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The “Great Resignation” has created a labor shortage that has had resounding effects on small businesses and large corporations alike. Workers retired early, quit jobs to accept a higher paying position, or changed careers entirely. The pandemic was the tipping point: employees already struggling with unfulfilling work, wage freezes, and limited benefits. Some candidates were “walled out” of contention if they didn’t meet minimum job requirements such as work experience or college degrees.

Now, employers are struggling to fill skilled positions. How can you best navigate the labor shortage? Here are five tips for reconsidering your open job skills requirements and looking within the organization for employees who can be groomed for an open position.

Is There a Labor Shortage?

Yes and no. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1,476,000 Americans were collecting jobless aid the week that ended February 5, 2022. This is the lowest level since March 14, 1970. The January unemployment rate edged up to a still-low 4% from 3.9%, as more people began looking for work, but not all of them are securing jobs right away. Keep in mind that there are discouraged workers out there – those folks who’ve stopped looking for work and who haven’t found suitable employment options or don’t make the list of candidates when they’ve applied for a job. Discouraged workers aren’t included in the headline unemployment numbers we see in the news. Yes, recruiters are struggling to fill open positions, but the reasons might not be identical in 2022 as they were during previous challenging recruiting periods. It’s time to rethink job descriptions, job requirements, and business objectives.

Tips to Fill Your Open Positions

Some companies have already revised their strategies to attract job candidates and modified benefits to retain employees. Things like enhancing pay and reward policies, continuing or offering remote and hybrid work options and home office stipends, providing increased mental health benefits, offering childcare/caregiver leave, and adding medical benefits such as fertility services, to name a few. And while these tactics have helped, companies are still struggling to attract talent.

Is your next great candidate right under your noses? It’s a possibility. Here are some ideas on assessing a current employee’s ability to fill a middle management or upper management position:

• Is a college degree a requirement in the job description, and is that degree necessary for a current employee who already performs well, fits within the company culture, and deserves an opportunity for advancement? If the degree is required, what steps would the employer be willing to take to assist the employee in attaining the degree?
• Is there a way to redistribute the job responsibilities to other positions and rethink what responsibilities you are looking for in the open position?
• Assess the employee’s strengths and weaknesses as well as helping them increase their hard or soft skills. Skills testing can help determine where an employee scores on those required skill levels, and Learning Management Systems can provide training modules to improve upon the necessary skills.
• Pair the employee with a mentor who can offer the guidance and expertise needed to advance with the company.
• Allow the employee to participate in apprenticeship or leadership training and/or pay for their membership in professional groups outside the workplace.

The Benefits of Fewer Hiring Barriers

Every worker deserves an opportunity to advance their career, and if they are a valued employee, why wouldn’t you fight to keep them in the company? By re-evaluating your job descriptions and the total employee experience, your best candidate pool may have already walked through your doors and is yearning for a path to career advancement.

And once you’ve filled that open position from within, you can reconsider strategies for filling the vacated position. Is this just shifting one recruiting challenge for another? Not exactly. For one, you are now searching for candidates to fill an entry-level or junior-level position. There are many untapped talent pools out there. A retiree whose skills and experience are a good fit and who is more interested in being a sole contributor versus a manager. Offering internship/apprenticeship opportunities. Posting job openings on more diverse job boards. Or hiring temporary staff or contractors to pick up the slack and who also enjoy flexible work options.

We Can Help

Shifting to skills-based hiring opens the doors to a larger talent pool who may have previously been excluded from the recruiting mix. Lifting assumptions like degree requirements versus making allowances for strong performance achievements gives overlooked workers a renewed hope in their career journey and helps companies fill jobs more quickly.

We have helped companies review and re-evaluate their hiring strategies and job descriptions. We can conduct online behavioral and skills testing to predict candidate workplace performance. The tests are developed by subject-matter experts for content validity and contain questions for basic, intermediate, and advanced skill levels. We then help you use the knowledge obtained from assessments to determine a candidate’s skill level and aptitude to perform the duties required for an open position.

Contact us today to find out more.

If you’re like us, this time of year gives us all the holiday feels. It’s like everyone is in good spirits.

There are many reasons to love the “most wonderful time of the year.” Snowball fights. Eating. Celebrations with friends and loved ones. Finding the perfect gifts. Volunteering. More eating. Writing letters to Santa. Driving through neighborhoods to see the lights and decorations. Carolers. Did we mention eating?

Are you jamming to holiday music? Let’s see a show of hands. Who started in November? Who breaks out the Jingle Bells in the heat of the summer?

Are you the holiday sweater wearer? The tackier, the better? Yes, please!

With all the cheerfulness surrounding us, we decided to share some of the things we love about the holidays.

Eileen R., Ponderer of Good Fortunes

Director of Sales & Recruiting – Casey Accounting & Finance Resources

I love the holiday season because it is a time to gather with family and friends in sharing some cheer. It is always a good time to reflect on all the blessings you have been granted throughout the year and the anticipation of what is to come in the new year of 2022!

Nina S., Present Wrapper Extraordinaire

Administrative Assistant

I love the holiday season because growing up, my parents always worked so hard to make sure my brother and I had a great Christmas and wanted to see our faces GLOW on Christmas morning. And still, to this day, at the age of 27, I still get very excited, like a little kid, about Christmas. I enjoy the lights, the songs, and surprisingly – I love to wrap presents! The whole Holiday Season gives me so much Joy! My most favorite family traditions are getting a real Christmas tree every year and decorating it together and having Mom’s home-cooked Prime Rib Dinner on New Year’s Day!

Cheryl R., Expert Party Organizer

Director of Recruiting and Sales – Arlington Resources

I love the holiday season because for the last 20 years, I have hosted a girlfriend’s Christmas party, and it is one of the best nights of the year that I always look forward to. It started out as a cookie exchange and gift exchange, and now we skip the cookies but like to have a theme party. The party brings my old friends and new friends together and helps me celebrate my most favorite holiday and time of year. I love my real Christmas tree, Christmas music, Christmas cookies, Christmas decor…I LOVE it all!

Denise Y., The Chef

Director, Recruiting, and Sales – Arlington Resources

I wanted to share one of my favorite party recipes: Hot Crab-Cheddar Spread

1 (8 ounce) container of crabmeat, drained and shredded
2 cups of mild or sharp cheddar cheese (grated)
½ cup of Mayo

¼ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

Preheat oven to 350

Mix together all ingredients, bake for 25-35 minutes and serve with crackers or toast

Elizabeth L., Christmas Tree Lover

Senior Recruiting Consultant, Arlington Resources

I love the holiday season because I love having our Christmas tree up and lights on. We get to take cute pictures with our dog, Amy!

Erin G., Witness to the Best in Humanity

Senior Recruiting Consultant, Arlington Resources

I love the holiday season because, in general, people seem to be more kind, giving, and caring during November and December. I also love holiday lights and decorations.

Julie J., Believer in Magic

Sourcing Specialist, Arlington Resources

I love the holiday season because my young kids are very into the magic of Christmas, and it’s a very special time!

From All of Us to All of You

We want to take a moment to say how grateful we are for our customers for trusting us with your staffing needs and for all our associates who work for you. It is truly our pleasure to serve you and to partner with you.

‘Tis the Season to be Jolly

Can you relate to our list? Here’s to a season of merriment and peace. It’s important to recognize what we have and all the wonderful blessings we’ve received. Go out and put a smile on someone’s face.

Spread love throughout the season and keep it going throughout 2022!

If you are unaware of the mass exodus of employees who are seeking better opportunities, you will. Countless articles have been written about The Great Resignation and, more recently, Striketober. Employees seeking more flexibility and fuller personal lives are considering changing jobs. In fact, a July 2021 Monster.com poll reveals:

• 95 percent of employees are considering changing jobs;
• 34 percent feel the best way for advancement is to find a job with a new employer;
• 86 percent of workers who feel their career has stalled during the pandemic; and
• 80 percent of workers do not think their current employer offers growth opportunities

With troubling trends in employee/employer relationships, the term “Great Resignation” was created in 2019 by Anthony Klotz, a professor of management at Mays Business School of Texas A&M University, to predict a mass, voluntary exodus.

The Old Work Environment Isn’t Working in the New Work Environment

Let’s face it. Working in an office hasn’t changed for decades. Aside from some companies offering perks like childcare, ping pong tables, and espresso machines, employers had the upper hand regarding an employee’s career path.

Millennials and Generation Z employees have been requesting better work/life balance and flexibility for more than a decade. The scales have been tipping to the employee’s favor, and the pandemic is creating the shift at an accelerating rate.

It’s an Employee’s Market

According to Derek Thompson, a staff writer at The Atlantic, “the basic terms of employment are undergoing a Great Reset…we may look back to the pandemic as a crucial inflection point in something more fundamental: American’s attitudes toward work. Since early last year, many workers have had to reconsider the boundaries between boss and worker, family time and work time, home and office.”

While employers may have been unprepared for this movement of talent, all hope isn’t lost. There are ways to improve employee retention as well as attract great talent from the prospective employee pool of those who have already resigned from their former companies.

Employers Must Compete for Talent

Phillip Kane, CEO and managing partner for Grace Ocean, commented, “the Great Resignation caught so many employers flat-footed because it ran contrary to everything traditional management thought they knew about labor markets. Resignation departures we are seeing is an (employee’s) decision to no longer accept the unacceptable.”

Recent research from Harvard Business Review (HBR) revealed that resignation rates are highest among mid-career employees aged between 30 and 45 years of age. Burnout from the pandemic, high workloads, and other pressures are key trends driving resignations.

First, understand your company’s turnover rates to quantify the problem. HBR offers this formula to calculate your retention rate:

Number of Separations per Year ÷ Average Total Number of Employees = Turnover Rate

Your turnover rate will help you understand the impact resignations have on business operations and profits.

Next, talk to your employees. Find out what perks are meaningful, what challenges they have, what would improve the morale and culture, etc. Armed with this information, the company can begin to develop tailored retention and targeted recruiting programs, especially for employees at the highest risk of leaving.

Kane stated employers can “stem the tide. Employees are looking for employee-centric cultures with companies they are proud to work for. Companies that are involved in the community and stand for things that they believe matter. It’s all about caring. It’s a simple choice. One that some 11.5 million people and counting are begging for companies to make.”

We Can Help

How employers respond may make all the difference not only in more contemporary recruiting and retention practices but also in business growth.

Reach out to our team at Casey Accounting & Finance Resources. We’ve helped with recruiting and retention program ideas and look forward to assisting you.

The Society for Human Resource Management recently posted a very detailed article on 2022 salary increases versus inflation rates. The author, Stephen Miller, CEBS, is SHRM’s Online Manager/Editor, Compensation & Benefits. Below is a summary of the article. Read the entire article here.

Companies continue to face a perfect storm of economic concerns – the pandemic, inflation, unrest across other nations, and other uncertainties – that have made it a challenge for employers to manage budgets. When COVID-19 hit, budgets were often slashed, and salaries were frozen. As the U.S. economy continues to recover, employers are finding it increasingly difficult to fill positions with salaries that, at the very least, will keep pace with the inflation rate.

According to venerable organizations such as The Conference Board, Independent Institute, ADP Research Institute, Willis Towers Watson (WTW), PayScale, WorldatWork, Empsight, and Salary.com, there is agreement that the usual 3 percent salary increase will hold true in 2022, with a small percentage of organizations planning to give 4-5 percent increases. According to Salary.com, these planned increases will be offered across all job categories and to hourly employees up to executive-level employees.

“This is the first sign of a notable shift in salary budget increases in 10 years, particularly for hourly employees who have long experienced stagnant pay,” said Chris Fusco, senior vice president of compensation at Salary.com, a provider of compensation data and analytics. “Minimum wage legislation sweeping the country is a big factor. But the re-emergence of lower-level workers executing their market power is undeniable. Aging Baby Boomers and pandemic-related worker shortages have created this scenario where we have more jobs than we have people willing, or able, to work.”

So, what’s the rub? Let’s look at the numbers.

• The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported:
  • A year-over-year inflation rate of 5.4 percent
  • Consumer prices rose 5.3 percent
• The Department of Labor (DOL) reported:
  • The energy index in August 2021 rose 25 percent over the last 12 months
  • The food index increased 3.7 percent over the last 12 months.

We don’t need to be a mathematician to figure out that these numbers may just wipe out any real gains in employment compensation. Couple that with salary freezes or decreases in 2020, and employees could be even further behind. This weakens consumer spending and could also result in higher turnover rates.

Is There Any Positive News?

PayScale, a compensation data, and software firm, reports that wages are rising particularly fast for occupations such as food services (up 4.1 percent), transportation (up 4 percent), and retail (up 3.9 percent.

For employees looking for a new opportunity, ADP Research Institute reports that most workers in the U.S. will get an average of a 5.8 percent raise by changing jobs. A bit of a good news/bad news scenario. Employers will have to weigh the balance between losing a valued employee over a few percentage points just to hire and train someone new at a higher salary.

“Companies are between a rock and a hard place when it comes to compensation planning,” said Catherine Hartmann, North America Rewards practice leader at WTW. “On one hand, employers need to continue effectively managing fixed costs as they rebound from the pandemic. On the other hand, companies recognize they need to boost compensation with sign-on, referral, and retention bonuses; skill premiums; midyear adjustments; or pay raises.”

Casey Accounting & Finance Resources produces a salary survey two times a year. Reach out to our team to help recruit suitable candidates and determine the best compensation offers for your current employees and job applicants.

The state of California is the first in the nation to mandate vaccinations for health care workers and state employees. Many private companies and several large health care systems have already implemented compliance measures to vaccinate or get tested on a regular basis. Does your company need to consider these measures? Have you already developed a policy? Here are trends and points to consider.

As COVID-19 variants and the current spike in positive cases and hospitalizations prolong the pandemic, employers are contemplating additional measures to keep employees healthy. To date, According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 53.2% of the population is fully vaccinated, with 62.5% having received at least one dose.  Medical professionals are in agreement that vaccinations are an important step in a long battle our nation and the world are facing.

From an employer standpoint, the question remains whether there is enough from a legal standpoint to develop and enforce a policy. And what if employees are unionized? Will unions embrace or oppose vaccination or test requirements? Is a vaccinate or COVID-19 test requirement legal? Daryl Landy, an attorney with Morgan Lewis in Costa Mesa, Calif., said, “there is substantial legal support in California and under federal law, for private employers to make vaccination a condition of hiring or continued employment, and the state’s (Calif.) recent actions should provide additional support for employers that are considering a vaccine mandate. Employers still need to consider reasonable accommodations for employees that have religious and disability-related objections.

Resources For Employers Considering Policies

• The Society for Human Resource Management has already posted several great guidelines to assist in developing a policy – even if it’s just a mask mandate and regular testing. Here are a few links to get you started:
• The California Mandate
• What Should Be in a Vaccination Policy
• Reacting to Workers Who Refuse to Follow a Vaccination Policy
• Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) Workplace Vaccination Questions
• Checklist For Developing a Mandatory Vaccination Policy in California

In Summary

Whatever your company decides to do, employment law experts suggest giving workers a seat at the table as policies are discussed. For California, attorneys are offering these steps that can help all employers in the future.

Mini Kapoor, an attorney with Haynes and Boone in Houston, Texas, said the California order essentially requires covered employers to:[1]

• Track and verify employee vaccination status.
• Establish testing requirements for employees who are not fully vaccinated.
• Comply with current masking guidance from the California Department of Public Health (CDPH), which requires mask-wearing for everyone in health care and other high-risk settings and recommends that unvaccinated people in high-risk settings use respirators if they aren’t otherwise required to do so under state law. The CDPH also updated its recommendations for fully vaccinated people to resume wearing masks in public indoor settings.

Landy recommends that covered employers:[2]

• Immediately explain the new requirements to employees.
• Ensure the HR department is ready to evaluate and respond to accommodation requests.
• Develop a standard process for collecting vaccination status information and maintaining the confidentiality of that information.
• Provide information to unvaccinated workers on where and how to obtain regular testing for COVID-19.

 

[1] https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/legal-and-compliance/state-and-local-updates/pages/many-california-workers-must-get-vaccines-or-routinely-test-for-covid-19.aspx

[2] https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/legal-and-compliance/state-and-local-updates/pages/many-california-workers-must-get-vaccines-or-routinely-test-for-covid-19.aspx

 

Looking for some ideas on how to better manage your life and/or change, advance, or manage your career? We wanted to offer our list of books or podcasts to consider. Hopefully, you’ll find ideas, action items, tips, and hints that you can put into practice.

“An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.” – Benjamin Franklin

Podcasts

Check out these podcasts compiled by Alexandra Nemeth, Senior Manager, Content Marketing & Storytelling at MovingWorlds. Add a favorite to your playlist.

1. Squiggly Careers is a weekly podcast to help you take control of your career development. Hosts Sarah Ellis and Helen Tupper cover all things work: from how to manage stress and overcome your confidence gremlins to micro-aggressions and discovering your strengths.
2. Happen To Your Career is a podcast for anyone thinking, “there has to be something out there that’s better.” Host Scott Anthony Barlow provides the inspiration, tools, and roadmaps to move from where you are to work that matters to you and uniquely fits your strengths and talents.
3. Pivot with Jenny Blake, author of Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One, you’ll learn how to embrace fear, insecurity, imperfection, and intuition as the superpowers they are while pivoting.
4. The Career Warrior Podcast’s goal is to help job seekers land their dream jobs and to help them live their best life.
5. In Career Talk, host Stephanie Dennis is on a mission to empower people to take control of their careers by offering holistic career advice. Topics include job hunting, career development, dealing with a bad day, perfecting your resume, preparing for an interview, and more.
6. In The Marie Forleo Podcast, Marie and her guests share actionable strategies for greater happiness, success, motivation, creativity, productivity, love, health, contribution, and fulfillment — often with a lot of laughs.
7. In Switch, Pivot, or Quit, host Ahyiana Angel offers an intimate look at navigating career transitions on your own terms, with candid conversations for when you’re deciding if you need to Switch, Pivot, or Quit.
8. Hosted by Mel Savage, former senior Fortune 500 Executive turned Founder and CEO of The Career Reset, this podcast is your one-stop shop for creating a career that gives you meaning and purpose and still pays the bills.
9. The Evolved Career is a podcast meant to inspire, entertain, teach and motivate you to move forward powerfully and confidently to get the career and the life you want.
10. The Career Change Maker podcast helps you answer questions like: How do I find my dream job? How do I change careers? How can I pivot without taking a pay cut? Is now really the right time for a career change? Each week, host Janine Esbrand brings you career change tips, strategies, and inspirational stories that can help you to get unstuck and transition into work that you love.

And here is a bonus podcast, Women @ Work. Hosts Amy Bernstein and Amy Gallo have conversations on where we’re at and how we move forward.

Books

In a Forbes article, Laura Garnett, author of Find Your Zone of Genius and The Genius Habit, shares her top reads for navigating challenging times.

1. The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building A Business When There Are No Easy Answers By Ben Horowitz
2. Grit: The Power Of Passion and Perseverance By Angela Duckworth
3. More Than Enough: Claiming Space For Who You Are (No Matter What They Say) By Elaine Welteroth
4. Presence: Bringing Your Boldest Self To Your Biggest Challenges By Amy Cuddy
5. How We Make Stuff Now: Turn Ideas Into Products That Build Successful Businesses By Jules Pieri
6. The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results By Gary Kelly And Jay Papasan
7. The Third Door: The Wild Quest To Uncover How The World’s Most Successful People Launched Their Careers By Alex Banayan
8. Barking Up The Wrong Tree: The Surprising Science Behind Why Everything You Know About Success Is (Mostly) Wrong By Eric Barker
9. Switchers: How Smart Professionals Change Careers—And Seize Success By Dr. Dawn Graham
10. Go Put Your Strengths To Work: 6 Powerful Steps To Achieve Outstanding Performance By Marcus Buckingham
11. The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick) By Seth Godin

A bonus book is from Marshall Goldsmith, What Got You Here Won’t Get You There: How Successful People Get Even More Successful.

Career and life inspirations come in many forms. Perhaps there is something in these lists that inspires you or helps you inspire others. Enjoy!