THE LABOR SHORTAGE: REASONS & TRINITY SUGGESTIONS TO MEET THIS CHALLENGE

We are in an extremely challenging time in terms of the labor market. The economic recovery has many employers hiring, but they cannot find nearly enough qualified applicants.

• The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Report by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) of May 11th shows almost 8,200,000 (yes, 8.2 million!) job openings.
• That’s the highest number of job openings in the history of the Bureau’s Report.
• The table below shows the parts of the labor market that have been hit the hardest:

Source: Statista

CONTRIBUTING FACTORS

Here are some of the factors causing this shortage:

• 1)  Receipt of Covid-19 stimulus checks
  • This is obviously true for workers at the lower pay rates for which the stimulus checks equated in some instances to multiple months of their take home paycheck.
• 2)  The financial decision by some that they are better off receiving state unemployment compensation benefits plus the federal unemployment benefits supplement of $300 per week (which some states have already begun to put an end to)
  • The sharp rise in gas prices has exacerbated this—as has now (and hopefully only temporary) gas shortage in many states
• 3)  Individuals concern about the safety of returning to work despite the:
  • The large number of working age adults who have been vaccinated
  • Safety measures employers have in place
  • CDC’s recent announcement about the safety of the resumption of normal activities
• 4)  Issues with child care—even though we are seeing the return of in school attendance in place of virtual school
  • The past and current societal reality is that this issue impacts females (especially single moms) to a much greater degree than it does males.
• 5)  As technology has made and continues to make remarkable advances, it changes the skills needed to perform many of today’s jobs.
  • This results in a mismatch between employers’ needs and applicants’ qualifications.
  • Almost all projections indicate that this gap will continue to widen markedly unless and until there are significant collaboration efforts between employers, schools (both colleges and technical schools) and government agencies.

Although it’s not possible to assign a weight to these and other contributing factors with a high degree of accuracy, individually and collectively they have a negative impact on organizations acquiring the talent they need now and for some unknown future time period.

TRINITY’S THOUGHTS

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Below are some potential actions for you to evaluate in order to achieve greater success in meeting your staffing needs:

• 1)  Re-assessing your recruiting process and what potential labor pools are being ignored
  • A Trinity client is discovering that many retirees are willing and able to work.
  • Another company is tapping into those who are re-entering the work force after military service.
• 2)  Hiring search consultants for certain professional and management positions
  • Do not confuse search consultants with staffing agencies
    • The expertise of search consultants are as different from staffing agencies as a major league baseball player’s skill is from that of a high school player’s skill.
• 3)  Re-evaluating your use (or non-use) of current employees as “recruiters”
  • This is often an undervalued source of new employees.
    • Trinity has created innovative “employee recruiter” programs.
• 4)  Expanding the use of part-time and contingency jobs
• 5)  Further re-evaluating which jobs can be performed from home
  • Including taking into account the amount of space owned/leased as less employees become on site ones
• 6)  Creating or greater relying on internships and internal training opportunities
  • The latter includes the “old school” model of hiring trainees who receive on the job training to gain the necessary knowledge and skills.
• 7)  Increasing pay rates
  • Behemoths such as Amazon and Walmart have already done so, but so have “mom and pop” businesses, as well as employers in between
• 8)  Providing “hiring” bonuses
  • Keep in mind: a) The amount can vary based on the degree of difficulty to hire and b) Bonuses should not be paid until after a certain length of employment
• 9)  Offering 100% company-paid healthcare benefits
  • This is after decades of employers having moving to a cost-sharing approach to healthcare benefits.
    • If you are considering this, keep in mind the implications for your existing employees.
• 10)  Initiating or expanding child care assistance
  • Since some jobs cannot be performed remotely, response 3) falls short of a total solution
  • This may (but does not necessarily) mean creating on-site child care services through a third party or even making an employer contribution toward the cost of child care.
  • It may include actions such as: a) Identifying area providers and negotiating employee discounts and b) Having a Dependent Care Assistance Program under IRS regulations

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON HOW TRINITY’S TEAM OF CONSULTANTS CAN HELP YOU WITH YOUR TALENT ACQUISITION OR OTHER PEOPLE-RELATED MATTERS:

• E mail Trinity at info@TrinityHR.net
• Visit our website at www.TrinityHR.net
• Call us at 856.905.1762 or Toll Free at 877.228.6810

YOU HAVE HR CHALLENGES…TRINITY HAS SOLUTIONS!