There’s a tectonic shift taking place in today’s workforce. Facing burnout, safety concerns, and a general feeling that it’s time to rethink what matters, workers across industries are taking bold steps toward a career change. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that 2.9% of the workforce left their jobs in August 2021, and just one month later, an additional 4.4 million Americans quit. The Great Resignation needs no introduction.
The business implications will be felt throughout 2022: New data from Fortune and Deloitte shows that 73% of CEOs agree that “a labor/skills shortage is the most likely external issue to disrupt their business in the next 12 months.” In response, employers need to adjust their strategies to provide the kind of healthy, sustainable, and integrated work-life experience that workers want while establishing and maintaining the structures, processes, and policies necessary to sustain growth.
For executives, managers, and HR professionals looking to create work environments that attract and retain top talent, it’s all about putting people front and center. Here are three trends to shape your 2022 strategies to do just that.
RESKILLING TO CLOSE THE TALENT GAP
Clearly, the talent gap is widening — and that pattern will continue. McKinsey estimates that up to 107 million workers may need to change jobs by 2030. That’s roughly 12 million more than our pre-pandemic estimate. But as anyone in HR knows, qualified hires are hard to come by — and the resources required to locate and secure top candidates are getting increasingly costly. Organizations need to rethink their hiring strategies to meet changing demands. One powerful strategy is reskilling. Reskilling is training current employees on a completely new set of skills to take on an entirely different role. For example, a bank may reskill a customer service representative to become a software engineer. Not only does this approach preserve and invest in in-house talent, but it’s also cost-effective. One study found that companies could save $136k per person by reskilling existing tech talent versus imparting layoffs and new hires. Reskilling isn’t only an internal strategy. More and more businesses are using reskilling as a way to build — and broaden — candidate pipelines of junior talent. This strategy not only helps businesses fill roles but also allows them to tap into a more diverse pool of high-potential talent. As far as the common fear of investing in employees only to have them leave, reskilling seems to encourage the opposite, actually boosting engagement and loyalty. It actionably shows employees that their employer is invested in them. On average, companies who have reskilled with General Assembly have seen retention rates at 91%.
MAKING DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION MORE HUMAN
FOSTERING CULTURES OF MEANING
This entry was posted in Corporate Strategies on January 20, 2022, by Brian Nelson.