The global labour shortage is affecting many businesses. Not only are they struggling to fill open vacancies, but their teams often must work additional hours, putting themselves at risk of burnout. If you’ve never had a problem filling open positions in the past, you might be curious about why you’re facing these problems now. It might be for some of the following reasons:
You’re Not Looking for Workers in the Right Way
Many businesses have easily been able to fill vacant positions by asking their current employees for recommendations. Some business owners also place ads on job seeker platforms and even social media.
However, you might be able to secure the best talent by connecting with recruitment agencies. For example, hospitality industry business owners might reach out to hospitality recruiters, and companies looking for managers and leaders might contact management agencies. While there’s nothing wrong with using job seeker platforms, the global labour shortage is making it important for employers to explore alternative options to obtain the talent they seek.
You Don’t Offer Competitive Compensation
It’s a job seekers’ market, which means employers no longer have the upper hand. With more jobs than workers, job seekers don’t have to pick the first job they find. Instead, they can shop around and choose one that offers the most desirable pay packages.
If you’re struggling to attract new employees to your business, consider whether your compensation package is to blame. Compare your offerings to those of similar companies and see how you compare. You might improve your chances of attracting talent by offering a higher salary, health insurance, retirement funds, flexible work arrangements, and other desirable perks.
You Don’t Offer Flexible Work Arrangements
While the nine-to-five working week perfectly suits many people’s needs, it’s not a desirable work arrangement for everyone. As a result, some people might choose to work for businesses offering more flexible work options like hybrid, remote, and flex time. If you’re in a position to customise your roles, consider doing so to potentially enjoy more applicants.
For example, if your employees work in an office environment, you might advertise potential remote or hybrid positions. This means your new employees can work from home full-time or divide their time between their homes and the office.
Alternatively, you might advertise flex time. This means you can set the hours your employees must work but give them the freedom to choose their start and finish times. While it’s not always possible to offer all flexible work arrangements in all industries, you have more options than you think to retain a loyal workforce.
The Boomer Generation Is Retiring
Boomers once made up the majority of the workforce, but that’s now changing. As they reach retirement age, boomers are slowly transitioning out of work to enjoy their golden years, leaving vacancies in their wake.
Many business owners can struggle to fill the gaps they leave behind with millennial workers. This might be because millennials have different priorities. While boomers might be happy to work nine to five, 40 hours a week, millennials crave more flexibility.
Research by Deloitte showed that half of millennials in the UK consider flexibility very important when choosing a job. If you can’t offer that flexibility, you might not attract the workforce you’re looking for.
Workers Are Burning Out
Juggling a 40-hour work week while balancing the demands of home life can be difficult for the average person to manage. As the years pass and priorities change, many employees feel burnt out and overworked. Worker shortages can exacerbate this problem. If you require your loyal team to work more hours to fill the gaps, you might push them to the point of seeking employment opportunities elsewhere. Your business might be facing a worker shortage because you’re not prioritising your current team’s physical and mental health.
The Pandemic Has Caused a Priority Shift
The COVID-19 pandemic made many people realise there was more to life than work. The old adage, work to live, don’t live to work, started ringing true. Rather than working jobs they didn’t like or hours that didn’t suit their needs, many workers began seeking better employment opportunities or chose to leave the workforce altogether upon reaching retirement age.
This priority shift has had a significant impact on many employers. Rather than workers being satisfied with minimum wage and next to no benefits for entry-level positions, employers must now offer competitive rates and packages with flexible working hours. If you can’t offer such perks, you may struggle to employ the workforce you need to run a successful business.