Hiring challenges are impacting businesses Australia wide, regardless of size or industry, finding suitably qualified employees is a tough gig. Seek released stats last month indicating that for the first time since they launched in 1997 they are seeing far more jobs being advertised than there are candidates.
Statistics from last quarter indicate that 50% of Australian businesses are employing right now. According to the PWC “What Workers Want” report Australian workers will soon be on the move in much larger numbers than we’ve seen in recent times: The Great Resignation.
Some commentators have said this intent has been created by a sense of restlessness, or looking to regain control, after a significant period in lockdown. Sociologists suggest that people have been particularly introspective as a result of the pandemic, which can often lead to job and career changes- and others believe it has been building up in the background for some time, as people have been reluctant to change employers in an unstable market.
It’s likely to be a combination of all those factors – but it doesn’t alter the reality that Australian organisations are about to see people walking out the door. And it’s adding to the impression that the balance of power is shifting from the employer to the employee. Because in the war for talent, it’s the worker who has the better bargaining position.
Whatever the cause, here we are and we need to put strategies in place to stop the flow of talent out the gate.
If you’ve approached recruitment with the “why should I employ you” mindset it’s time for that to change.
Attracting interest from job seekers requires you to shift your thinking from what you want from candidates (i.e. requirements of the role) to what you have to offer prospective candidates
It’s time to invest more in meeting employees expectations, when you do this it makes it much easier to attract employees. But more than that, they stick around, and the less you have to recruit, train and have staffing issues impact core business operations the more it makes this a no brainer right?
But if you don’t deliver on what you promise, or walk the walk then expect the flow to continue.
Culture is King
The latest data from the Gartner Talent Monitor Report reveals that ‘culture is king’ for employees who’ve emerged from lockdowns with a renewed sense of priorities. Aaron McEwan, VP Research & Advisory at Gartner, told HRD: “The data shows Australian employers face an ultimatum: prioritise quality leadership and a positive work culture in your organisation or risk losing staff to a highly competitive talent market.”
“What happens in the wake of a major worldwide existential event, like a global pandemic is that it leaves long-lasting changes,” he continued. “Even if everything returns to a balance of power in favour of the employer, I don’t think it will change the fundamental shift that we’ve seen in employees which is they are rethinking their relationship with work at a very fundamental level.
Get your offer and leadership right and employees will stick around. Not forever, because a job for life no longer exists, but you will manage a stable workforce. And in our current job market, this should be your key priority.
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It’s time for HR to move beyond policies, practices and processes, HR’s value proposition to business is to ensure HR professionals and their practices’ produce positive outcomes for key stakeholders, employees, line managers, customers and investors.
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