Conquer the Talent Shortage and Find the Employees You Need
|
Today’s talent shortage is going to become increasingly acute and widespread over the next ten years. It will affect most organizations in some form, depending upon how well they prepare today for this shortage. Employers need to reduce the number of jobs for which talent is in short supply and increase the total available pool of employable talent. This process of reducing the demand for and increasing the supply of, talent will help employers win in today’s changing world of work.
Social and demographic changes such as falling birthrates and lengthening life spans are resulting in a lack of skilled individuals for available jobs. This talent crunch is creating many changes in the global workforce, and employers that are not paying attention could find their businesses healthy one year and in trouble the next. While some employers have already taken steps to improve their talent pipeline, there is far more that can be done – in proactive ways – to address the growing talent shortage.
One way employers can do this is by establishing links with schools to provide meaningful work-placement opportunities, to give students a true taste of real work skills and to prepare them for eventual employment. In addition, to develop their own homegrown pool of suitably qualified talent, employers should invest more in work-based vocational and technical training. Although a costly process, it will help employers to grow and sustain needed talent supplies.
Employers should also think about re-skilling and up-skilling those individuals who are in roles that are becoming redundant or obsolete, so they can fill newly created positions. For example, letting go of 1,000 employees in one department only to hire 1,000 different employees in another department a week later, means the company has lost an opportunity to up-skill the first group of employees who already had a knowledge and understanding of the company and place them into the jobs they already had available elsewhere in the company. This results in double the cost, training and time invested in filling those new positions.
Encouraging cross training can create a group of employees with the right skills and knowledge to fill several different positions. These people can then be moved between roles within the organization, as workload demands change, creating more flexibility for the company to have the right person in the right place. Employers can also introduce more contingent talent – temporary, contract, consultant and outsourced – to their total workforce, to accommodate the varying levels of demand. For today’s largest employers, contingent labor is a core part of their company’s HR strategy, with up to 30% of their workforces coming from contingent labor sources.
Many economies have unemployed or under-employed individuals who could be brought back into the labor force to increase supply. Bringing these individuals back into work, particularly those who have been inactive for a long time, involves providing training in basic work skills and an introduction to good work ethic.
Attracting minorities into the workforce can also reduce the skills pinch. Women, older individuals, people with disabilities, and minorities are all under-represented in many workforces and employers need to work to set expectations and change the culture to one of inclusivity, helping to bring such groups into the workforce in greater numbers. Employers can invest in technology for individuals with disabilities, such as computer readers that vocalize on-screen text and adapted PC controls for those with physical disabilities. They also can make Web sites accessible for the visually impaired.
In addition, older workers whose jobs could potentially remain unfilled if they retire need to be encouraged to stay in employment. Employers can offer them retraining so they can return to less stressful and time-consuming roles. They can also offer part-time work opportunities. This flexible approach increases the pool of knowledgeable, skilled workers by prolonging the individuals’ active working lives.
In a talent poor, competitive future, all organizations will need to become ‘employers of choice.’ This includes getting better at attracting the talent they need, and at retaining that talent for the long-term. This means providing motivating opportunities for varied experience, good prospects for promotion, and the right mix of working conditions, including flexible hours, maternity and paternity arrangements, and generous annual paid leave allowances, to create an acceptable work–life balance. Such approaches will attract individuals to the company and encourage employees to stay in their positions longer.
While the talent crunch is an issue that will affect governments and individuals as well as employers, it is the employers who will feel the crunch first when there are fewer people applying for jobs. It is in the employer’s interests to address the growing talent shortage by acting now - it’s the only way to ensure a strong workforce for today and tomorrow in the changing world of work.
|
