12 Responses to “Escambia Animal Shelter Cuts Hours Due To Staffing Shortage, Seeks To Hire Help”

1. Bob on May 26th, 2021 7:35 am

   @Tracy Ann

   Thanks for confirming you don’t believe college students don’t deserve to make enough money to live.

   The median worker making less than $10/hour is 37. Only 10% of them are under the age of 20.

   EVERYONE who is willing to work 40 hours a week deserves a living wage. If your business can’t afford to pay your workers enough to live, then you don’t deserve to run a business.

2. Be real on May 25th, 2021 10:46 pm

   If people are getting enough to get by while sitting at home doing nothing, nobody is going to go out and get a job to earn just a little more. Some states are so desperate they’re literally paying people *in addition to* what the job pays, just to stop sitting at home – and it’s not working.

   Anyone who simply says “raise wages” has no understanding of basic economics, or why people are sitting at home instead of having a job.

3. JustSaying on May 25th, 2021 6:20 am

   If all this “free money” wasn’t handed out like Monopoly money (Keep borrowing it from the BANKER) people would get off their butts and find a job like they used to. $16.00 an hour to start anywhere is absolutely ridiculous! It’s causing our cost of living to go sky high!

4. Tracy Ann Smith on May 24th, 2021 10:23 pm

   Ryan “$16/hr is the minimum that people will need to cover rent/mortgage, healthcare, food, and transportation in Pensacola.”

   You do realize that if all businesses paid that much the cost of goods will go up also. Look at what California is paying and what the cost of living is there. And don’t tell me that’s California. If we raise wages here then you can see what the cost of everything else will be.

   Fast food work wasn’t meant to be a lifetime job. They are for students that are wanting to work while in school ( high and college).
   LET’S GET REAL HERE PEOPLE!!!!

5. Ryan on May 24th, 2021 7:37 pm

   $12.50/hr to work in an environment placing employees at a not insignificant risk of disease and injury. Good luck with the hiring and best of luck with any kind of retention. Realistically, $16/hr is the minimum that people will need to cover rent/mortgage, healthcare, food, and transportation in Pensacola. That’s assuming you don’t have to worry about childcare.

   It’s easy to assume that people are staying home because the government gives them free money, but the fact is, you would have to work 2 jobs at these low rates just to maintain the same income AND pay for health/dental insurance. It doesn’t make any sense to refuse to pay a living wage then complain that nobody will work.

6. Bob on May 24th, 2021 3:10 pm

   @August WW

   …so why are they experiencing a staff shortage? Did everyone decide that they don’t like animals anymore?

   People need to earn enough money to pay their bills. If a job isn’t paying a living wage, don’t be surprised when people refuse to work there anymore.

7. Bryan Caro on May 24th, 2021 11:17 am

   Imagine that. Another county department short staffed. Another department vital to to the public short staffed. Another department expected to do it’s with less. I wonder if the BOCC admin staff is short staffed? I bet there are far fewer vacancies there than anywhere in the county. If anyone knows, please advise. They need to hire some more for all PRR about to inundate them.

8. August W on May 24th, 2021 10:26 am

   @Lascoe Hooten….No one goes to work with animals for the pay….People who love animals work with them for.the sheer love of it

9. William Johnson on May 24th, 2021 9:46 am

   This is the county administrator covering for the shelter director John Robinson’s incompetence.

   First, the shelter director makes no effort to boost recruitment intensity to attract workers. The reason for this is that the director wastes budget money and then pulls money from other areas of the budget, most likely budgeted employee positions that are not filled. With the CDC mask recommendation lifted, the shelter should continue using inmates to provide manpower as they had prior to COVID.

   Second, reduced operating hours is a well-known tactic by animal activists to limit public access to the shelter for the purpose of surrendering animals. This only leads to an increase in abandoned animals, stray animals, and animal attacks against humans. This is evident through health department records that show a significant increase in bites ever since the shelter reduced their hours at the beginning of COVID. The shelter blames everything on COVID simply to avoid conflict with the activists.

   Limiting shelter hours puts the shelter in violation of Ponce’s Law, a Florida law that requires shelters to make their facility more accessible to citizens after 5PM so that they can reclaim their animals.

   The problem with Escambia County Animal Services is that the director has no real job knowledge when it comes to managing people or providing customer service. This post is Janie Gilley covering for John Robinson’s shortcomings.

10. More Opportunities on May 24th, 2021 9:20 am

    To solve the the shortage in staffing problem, the shelter should consider setting up a volunteer program for students who need volunteer hours for scholarships. Students could get volunteer hours after school or during the summer to meet the requirements of specific scholarship along with the shelter having constant help to fill the vacant spots for the staffing issue.

    I am not sure how hard/easy it would be to implement but it’s just a suggestion.

11. Joe on May 24th, 2021 9:09 am

    As long as the government keeps handing out free money and unemployment benefits there will continue to be these problems with cutting hours and closings because the people that actually will work are getting over worked!!!!

12. Lascoe Hooten on May 24th, 2021 7:35 am

    Why do I get the feeling that the hourly wage, is insufficient?