Labor Shortage?

Reports are becoming more frequent heralding shortages of labor around the country. These reports claim the shortages are so bad that local communities are actually paying people to move to their areas and fill vacant jobs.

Several years ago, a major national trade association opined that serious labor shortages will occur about this time due mainly to retirements. The theory went like this: senior intelligence workers in most firms are aging toward mandatory retirement deadlines. The loss of these workers will cause disruptions in organizations and be difficult to fill. What made this problem worse, in their opinion, was the lack of qualified workers to fill the vacancies, workers who did not have the skills or interest to seek promotions.

Well, some of this has become a reality. I’m sure there are work force gurus who have the data bases to substantiate their claims, but it seems to me, labor shortages are the result of the following:

·        Aging of America’s workforce; the Baby Boomers are retiring in droves; and more are following their forebears

·        This demographic is no surprise; it has been worried over for 20 years; human resource professionals have warned us that management and leadership vacancies will be large with few people to move up in rank unless they are trained and developed for these roles

·        Technology has caused enormous shifts in knowledge bases needed for planning, managing, and manufacturing operations; finding available talent on the open labor market has been difficult; most dynamic organizations have adopted major technology shifts and have been hiring and training staff for some time

·        Many companies ignored the warnings but shifted their operations just the same without considering the availability of skill sets among current staff or new hires; result – vacancies begging for workers

·        Too many corporations failed to build training and development programs in their human resources departments; result: current employees have been left in the cold with little or no training; new hires have displaced them

Some of the painful results are already enumerated above. But wait! There’s more to deal with:

·        Unemployment has risen in traditional corporate neighborhoods while at the same time they are reporting unprecedented vacancies in their employment ranks; they simply can’t find the people they want while jettisoning good, loyal workers already in their employ

·        Human Resource training and development programs are costly to build and maintain; but managing for change has always been expensive. HR professionals have known this for generations but the American business community feels qualified workers should come from educational systems; they bemoan the dismal quality of recent high school and college graduates

·        Huge numbers of unemployed workers with skilled backgrounds populate the 50 to 60 year old category; these are people willing to work, and able to work; yet they will require some training by employers and industries to capitalize on their updated skill sets; if they want these talents, all they have to do is hire them back and train them

·        Likewise, an enormous talent pool of retired people exists. They could be used in full-time or part-time assignments. They already know how to work and are willing to do so. They do not need all the usual benefits because they are already using some of their well-earned benefits. Such a reality saves the employer some benefit costs. Worthwhile job descriptions worthy of the effort of such potential workers do not exist. Companies are overlooking this treasure trove of talent. For what reason? And, get this: those who do want to hire them, offer $10 to $15 per hour; some ads dangle $35/hour pay rates but they usually never arise in the employment interview.

Inventive American businesses continue to ignore the very talents they need living in their own backyards. It is shortsighted. They adjust their business plans based on 90-day projections and end up hiring the work done by foreign vendors. The results are cheap supply chains and higher profit margins. Then 120 days later they wonder why their staffing numbers continue to shrink.

Seems to me corporate leaders should sit down with education leaders and plan their manpower needs complete with skill-set projections. A partnership would be helpful between these two segments of society. Who knows what might happen? We might awaken one morning with the headline: “Powerful New Employment Numbers Fueled by Newly Trained, Older Graduates.”

Wouldn’t that be a nice surprise?!

May 3, 2018