A One Percent perspective on hiring, standards, and the new dating game between workers and the businesses that want them. — By Stacy, Founder of One Percent.

If you've tried to hire anyone in the last two years — especially in the trades — you've probably heard some version of the same complaint: "Nobody wants to work anymore." After 20 years running an HVAC and plumbing company, I can tell you with full confidence: that's not the problem. The problem is that employees are no longer just looking for a job. They're shopping for an employer the same way they'd shop for a partner. And most owners are showing up to the date in flip-flops with no plan.

The job market is now a dating market.

Think about how people date today. They don't just want someone who's available. They want someone with standards, with a clear sense of who they are, with goals, and with the kind of self-respect that doesn't let them get walked on. They want a partner who has their act together — not someone they have to raise.

Guess what? That's exactly what good employees want from an employer in 2026.

They're not just asking, "Will you pay me?" They're asking the same questions you'd ask on a third date:

• ✓Do you actually know where you're going?
• ✓Do you have standards, or do you bend them whenever it's convenient?
• ✓Do you respect yourself enough that I can respect you?
• ✓Will you invest in this thing — or coast and hope I don't notice?
• ✓Are you the kind of person I'd be proud to be associated with?

If your business can't answer "yes" to those questions, you're going to keep losing good people to companies that can.

Employees want employers with vision.

Nobody wants to commit to a partner who doesn't know what they want from life. The same is true at work. A paycheck is the floor — not the ceiling. Top employees want to know what you're building and where they fit in it. "We're just trying to keep the doors open" is the business equivalent of "I'm just kinda seeing where things go." It might work for a season. It won't keep anyone good.

You don't need a Harvard-grade five-year plan. You need a clear, honest answer to: Where is this company going, and what does winning look like? Write it down. Say it out loud at every team meeting. Repeat it until your people roll their eyes — and then keep going.

They want employers with standards.

Here's something I learned the hard way running a service company: employees don't actually want a boss who lets everything slide. They want a boss who holds the line — including holding themselves to the line.

The good ones want to know:

• ✓What's the standard for how we treat customers?
• ✓What's the standard for how we treat each other?
• ✓What's the standard for our work, our trucks, our paperwork, our follow-through?
• ✓And critically — does the owner live up to that standard, too?

When you tolerate a bad performer, you're not being "easy to work for." You're telling every great employee on your team that their effort doesn't matter, because the slacker gets paid the same. That's the workplace version of dating someone who lets their ex still text them at midnight. People notice. People leave.

They want employers with a work ethic — not just employees with one.

One of the fastest ways to lose a great hire is to demand hustle from them while you mail it in from the office. Employees are watching. They always have been. They notice when the owner takes long lunches and then complains about productivity. They notice when you ask them to "go the extra mile" while you skip the first one.

The new workforce isn't lazy. They're just no longer willing to outwork an owner who isn't matching the effort. And honestly? That's reasonable. Nobody wants to date someone who expects them to plan every date.

They want employers who value the employee — and themselves.

This is where a lot of owners get tripped up. They think being a "good boss" means giving in. Caving on price. Caving on scope. Caving on the difficult conversation. Caving on the customer who is obviously wrong. That isn't kindness. That's low self-worth wearing a smile. And employees can smell it from a mile away.

Employees want a boss who:

• ✓Pays them fairly — and isn't apologetic about charging customers what the work is worth.
• ✓Stands behind the team in tough conversations instead of throwing them under the truck.
• ✓Backs up their work but doesn't grovel.
• ✓Knows when to say "no" — to a bad customer, a bad job, a bad deal.

A boss who values themselves makes employees feel safe valuing themselves, too.

They don't want employers who undersell the company.

This one is huge in the trades, and almost nobody talks about it. When you lowball your prices in the marketplace, you don't just hurt the bottom line. You insult your own team.

Think about it from the technician's seat: they show up early, they fix things right, they treat the customer well, they keep learning — and then the boss undercuts the bid by 30% just to win a job that won't even pay for itself. The message that sends is brutal: "What you do isn't worth what we're charging."

Great employees want to work somewhere that charges like the work matters. Because the work does matter. Pricing is a respect signal.

They want employers who invest in the company.

Nobody wants to commit long-term to a partner who refuses to grow. Same in business. Employees want to see that you're putting money and energy back into the things that make their work better and their future bigger:

• ✓The tools and tech — so they aren't fighting broken software and dead batteries every day.
• ✓The training — so they get better, not just older, at this job.
• ✓The systems — so winning isn't dependent on one person heroically remembering everything.
• ✓The brand — so they're proud to wear the shirt and hand out the card.
• ✓The people — so the team is full of A-players they actually want to work next to.

When an owner reinvests, employees read it as a vote of confidence in the future. When an owner refuses to reinvest, employees read it (correctly) as: "I'm trying to extract as much as I can on the way out." Even if that's not what you mean.

So what do you do about it?

This is the part where most articles tell you to overhaul everything. We don't do that here. At One Percent, we believe the way you become the kind of employer good people want to work for is the same way you become the kind of partner good people want to date: small, consistent improvements that prove who you are over time.

Not a culture deck. Not a hiring slogan. Not a $20,000 rebrand. Just 1% better, every week, in the things that matter:

• ✓One uncomfortable standard you stop bending this month.
• ✓One conversation with the team about where the company is actually going.
• ✓One price you stop apologizing for.
• ✓One investment back into the business you've been putting off.
• ✓One area where you, the owner, raise your own game first.

Do that for a year and you won't have a hiring problem anymore. You'll have a hiring waitlist. Because the right employees aren't looking for a perfect employer. They're looking for a mature one — one who's clearly working on themselves, the same way they're working on themselves.