Covid-19 pandemic has affected economies in many areas, labour shortages is one of the problems facing the business owners now a days as the pandemic exacerbate the existing labour shortages prior to the pandemic. They are struggling to find and retain a post-pandemic workforce. Some of the reasons of labour shortage are more people choose early retiring, switching to a better job, and other workers choose to quit their jobs as are they experiencing low and stagnant wages, unpredictable schedules, poor working conditions while also lacking access to basic benefits such as health care and paid family and medical leave.
Businesses must find ways to retain their employees after COVID to ensure that there is sufficient talent to meet demand. They should adopt changes that pandemic brings us and manage their business in a different way than they did before the pandemic. Some considerations that will help them to retain their workers are schedule flexible work hours, this will enable employees to accommodate unexpected changes and maintain a better work-life balance.A flexible working schedule will also help every individual employee to arrange their personal matters with ease without compromising their professional life and most importantly other workers as well.Recognizing and rewarding good work will motivate the employees to go the extra mile to perform better as they would feel important and appreciated. The opportunity to clim up the ladder in professional life will definitely motivate the employees to retrain at ones workplace and it will eventually lead to personal growth will also be a big help for the employees to expand their skills and find opportunities within the company. Making wellness and safety a priority will make the employees know that you care about their health and safety while performing their job duties and make them feel protected. Offering institutional benefits shows them that you value their well-being, and you care to support their personal and professional success. Constant contact and employee feed back is also a great move to keep the workers feel important and being cared for. By doing this you make sure they are important and valuable part of the institute they work for. It will definitely make a great impact on the business in a positive way. Workers will be motivated to work hard and retain as they felt their value and satisfaction within the work environment and see no reason for them to leave and look for other or more greener pastures.
Business has no choice but to make such changes or they will continue to be short of workers. On the other hand, if they do changes, they will be rewarded by retaining and attracting competent and committed employees.
References:
Honeybee. (April 22, 2019). Retrieved February 15,2022, from https://www.honeybeebenefits.com/prevent-employees-from-leaving/
New City Insurance. (September 9, 2021). Retrieved February 15,2022, from https://newcityinsurance.com/ways-retain-employees-post-pandemic-workforce/
Nimasha Weerakoon and Maribeth Villamor
18 March 2022 at 1:27 pm
Hi Nimasha and Maribeth,
What you said on the blog is very true and clearly explained. Covid-19 pandemic had affected many areas in the world economy. Here labor shortage is the topic.
In some countries, it is no secret that the labor force is dwindling. The baby boomers are reaching the end of their work lives, leaving behind a smaller pool of possible replacements.In the construction business , where the quantity of component employees is not keeping up with the number of job opportunities, this labor shortage is particularly noticeable. Business must be prepared to give and take in order to survive this labor crisis. In order to recruit and keep employees, employers must be prepared to give greater compensation and better benefits than their competitors. Meanwhile, they must be willing to collaborate with their staff in order to come up with innovative solutions to the problems resulting from the scarcity. Offering increased compensation is one method of attracting new employees.
The fact that construction workers are in great demand at the moment may seem like a no-brainier. To recruit and keep the most qualified employees, you must be ready to pay them what they are worth on a consistent basis. Another strategy for attracting employees is to provide greater perks. Health insurance, retirement programs, and paid time off are examples of what is included in this category.
Finally , there must be a collaboration with the employer and employee in order to develop innovative solutions to the issues given by the labor shortage. If we want to reduce costs, you may need to change the way you do things, or you may need to invest in new technologies that allow you to get the job done with fewer employees. Whatever the answer, it is critical that you be willing to collaborate with your staff in order to achieve success.
However, with a little bit of imagination and a lot of hard effort, the labor deficit may be addressed and overcome. Providing you are open to both giving and receiving, you may locate the employees you require to keep your firm functioning.
Reference,
Barford, A., Coombe, R., & Proefke, R. (2021). Against the odds: young people’s high aspirations and societal contributions amid a decent work shortage. Geoforum, 121, 162-172.
Horrigan, M., Heggeness, M., Bahn, K., & Strain, M. R. (2022). Is there a labor shortage?. Business Economics, 1-17.
By,
Nisha
20 March 2022 at 5:45 pm
Hi Maribeth and Nimasha,
This blog is very timely and I agree that this pandemic has affected our economy in many areas, most especially, our labour market as a whole. We are all not ready for this, and we do not expect it to happen for a long time. To start with, businesses are having problems in earning money and provide or meet the needs of their employees. With all the lockdowns and safety protocols, there are lots of instances where businesses are force to reduce the number of employees, lower the wages and benefits, and also provide employees too much workload and not being paid for overtime. In worst cases, some of the businesses declares bankruptcy and people will end up with no job. We all know that these businesses do not want this to happen at all, but they do not have a choice since they as well do not earn that much.
In addition, with the number of people who is fortunate to have jobs during this pandemic, some of them still do leave their work. Some of the reasons may be the one that you have mentioned such as;
1. They choose to retire early;
2. They decide to change a better career; or
3. They just choose to quit their job for some reasons such as their wages and benefits, poor working condition, etc.
We have no one to blame at the end of the day. Both businesses and employees never thought of this to happen in the first place. In fact, we are all struggling and experiencing labour crisis or labour shortage during this pandemic. At this point, we may also ask ourselves how we can resolve these issues. I know this question is difficult to answer but I do agree with you that businesses should adopt with the changes that pandemic brings us and just manage their business in a different way than they did before the pandemic. I also believe that nothing is impossible, and that we can get through with these challenges we are facing. We just need to take an action one at a time.
As what Robert Half (2021) said “While the job market slightly favours employers right now, candidates with in-demand skills likely won’t have to wait long to find a new opportunity. Many companies never stopped hiring during the pandemic, and a lot that did are starting to expand staff levels again. If you sense your business is at risk of losing top talent, you need to move fast to shore up your employee retention strategies.” Moreover, he had mentioned strategies to help boost employees’ job satisfaction and increase business ability to hold onto valued workers. These are some of the strategies:
1. Flexible work arrangement;
2. Work-life balance;
3. Acknowledgement of milestone, big and small;
4. Effective change management;
5. An emphasis on teamwork; etc.
To conclude, every management must be responsive to the wants of employees. They should involve strategic actions to keep employees motivated and focused so they elect to remain employed and fully productive for the benefit of the organization. In doing so, the company will benefit from the productivity of the employees, and the employees will be rewarded for their good work.
References:
https://www.roberthalf.ca/en/blog/management-tips/effective-employee-retention-strategies
20 March 2022 at 5:52 pm
Reference
Robert Half. (2021 October 21). 14 effective employee retention strategies. Robert Half. Retrieved March 20, 2022 from https://www.roberthalf.ca/en/blog/management-tips/effective-employee-retention-strategies
by:
Kim Patrick G. Desamito