Sick Out Shutdowns

All my bags are packed
It's time to go
I'm standing here
Outside your door
--John Denver

Reports growing of 'sick outs' in protest of vaccine mandates. Hospitals, education, transportation companies.

This matters most in organizations that provide services. In contrast to the manufacture of tangible goods where production is commonly paced by machinery, the primary factor of production in service operations is generally people. Generally, the more workers in a service operation, the greater the amount of output that can be produced.

We noted this more than a month ago when hospital workers began hitting the silk. Less people mean lower capacity. Lower capacity means less output.

Less output means disruptions and shortages.