational pension schemes, opportunities for further training, and an "apprentice taxi" to and from the company in the evenings. He receives many and also good applications. Many companies have not yet understood that the job market has changed over the past decades. The "hire-and-fire" policy combined with "I first hire on a one-year contract with no objective reason, then extend it for another year to see if I want to keep the employee permanently" has left its mark, and applicants now look more closely where they apply. It starts with the working atmosphere, continues with the working conditions, and does not end without appreciation, which among other things is expressed in reasonable pay.

Respect, great contribution. I see it exactly the same way!

By then I'll be ashes anyway.

Off topic: Don't say stuff like that. ;-)

Yes and no, there is recycling, but gravel is still missing and the recycling probably needs to be leveled again.
Yes, because of the costs I also had to suppress my laughter.
You still won't get the contract. :p

That’s about 6 tons of gravel, that doesn’t cost the earth either. You also need filler for the stones. Here I wouldn’t use the usual earth fillings, but gravel sand mixed with some compost soil and sow flower-gravel-lawn. That might be another 500€, if you calculate very generously. I think I might retrain as a landscape gardener, it’s much healthier anyway than sitting in front of the computer all day ;)
(Although personally I wouldn’t use lawn grid stones at all, but would go straight for flower-gravel-lawn)

Gravel turf was our first idea, but my neighbor's father had bad experiences with it (in the sense that it doesn't grow well). That's why we ended up switching to grass grids after all. Simple, straightforward, affordable.

Is it really the applicants' fault or maybe still yours? I had a conversation recently with a medium-sized company complaining that only leftovers apply to them and then are too dumb to perform the simplest office tasks.

When asked about the pay, the response was: "They should be glad they get minimum wage!"
When asked about the monthly salary, the answer was: "Every month is different, I pay according to actual hours. In February, for example, they work fewer days than in July!"
When asked about the training: "What am I supposed to really train them for? I explained it once. Then I can expect that the new person knows it. After all, they get paid for it."

He still can't explain why he doesn't find good new employees and why turnover in the company is so high...

What do I want to say with this? It's not always just the applicants' fault. Often, it also depends on the company and how it organizes its recruiting and onboarding. If the recruiting is already crap, why should I apply there?

I recently saw the owner of a carpentry business in a documentary who looks for employees through various social media channels tailored to the target group. On Xing, he searches for construction engineers and on TikTok for apprentices. At the same time, he offers his employees benefits like decent occupational pension schemes, training opportunities, and an "apprentice taxi" to and from the company. He receives many and also good applications.

Many companies still haven't understood that the labor market has changed over the past decades. The "hire-and-fire" policy combined with "I initially hire for one year without reason, extend for another year, then see whether I keep the employee permanently" has left its mark, and applicants now look more closely at where they apply. It starts with the working atmosphere, continues through the working conditions, and doesn't end with appreciation, which is expressed, among other things, in fair pay.

Totally agree!!!

I don’t want to go on forever, but I simply see a very big change in people’s minds. Buzzwords: work-life balance, self-fulfillment, and self-determination. At some point, people realized there’s more to life than busting your ass, being enslaved to pay for a house, only to find out on your deathbed that you don’t even know your daughter’s second first name.
All very, very personal decisions. EVERYONE is allowed to do what they want (professionally speaking, please don’t generalize; there are always exceptions, but this is not about a political discussion), and if someone finds their happiness at McDrive handing out food or in the jungle of Costa Rica, let them... as long as no one else is harmed, they are not "useless." Everyone needs to eat, and everyone has dignity (keyword: settling for minimum wage).

I’m not passionate about my job either... I have quite a high academic degree with personnel responsibility and, according to statistics, I am in the top 5% salary-wise... I am not useless; I have other priorities, and if my daughter someday says she wants to do yoga in India because it makes her happy, then she should do it without ifs and buts, even though she would rather be EXPECTED to become a doctor or lawyer from our family background.

Sorry, a little off-topic, no attack, just presenting a different point of view.

Now back to the construction topic :)