What becomes of an employment market when a nation’s longest-lasting economic boom cycle collides with a global pandemic? Confusion and chaos reign, with organizations and industries struggling to make sense of hiring conditions and how to improve employee retention. Small to midsize companies with more modest human resource departments can be especially vulnerable to employment shortages. In this article, we’ll discuss some of the staffing difficulties in the post-pandemic world, including working from home, and what the future of work is in a post-pandemic work market.
Staffing Difficulties Post-Pandemic
According to reports, the top recruiting priorities of organizations in 2021 and 2022 include sourcing their candidates directly, building qualified talent pools for the future of their company, and investing in valuable tools that can speed up hiring. While modest businesses with fewer resources continue to be vulnerable to shortages, most US businesses share identical issues. Some of the top staffing difficulties in the post-pandemic world include firing employees instead of hiring impactful, lasting employees who will be assets, difficulties filling jobs, a higher volume of companies hiring, cuts to hiring budgets, and the digitization of talent recruitment.
When faced with drastic staff shortages, companies across the US are having to come up with new, creative answers to continue servicing their clients safely while satisfying the needs and desires of staff and clients alike. Some companies are being forced to decrease the services they provide or shut down their operations, at least temporarily. The trend of widespread staff shortages is still continuing across various jurisdictions as economies reopen. For companies to face and resolve this challenging economic climate and protect their various operations, they must possess a decent insurance solution and a full risk strategy.
Working From Home
Amongst some of the top difficulties in the post-pandemic world is working from home. Though it has its own unique advantages and considerations, working from home has posed several challenges to work through and resolve as an employer or an employee. Growing trends toward more remote employment have created the need for speedy improvisation for employers and employees alike. Employers face the need to create more inclusive strategies to combat everything from increased cybersecurity risks to low employee engagement. The core of this resides somewhat in understanding the unique challenges that a company’s employees face.
Some of the top issues that employees can encounter working from home include developing blurred boundaries between their work and home lives, inadequate practical equipment, employee isolation, and resolving technical challenges. Some of the top issues that employers can encounter with remote work include increased cybersecurity risks, employee retention and loyalty, and remote hiring.
Blurred Work-Life Boundaries
For many people, home is a sacred place away from the public. People regard it as their personal sanctuary and having an aspect of this sacred space invaded by work activities can be somewhat of a culture shock. An invasion like this can bring about blurred boundaries between personal and work life, which can also increase stress levels.
Inadequate Practical Equipment
Employers often think of software equipment and technical hardware that their employees need to satisfy their jobs. However, employers often don’t address other equally pressing concerns, such as workspace and environment. Each employee may not have enough access to proper space or vital equipment, such as seating and desk space.
Employee Isolation
Humans are social creatures, and remote work removes them from traditional close interactions with their colleagues. While some people can appreciate this isolation, having these habits isn’t necessarily healthy over long periods. Aside from risks to mental health, this isolation can lead to breakdowns in teamcohesion and performance.
Resolving Technical Challenges
Some employers can have operations able to support remote employees, however, it isn’t a thing each business is able to afford. In these situations, employees can face technical challenges they must work to overcome. These challenges may not be as complex as hardware faults but may be as simple as struggling to learn company software programs.
Increased Cybersecurity Risks
A distributed team means that everything functions in a digital space. Digital space is becoming increasingly risky for teams and individual employees alike. This risk is more substantial as teams work with centralized resources such as remote company servers. Risks like data losses have consequences varying from reputational to financial.
Employee Retention and Loyalty
Rising in the ranks a company is something that virtually all employees aim for. The reduction or full removal of communal workspaces can decrease this potential. This decreased potential can then lead to employee concerns of lower visibility. Remote work may also result in employees feeling less connected to their teams and employers.
Remote Hiring
In nearly every situation, high-level management prefers to engage with potential employees in person when determining whether or not to hire them. However, remote work has made hiring more challenging. The visual element of the hiring process can be impactful, as there’s much that a voice call or resume can’t relay. However, failure to fill roles can lead to lower performance.
The Future of Work
Specific strong forces continue to influence the post-pandemic work market: the expansion of workforces to include contract or contingent staff (also known as off-balance-sheet talent), as well as the expanding adoption of artificial intelligence. There are numerous possible changes in store for workforces, workplaces, and the nature of work in general. COVID-19 disrupted labor markets on a global level in 2020, resulting in both short-term consequences and longer-term residual changes.
In a post-pandemic work market, jobs with high physical proximity continue to be very disrupted. There have also been other changes to the job market. The pandemic pushed consumers and companies alike to quickly adopt some new behaviors likely to remain. Virtual meetings and remote work are likely to remain in place, if somewhat less extensively than at the peak of the pandemic.
Combatting Staffing Difficulties in the Post-Pandemic World
There have been significant changes and considerations as a result of the pandemic. For help combatting staffing difficulties in the post-pandemic world, connect with Brightwing today.