Attracting & Retaining Talent
Biggest Workplace Focus in 2021: Employee Quality of Life
The coronavirus pandemic made employers rethink everything in 2020—many had to undergo wholesale transformations just to retain a happy and healthy workforce. At the end of the day, it became obvious that employee quality of life was the top factor in determining business success. As such, employers should expect a focus on employees in 2021. More specifically, ADP recently compiled a list of growing workplace trends that have been accelerated by the pandemic.
Below are some of the main takeaways from the study. Employers should expect to see these and similar trends throughout the year.
? Employee flexibility—Nearly 44% of employers now offer flexible working policies, such as flex scheduling. This is up from just 24% before the pandemic.
? Health and safety—Around 40% of employers said employee health and safety concerns were a top priority.
? Workplace diversity—Searches for data insights on diversity and cultural demographics increased by 74% during the pandemic. This shows employers are interested in fostering a more diverse, inclusive workplace.
Employers should watch for these and other emerging trends in order to attract and retain workers in 2021. Data shows that employees are increasingly concerned about their well-being in the workplace. Adopting creative solutions, such as flexible scheduling, health screenings and diversity hiring, can help create a workplace that more employees want to be a part of. Moreover, doing so early can help reduce all-too-common problems, such as burnout and absenteeism.
Need to Hire Now? Focus on Skills, Not Experience
The COVID-19 pandemic stripped the U.S. economy of nearly 22 million jobs in just a few short months. Some of those jobs have been clawed back, but not nearly enough for many organizations to remain operational. One of the most significant victims of this has been the service sector—namely, workers in retail, hospitality, food service and transportation.
Unfortunately, many of these jobs are unlikely to return. For years, service-sector jobs have been declining, and that was only made worse during the pandemic. While this is a tragedy in many ways, it’s also a mixed blessing for hiring managers. Instead of writing off these workers, some organizations are taking a proactive approach: reskilling.
Reskilling workers is what it sounds like: training workers from seemingly unqualified roles to work in new ones. Some large companies have already been doing this, focusing on skills more so than industry experience or degrees. For instance, the tech firm Infosys is looking to hire skilled workers from anywhere in the country who have an aptitude for remote working—college degree not required.
That’s because a robust training program can help workers from any field adapt and adjust their career skills to any position. In fact, 68% of learning and development professionals said employers are investing more heavily in these tools to help employee mobility, according to a LinkedIn report.
Employers looking to hire soon should follow these examples and consider how to build out their training programs. Doing so can help lower the barriers into the organization, allowing for greater candidate options. In other words, if every employee can get up to speed at the same rate, employers can focus on the quality of candidates rather than their resumes.
Why Job Postings May Be Your Biggest Hiring Roadblock
Job postings are the window that candidates use to view a company. As such, employers should make sure candidates see the right things. If a post is poorly written or omits critical details, the quality of applying candidates will likely reflect that.
In other words, if employers want good candidates, they’ll need good job postings. And, in cases where a job might not seem very appealing on paper, drafting a quality post is that much more important. While the quality of job postings can be subjective by position, there are still constants that employers should follow:
? Explain the role well—Candidates should have a clear picture of what they’ll be doing each day, not a vague impression.
? Be clear about ideal personalities— Listing ideal traits such as “team player” or “positivity” are too broad and may increase the volume of candidates at the expense of quality. Focus instead on specifics, such as “engages directly with co-workers to solve problems quickly.”
? Detail specific job duties—Candidates need to know exactly what’s expected of them. This means providing real-world examples of duties based on employees in those current positions.
Beyond these tips, employers should also consider the question of, “Why should someone want to work here?” This may not always be clear to candidates, so it’s important to explicitly state it. Focusing on this aspect, and the suggestions above, can help create more meaningful job postings that will attract a greater number of qualified candidates.
Workplace Outlook
Each month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) surveys around 149,000 businesses and government agencies, and publishes the data the following month. This information offers a snapshot of the country’s employment health and growth. Below is the data for November 2020, the most recent month available. Note, the BLS is now contextualizing its data with February’s pre-COVID-19 figures.
Primary job gains:
Transportation and warehousing, professional and business services, and health care
Transportation and warehousing:
+145,000
(-123,000 below Feb. level)
Professional and business services:
+60,000
(-1.1 million below Feb. level)
Health care:
+46,000
(-527,000 below Feb. level)