COVID-19 brought layoffs and furloughs on a global scale. Employees were let go by the companies that were struggling to stay afloat during those unprecedented times. While the pandemic has now subsided, employers are increasingly facing the opposite: a shortage of labor. This time, it’s the employees who are quitting their jobs!
The Coronavirus not only introduced new ways of working, but also significantly changed the way how people viewed their lives, careers, and jobs. In September 2021, 4.4 million people resigned from their jobs, driving the quit rate to a record high of 3%. This had a huge impact on the corporate sector, leaving business leaders grappling with doing more with less.
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5 Ways Businesses Can Thrive Despite Labor Shortage
Employers are losing talent, and this is becoming a growing concern for many. However, leaders can zero-base their businesses and continue to thrive despite labor shortages. Here are five ways that can help them:
Reinvent
Everything has changed from the skills required to do the job to what motivates employees. As a proactive response, employers should use a zero-based approach to reinvent their future workforce.
They must take a fresh look across their entire labor force and identify the areas where they can enhance operations either by changing the standard strategies and operating procedures or by deploying technology to simplify processes.
Business leaders should also ensure that the work they are doing complements the changing customer demands and supports growth strategy. They can do so by investing in the latest technology and tools while also taking care of the talent by adhering to workplace safety protocols, and best practices.
Automate
Considering the rising cost of employees and the shortage of labor, companies that used to view automation as expensive may find that the equation has changed now. In some cases, outsourcing can lower the up-front costs of automation as they provide off-the-shelf solutions. Accordingly, it would make sense to spot specific operations which could be automated to improve the way teams work.
Companies can also leverage analytical tools to identify specific areas for automation. This can further help them to unlock new opportunities.
Outsource
Employees who take up roles that involve rules-based and repetitive work enter the company with high expectations and often become stressed out by their job requirements. As a result, they lose interest in their own success. Outsourcing can notably lower employee turnover and burnout.
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Opting for this solution will free up workers, allowing them to transition into more rewarding roles. Concomitantly, employers should provide career advancement opportunities to their high-performing talent to retain them. This will boost their morale and consequently make them more productive.
Reskill
Instead of focusing on centralized hiring, organizations should reskill their staff. Employers can do this by providing the right training to their employees. It will help build the workforce of tomorrow. Moreover, this will allow companies to retain their staff. If employers don’t provide any such opportunity to their workers, they may eventually leave.
Businesses can also use AI to analyze the labor market and the skills of their workforce. This will make it easier for them to identify where skillsets overlapped and the gaps where talent needs reskilling to advance into a new role. It’s a win-win for both employees and the company.
Engage
It requires strategic planning to attract and retain workers by engaging them with work that is integral to the company’s identity. Employers should focus deeply on creating new growth opportunities for employees so they may not feel as if their career has stalled.
Some companies build rotation-based and agile teams, bringing talent from different departments together to work on a common objective such as improving customer experience. This will enable talent to discover new ways of working.
Also, workers who co-create solutions are more likely to be content and engaged which leads to both retention and attraction of resources, allowing them to acquire top-perform talent from recruitment firms like a staffing agency in Austin easily.
Conclusion
While it’s imperative for employers to take action to address the growing issue of labor shortage, it is equally essential for them to shift their strategy to help them transform their business.
The Great Resignation is currently ongoing, and it is predicted that even more employees will quit their jobs. In fact, there have already been 4.5 million job quits in March 2022. It is imperative that employers focus on combating this phenomenon by bringing effective and positive changes to their workplace.
