The looming personnel shortage is both an opportunity and a
crisis, depending on where you stand.
For the ambitious, now’s the time to get the promotion they
want. More money, bigger office, company car–you name it; it’s
just around the corner for those willing to make a change.
In the next year we’ll see more than two million new job
openings. Maybe twice that many the year after, and double again
in the third year. Employers are already losing ambitious,
high-caliber people to the competition. Headhunters are
scrambling to fill critical openings.
It’s a great time for individuals who want to get ahead, but the
impact on your company is going to be serious if you’re not
proactive in holding onto key people and training others to fill
the openings.
Underemployed workers are already boosting their education to
take advantage of the upcoming personnel shortage. Community
colleges are informing them of future demands and helping with
tuition assistance.
In addition to the usual retiree attrition, you’re going to be
hit by the recruiting efforts of companies with more pay and
greater benefits. The competition used to be your biggest
threat, but you must now pay attention to other industries as
well.
Here are five things you can do right now to retain key
employees and enhance your recruiting efforts.
1. Make sure people know they’re appreciated
2. Provide appropriate training and equipment for every employee
3. Distribute work and hire enough people to prevent job
overload.
4. Help people feel like they’re in control of their jobs and
their lives by giving them all the information available and by
including them in the decision making process
5. Make sure management personnel have good leadership and
interpersonal skills
The days are gone when management could ignore employees because
the investment in people was only 20% of overall manufacturing
costs. To get the job done, you must have qualified people in
every position, and continually replacing key people isn’t the
answer. The cost of recruiting and training is small in
comparison to the cost of lost opportunities.
The best defense against the loss of key people is a good
offence. Prevent personnel turnover by making your place so
attractive that you are luring people away from the competition.
Get a free article about forecasting the future of the
marketplace in “What’s Next,” in “Courageous Leadership
Tips” at www.couragebuilders.com
The Leadership Edge: Good leaders must be good managers
and good managers must be good leaders. Everyone in a
supervisory position needs to give priority to the quality of
work and the quality of life of each person on the payroll.
Copyright 2010 – Dale Collie