Leaders wanting to hire employees now know there is a labor shortage. According to Forbes Magazine, “Next to rising costs, the biggest complaint from American businesses is the shortage of workers.”
What are the main reasons that it’s so hard to find employees right now? You will get different answers depending on who you ask, but here are some commonly agreed-upon reasons why there is currently a labor shortage:
- Wages are not keeping up with inflation. Wages have been increasing in the U.S., but not quickly enough to keep up with the rising inflation. Many employees seek out higher-paying jobs, leaving lower-level paying jobs with a shortage of workers.
- Businesses are also battling with higher costs. Many businesses, especially small businesses, struggle to compete with rising prices. Business owners and leaders may want to increase employee wages, but the cost of goods has consumed many of their extra profits.
- The Great Resignation and the Great Reshuffle. In 2021, 47 million workers quit their job in what many have called “The Great Resignation.”
● According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the trend may be better described as the Great Reshuffle, in which many of those workers quit their jobs to seek out other jobs leaving some fields lacking employees more than others.
● Quiet quitting can present a leadership challenge now more than ever. Those workers who have done enough to get by may find that now is the time to improve their job situation. From a leadership perspective, a decision has to be made. Do you let that person jump ship, or can they be motivated to find their purpose within the job?
4. Childcare issues. Although most schools across the U.S. are open now, childcare and school closings were a significant factor in families choosing to have one parent stay home. In households with two parents working, many switched to a one- working-parent home, at least temporarily.
● This may account for some shortages in some industries that have traditionally been female-dominated. For example, according to Fast Company, women make up 51% of restaurant workers and 71% of servers.
5. Baby boomers are retiring. There is also a lot of evidence that the baby boomer generation is retiring earlier than anticipated.
Pew Research released this report in 2020:
● “Millions of Baby Boomers retire yearly from the U.S. labor force. But in the past year, the number of retired Boomers increased more than in prior years.
● In the third quarter of 2020, about 28.6 million Baby Boomers – those born between 1946 and 1964 – reported being out of the labor force due to retirement.
● This is 3.2 million more Boomers than the 25.4 million who were retired in the same quarter of 2019.”
6. Remote work has changed the market. 2020 led many people to switch from working at a central location to working remotely. Many workers prefer to work remotely, making it harder for jobs requiring in-person participation to compete for employees.
Other contending factors may have changed the job market over the past few years. Indeed, stimulus money increased unemployment benefits, and forced shutdowns during the pandemic affected the job market in many ways.
These factors may have subsided in 2022 but very likely played a part in people seeking new and different positions as things opened up again.
Another reason there are fewer available workers is the increased interest in starting small businesses or doing freelance work rather than full-time paid positions. Nasdaq reports, “Some 83% of the people surveyed by Intuit who want to start a business said COVID-19 has accelerated their plans to start their own business.”
There may be many more reasons businesses fail to attract new talent, but these are among the most significant reasons. Some of them may be difficult for small to medium-sized companies in specific industries to overcome. However, there are still ways for leaders to find good, hard-working employees even during these unusual times.
Leaders, here are what employees are looking for in a new employer.
There are many things that employees may be looking for in a new workplace, so how can you make your business stand out?
Here are some helpful tips for leaders who want to attract new employees to their workplace:
Getting the word out is the first step in attracting new hires to your business. Ensure that people are aware you’re hiring. To let the public know that you’re hiring, you can:
• Advertise on social media if you have a broad audience
• Run ads on television
• Run ads on the radio
• Connect with people at community events
• Have a “work for us” section on your website
• Send out a newsletter to your email list
• Use job forums that are related to your job
• Reach out to past employees that left under good circumstances
• Use a help wanted sign outside your business
• BillboardsHost an open house
Additional tips for attracting new employees
• Let people know that you’re hiring, and let the right people know that you’re hiring. When ready to look for new employees, identify the correct demographic.
• You will save yourself a lot of time and trouble if you pitch your new job to the type of employee you want to hire. For example, a general job forum may attract many applicants who aren’t suitable for the job. Instead, try using a job board that is related to your industry.
• Entice people to apply for your job by making the process as simple as possible. Give people a step-by-step guide for applying to your job listing so they can quickly turn in an application for review.
You’re looking for people actively seeking a job and those passively looking for work. Community events, social media pages, radio, and television are better for reaching future employees that aren’t aggressively job-seeking.
Need some help with this issue? Consider a discovery session with me. You can schedule your free session here: