Wage Inflation: What Employers Can Expect in 2022

Currently, job growth is at a record pace, recovering all but a handful of the jobs lost during the pandemic. That's good news! The one difficult thing that can happen - recruiting talent in today's economy with high inflation and a worker shortage means you often have to pay them more. How do you deal with wage inflation and what will be expected of your company in terms of costs throughout 2022? Here are some things to consider:?

Be Strategic With Compensation

If you aren't clear about whether what you're offering your candidates is competitive or in line with industry wage standards, then now is the time to find out. If that's too much of a commitment for your company, then an analyst can help - they will provide compensation data and insights on how to increase wages so as not to fall behind the competition. It's vital that companies know how much their employees need increased wages if they want them to stay ahead of the pack.

The Conference Board, a member-driven think tank that delivers trusted insights into what lies ahead, projection is that companies will be setting aside 3.9% of their payroll budgets for raises in 2022, the highest amount seen in the last 10 years. It affects workers throughout company levels from entry-level to executives and hourly and salaried employees alike.

However, some companies are strategically planning for an even higher raise embedded in compensation packages based on the recent sharp increase in gas prices coupled with high inflation. Since raises were determined and budgeted for months ago, before the current situation arose, it's likely that many employers will be offering more attractive compensation packages to their best candidates than 3.9%.

To Appeal to New Talent Look Beyond Pay

For those with a limited budget, flexible scheduling is an attractive perk for both employees and candidates. This strategy can keep your workers happy and productive by allowing them to maintain a better work-life balance. And it's also an excellent choice if you're trying to attract younger talent who want more say in how they spend their time than someone older might be willing to give up.

Other advantages to consider promoting during your hiring process include professional services, internal promotion opportunities; workplace culture; and any other benefits that the competition can't or doesn't offer.

Make Your Job Description Attractive

In the job description, don't just simply list out requirements. It's important instead to highlight why someone would want to work for you. What makes your company unique? Why is it special or attractive as an employer? Also talk about what actually needs to be done in this position and how will you accomplish that specific task - rather than listing endless bullets of tasks with no explanation on how they're going to be completed, describe the job in simple terms and describe what makes your company a top employer.

Be Candidate Centric

Today, it's more important than ever to make the application and hiring process as easy as possible for candidates. It can be tedious to work through a cumbersome interviewing process or inefficient communication from an employer after applying. It is also essential to know what you are communicating throughout your hiring journey with candidates by making sure they feel heard, respected, and met their expectations before moving forward in this new relationship.

What does this look like? There should be less automation and more in-person engagement. Also, make it easier to apply; keep candidates up-to-date on the progress of their application, streamline the assessment methods, and eliminate lengthy & multiple interviews and presentations.

Practice What You Hire For

Companies hire based on skill and the ability to do a job. However when it comes to hiring new talent, they often expect employees, managers, and even HR to do a job they are ill-equipped for. They are not trained in proper resume screening, they don't have professional hiring experience, and are not in the trenches day in and day out reviewing resumes, pre-screening candidates and then interviewing them with the sole purpose of bringing the best match into the company hiring process.?

Seek professional help. It will reduce your hiring time, result in optimal candidates for interviewing, reduce the extra workload placed on your staff, and save you money.

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