Share your experience with the students honestly and engage with at least two of them. In your responses to your peers, include a detailed example to support your suggestions. Use at least one additional external scholarly source to defend your perspective.

Student one: One ongoing issue that not only seems to be the problem at my job but all around the state of Missouri is the shortage of teachers. Unfortunately because many school districts are not able to pay teachers a higher salary they will often either move to a different school district and some change careers all together. I believe with better pay it is possible we could have a rise in teachers once again. Teaching is not easy. We have very long hours. We often go above and beyond for our students meaning we may buy items with our own money for our classrooms. We often even take our work home most nights. Along with needing to be licensed to be able to teach in a classroom with the education to follow. Teaching is very rewarding and I absolutely love what I do but I will not lie a boost in our salary would be very beneficial.

Missouri's teacher shortage has been a problem for many years. Now, education advocates report that teachers are leaving the field at an unprecedented rate.

"It was alarming to have many of our members come to us in January and say, 'You know what, I'm finished teaching for the year. I'm not going back,'" said Missouri State Teachers Association spokesperson Todd Fuller. "That has happened more over the last two years than it's ever happened before."

Educators cite low pay (Missouri teachers work for some of thelowest salaries in the nation) as a reason for leaving, as well as poor student behavior.(Missouri teachers are leaving the profession at an alarming rate, advocates report. (n.d.). STLPR, 2023)

Reference:

Missouri teachers are leaving the profession at an alarming rate, advocates report. (n.d.). STLPR. Retrieved November 16, 2023, from https://www.stlpr.org/show/st-louis-on-the-air/2023-05-03/missouri-teachers-are-leaving-the-profession-at-an-alarming-rate-advocates-report

Student two

My position as consultant within the organization is one of constant reflection. Careful observance of each departments' structure and daily-flow, is half of what I am involved in. The results of operations among them would constitute the other half. In times of introspection such as the one we are tasked with today, I would review the amount of stress that the pace of work at the factory takes on the individuals charged with manual labor. On occasion, one might surveil the amount of workplace anxiety to be found among the employees through different examples of anecdotal evidence. How often do employees take sick-leave? How long do many employees make it to their annual raise? Or even more far-fetched instances, such as how fast the parking lot empties on Fridays? The problem that is most apparent in my company of employ is employee job-satisfaction. More succinctly, how best to measure the necessary percentage of employee retention that keeps company profit perpetually moving forward.

The best way to understand the feelings of the employees is through adapting work-space floor-planning to an environment suitable for abstract thinking congruent with concrete functions expected from one hour to the next. We could include the occasional set of snacks through an amendment to the budget, allowing for "motivational treats" to tide the employees over between meals. Another idea that I have been mulling about is recalibrating the parking layout; 'often people will tire of having to walk great distances' (Sucher & Gupta, 2018) or not having an assigned space or section that they can count on for ease-of-access. There might also be an opportunity for more family-oriented gatherings consistent with the holidays of the year or monthly birthday parties, to celebrate peoples' lives in mass. Other mental-health outlets would also be applied allowing for greater positive outlook and to avoid problems going forward in a proactive fashion. Often, the biggest problems that a company encounters are those under-the-radar and of concern to individual employees.

References

Sucher, S. J., & Gupta, S. (2018). Layoffs that don't break your company: better approaches to workforce transitions. Harvard Business Review, 96(3), 122