Just when you thought we could return to “normal” we have the new crisis – no applicants and not enough employees. How did this happen? The news media wants you to believe it is because of all the great money that people can make sitting at home not working. I’m not so sure. Certainly, there are always those that don’t/won’t work. There is much more to this situation. I call it the “Big Shift”.
The pandemic changed employees. The employee world has shifted. Before the pandemic, we thought everything was great with full employment. Then came the day that workers were laid off or had to change jobs. It became the time to ponder what they really wanted to do and for whom. While business owners were struggling to survive, employees were also struggling. Restaurant workers got jobs delivering food. Since daycares were closed, they brought their kids along for their food deliveries. Guess what? Not only did workers like that flexibility, but they actually made the same pay (or higher, since they didn’t have to pay for day care!) Others applied for stay-at-home jobs and they liked having no commute or dress code. Mindsets shifted while employers were focused on reopening and surviving. At almost every level, there has been a shift!
So here we are. What’s an employer to do? Shift your own thinking!!!! What do you need to do to change your job descriptions, pay, and work environment in order to make your workplace attractive to workers? The same thing that you were doing before won’t work. Look at all of the elements of jobs and see how you can group tasks to make them more interesting and fun. Pay will have to go up and you will need to look at your business model to make changes to fund the additional expense. Don’t wait for things to change………work on this now! Shift your mindset and you will be successful.
Thanks for listening,
Suzi
