[robbmorganf]

Legally, I think there's not a problem with even the strictest interpretation of "you need this, but we aren't paying for it". In many small business manufacturing settings, the typical arrangement is that operators buy their own toolboxes without reimbursement (i.e. wrenches, screwdrivers, even endmills). Strikes me as a dumb way to scare away potential workers, but alas I don't make the rules.

[pengaru]

I've worked as a mechanic in the distant past, at a muffler and brake chain. The shop-provided tools were the most neglected and carelessly handled, often unable to even be found (the torque limiting sticks for safely reinstalling lug nuts w/impact in particular were always MIA).

It's probably desirable to have the employees put some skin in the game for a variety of reasons. Not only will they care for their tools more, but they'll use them more appropriately, not destructively in the wrong applications. What's good for the tools is likely good for the quality of work/outcomes.

[robbmorganf]

I do understand having skin in the game, but at the same time it pushes away candidates, particularly during this labor shortage[1]. And it has disparate racial impact, because oppressed minorities are less likely to have the finances to invest in their own tools.

My thought is that any good company should be able to create emotional skin in the game (i.e. caring) without needing financial skin in the game. If a company isn't there, it needs to sell its mission better and link the availability of tools to that mission.

[1] if you subscribe to the view that there is no shortage but only an unwillingness to pay fair wages (which is totally valid if there are no upfront costs to getting a job), consider that after months of losing savings to a pandemic, candidates may literally not have the cash to buy tools needed for a new job, so in this case it is truly a shortage of candidates with the ability to get the tools

[pengaru]

What jobs are you imagining have such difficult/steep tool requirements?

My experience was auto-mechanic, and that strikes me as exceptionally high in the required tools department. They were willing to put up with my being tool-less for like two years before replacing me when an old-timer showed up looking for work, with a freezer sized toolbox in the bed of his truck, and I was clearly not committed to the career having still not invested in even a toolbox.

Construction workers and framing carpenters can start out with very little. A lot of the work is just labor. Back when my dad owned a concrete construction company he would bring most of the durable larger tools in quantity.. stuff like sledge hammers, pickaxes, shovels, those were shared. But the individuals were expected to bring a hammer for nailing/disassembling the framing, and steel-toe boots for OSHA compliance b.s. If you started out without even a hammer you'd just be a grunt then buy a hammer a week later, though someone would probably loan you one if you were that destitute. I think there were more barriers in the area of the union and trade school requirements, but not for a laborer AFAIK.

[goodside]

This also applies to wardrobe in nearly every job — professional clothing can be arbitrarily expensive. Even retail workers usually have buy their own plain clothes in the one allowable color.

[Turing_Machine]

The flip side of workers taking better care of their own tools is that their tools also actually get used.

When I worked construction (many years ago) you could always spot an inexperienced bullshitter who showed up looking for work on the crew by the fact that his tools would be all shiny and new.

I guess the pro tip there is that if you don't have much experience and want to work construction, take your brand-new tools and beat up on them a little bit before going to look for work. :-)