Contributors: Courtney Phox and Ruth Chung
June 21, 2021
The number one question in the world right now is: Why are businesses struggling to find employees? Wait times are longer than ever, not from a large abundance of customers, but from the limited staff businesses are able to hire. Businesses are struggling to reopen because it has been challenging to hire employees and regain employees from pre-pandemic.
Employers are unsure as to why people are choosing to stay home, but there are several conclusions revolving around benefits and how they are dissuading people from returning. Businesses that are hiring workers are not raising their wages enough to entice workers to work for them. Why would people work if they can get the same amount of money from unemployment? By ending unemployment benefits people would have no choice but to work and therefore employment rates will rise, helping businesses run efficiently again.
One thing that remains true is that people like incentives. Some states including New Hampshire, Michigan, Tennessee, Arizona and Maine have implemented prizes or benefits to entice their community members to look for work. Boston, Massachusetts recognizes the benefits of incentives and pushes for their state to provide employment benefits, which is something we may begin to see in every state. Employers are also navigating through the regulations and limitations of the COVID-19 vaccine. Employers have just gotten the okay to require workers that are physically in the workplace to be vaccinated which limits businesses in whom they can hire. Businesses have two options: raise their benefits or wages to gain employees or learn to efficiently operate with fewer employees.
The entire pandemic has been a learning experience for everyone and to be able to efficiently go back to “normal” everyone needs to work together.
Some key takeaways from this experience, that could help businesses are:
1. Start from the Beginning: Find new ways to innovate and bring revenue into your business. Don’t look at what you did before the pandemic, rather look at what people want now.
2. Find the Right Employees: Many college kids were at a loss when graduating because there was nowhere to go. Market to those who have just graduated college or are about to graduate college because they are hungry for experience.
3. Take it Slow: don’t hire one hundred employees at once but focus on who you really need and how many employees would help your business run efficiently.
The struggle to hire will not be gone in one day, but each day we can take one step closer to finding our new normal.