Survive the Coming Talent Shortage
Current US unemployment is 4.1%, a 17-year record low. This starts with our country’s #1 profession, truck driving, where nearly one million new drivers will be needed over the next six years to replace retirees. And it continues across industry after industry according to The Washington Post Wonkblog: “2018 Challenge: Too many jobs, not enough workers.”
The problem isn’t just domestic. Australia, France, Germany and Japan have similar shortages. It’s estimated that we’ll see a global shortage of 85 million qualified candidates by 2030.
According to a Hays US 2018 Salary Guide, 92% employers predict the talent shortage will impact productivity, employee satisfaction, and turnover. In such a competitive environment, how can a company not just survive, but thrive? After all, not many organizations have the recruiting machine or deep pockets that a Google has.
Fully Employed, Rarely Satisfied
Despite the high employment, employees are not very satisfied with their career path. 67% of US employees have self-identified as disengaged or actively disengaged according to Gallup. That number is around 86% in the rest of the world. An astonishing two-thirds or more aren’t performing to their capabilities.
A Culture of Success
Organizations that make employee satisfaction a priority flip that statistic, with 70% of employees saying they’re engaged. But there’s still room for improvement. In the future, companies that create a culture that values and engages employees won’t be short on talent during a talent shortage.
Reputation Matters
90% of job seekers list transparency as essential to attracting talent to a company. Transparency sites like Glassdoor.com are helping candidates identify the good and bad cultures by exposing what their employees think. 50% of candidates say they would not work for a company with a bad reputation. Even for a higher pay.
Net Employer Scores
You may have heard of Net Promoter Scores, where customers rate their willingness to recommend a company’s products. Maybe it’s time to create a Net Employer Score that rates how willing employees are to recommend their employers. Today and in the future, organizations that measure and invest in their employee satisfaction will build a responsive culture that engages and inspires — and turns employees into advocates.
Talent Gain Instead of Talent Drain
Employee referrals are the #1 source of high quality candidates. In a shrinking talent pool, you need to nurture and develop current employees to retain your best talent and recruit even more.
José Benitez Cong has been a talent recruiter and HR veteran who built the iPod and iPhone teams at Apple, then helped staff and manage HR at Nest Labs before they were acquired by Google. Now, he’s co-founder and CEO of Plause, a new software platform that helps companies spark employee engagement, alignment and performance.
