Discover How to Become a Company of Choice
Unemployment rates go in cycles, oscillating over the years between seasons of high unemployment and times of low unemployment. The prior chapter addressed a worker surplus. Now we’ll consider a worker shortage.
During times of low unemployment, it’s a workers’ market. With too many positions going unfilled, people have their choice of jobs. This allows them to shop for the best opportunity.
As it relates to entry-level positions, they seek work that expects little and offers much in terms of compensation, flexibility, and benefits. It’s hard to build an effective staff around these parameters.
The local outlet of a national quick-service restaurant recently added an enticement to the help wanted sign posted in front of their building. They now pay their employees the next day. I suspect it’s the only way they can entice employees to show up for their scheduled shifts. Though this surprised me, it wasn’t unexpected.
Last year a lawn service company resorted to paying its employees daily as well. The owner lamented that when he paid them weekly, most wouldn’t show up for work the next day because they had money in their pocket. They only returned to work when they ran out of cash.
His every-day-is-a-payday approach got him through the season and allowed most of his customers to get their lawns mowed promptly—at least most of the time.
Yet when he prepared for this season, he found it even harder to attract employees. In response, he canceled all his lawn-mowing contracts and closed that aspect of his business. He’s shifting his focus to other activities that require fewer employees and produce better results.
If your business relies heavily on entry-level employees, your primary problem during times of low unemployment may be simply getting them to show up for work. Of course, once they show up, you need them to do the work you hired them to do. Then you must strive to maintain their employment. It’s a challenge you must deal with—somehow.
Yet it’s not much different when hiring experienced workers for other positions. Finding them is the first challenge. Those that you consider are not likely going to be prime candidates.
The best workers already have jobs. Many of the skilled workers in the labor pool during times of low unemployment are the lesser-qualified candidates, lacking the desired skills, experience, and work history.
Once hired—despite having the basic skills you need and being more apt to produce an acceptable outcome for their labor—their loyalty isn’t assured. When another opportunity comes along that offers more, they’ll be quick to leave. And you’ll need to start the hiring process all over again.
Three Key Characteristics
It’s even more critical to provide employment opportunities to attract workers and optimize retention during times of low unemployment. Though starting pay and benefits are the place to begin, compensation alone is not enough to attract and keep qualified staff.
In looking at businesses that don’t struggle as much to maintain a viable workforce during times of low unemployment, I see less-tangible characteristics emerge. Three things stand out: a pleasant environment, supportive management, and happy coworkers.
A Nice Environment: Whether it’s restaurants, retail, office, or production, the work environment is key. When workers struggle to find a job, they’ll accept a workplace that’s dirty, dingy, and distasteful. Yet when they have their choice of companies, they’ll first judge you by the appearance of your facility. If it’s clean, well-lit, and inviting they’ll be more apt to pick yours as the workplace of choice than to go somewhere else.
Supportive Management: Next is management and supervision. When staff in these roles are professional, organized, and calm, they draw workers to them. Whether employees admit it or not, they crave structure. They’re attracted to organizational excellence, like a flickering flame draws a moth.
Who wants to work for a boss who’s sloppy, muddled, and frazzled? Yet many of today’s business leaders give off this exact vibe. It’s no wonder they have trouble hiring staff.
Happy Coworkers: Third is the existing staff. If a job candidate arrives for an interview—or their first day of work—and sees happy employees going about their jobs, they want to be part of it. In contrast, when they see apathetic workers dragging themselves around and doing as little as possible, it sends the signal that this is a workplace to avoid.
Summary
Struggling to find and keep staff during times of low unemployment doesn’t have to be the norm. With intentional effort, your business can be the exception.
Leadership and Management Success Tip
Make your operation be the workplace of choice. Then you won’t have to accept substandard staffing during times of low unemployment.
Leading people is hard. Keeping their trust is harder. In Sticky Leadership and Management, Peter Lyle DeHaan shares story-driven lessons from a career of building and running businesses, so you can lead with clarity and manage with confidence. It is part of the Sticky Success Strategies series.
Peter Lyle DeHaan is an entrepreneur and businessman who has managed, owned, and started multiple businesses over his career. Common themes at every turn have included customer service, sales and marketing, and leadership and management.
Peter shares his lifetime of business experience and personal insights through his books to encourage, inspire, and occasionally entertain.
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