With unemployment rates hitting new lows, human resource consultants recommend time-tested solutions to recruitment and retention problems.

Like many industries, the linen, uniform and facility services business has been hit hard by a tight labor market, says Nancy Roberts, CEO and founder of The DISC Wizard, an East Rochester, NY-based organizational-development company. “The No. 1 challenge is finding people at all levels,” Roberts says. “Maintenance, plant managers, you name it.”

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported a 3.6% unemployment rate in October 2019. In September it was 3.5%, the lowest rate in more than 50 years.

Roberts and other ...