In a recent article on Staffing.org, writer David Earle offered some fascinating insights. Earle sees a number of reasons why employers need to change their staffing models. First, work is changing. It is becoming more intellectual and less physical; more and more, we are using machines, including robots, to do the physical work.
That shift also means we need a higher level of employee to do the work. The challenge is that many employers are still recruiting the lower level of skills and abilities, then wondering why they don’t have the workers they need.
As we have so often discussed, Earle sees "persistent, worldwide imbalances between talent supply and demand." These dislocations are increasing the mobility of the workforce, as well as encouraging the development of technologies to support a distributed one.
Employers are also finding expanding competition for the available talent in an "increasingly talent hungry world." This development is prompting them to become more sophisticated and aggressive in their advertising and branding campaigns. It is becoming harder and harder to attract talent in the progressively crowded arena.
Finally, Earle talks about moving from "transactional to strategic staffing" requiring the taking of a "longer forward view" about the current and future locations of talent and what types of value will appeal enough to draw it out.
We agree wholeheartedly with Earle, who says that it’s vital for companies to "understand the confidence levels and aspirations of candidates in different job categories." This understanding supports a better screening of prospects to improve fit and reduce turnover issues.
Onto this playing field comes Monster’s new 2013 job seeker survey called "Workforce Talent," which polled 6,000 Monster job seekers, both employed and unemployed, giving us insights into candidate attitudes. Though according to Earle, 32 percent of the respondents were unemployed, the most telling numbers in the report were the numbers of "Very Satisfied" and "Satisfied." Those scores were only 7 and 21 percent, respectively.
On the other end of the spectrum, the number of "Very Dissatisfied" and "Dissatisfied" were 10 and 32 percent respectively. Doing the math, we have less than one-third of the population who at least "Satisfied." That number reflects a lot of unhappiness in the workplace.
Wise employers will study this "Herman Trend Alert" and work to find out what’s going on in the hearts and minds of their employees, both through surveys and "Stay Interviews," before they find themselves with costly uncontrolled turnover.
