Why your business is struggling to find candidates with the right skills and what to do about it
Economic disruption combined with social and technological innovation have created a perfect storm in the labour market. What’s really going on in the workplace and how can employers pivot their value proposition to find candidates with the right skills to drive them forward?
Why businesses are struggling to recruit and retain talent
Digital Divide
Businesses are evolving at a rapid speed. Since the pandemic, many workers have had to join the digital world, learning to use new technology whilst working from home. For those who were less tech-savvy, it became much harder to engage in the workplace. As a result, more than 1 million people have left the workplace since 2020, most of which are in their 50s.
John Lewis Boss, Dame Sharon White, has urged the government to think about how to incentivise over 50s to re-enter the workplace.
Cost of Living
This summer has seen a drastic rise in the cost of living with inflation at its highest rate since1982. Yet, with businesses also feeling the squeeze, most employers aren’t able to increase salary rates., Young people entering the workplace are most affected by the cost of living increase, with many experiencing financial barriers relating to travel and energy usage for work purposes.
In the midst of a global cost of living crisis, the World Economic Forum is encouraging employers to empower young people to become resilient, adaptable and intrapreneurial in the workplace. Using creativity to solve real business problems and build innovation capacity.
The Great Resignation
Priorities are changing for workers. Following two years at home, workers are prioritising striking a personal balance between their working life and being able to maintain a day to day life outside of work.
A new way of working has inspired new perspectives, and prompted people to consider new jobs in new industries.
This shift from “a job for life” in the 9-5 office to a progressive career in a “work from anywhere at any time” environment, has given workers the confidence to quit their jobs and start something fresh, leading to the Great Resignation.
What you can do to recruit and retain talent
Recruit from Diverse Talent Pools
By recruiting people from more diverse backgrounds it can be majorly beneficial towards your company. To encourage various perspectives upon all and any relevant business topics. It’s said that, companies more willing to hire those of a more diverse background and upskill them into their management teams, have a more likely, 19% income rate. Giving the opportunity to people such as, parents returning from being out of work, caregivers, those that suffer with physical and/or mental health, young people such as those not in education, employment or training and even those who have previously been retired but have decided to return to work for whatever reasons.
Upskill and Develop Employees
Within businesses, many unintentionally miss out on more consistent employees, mainly due to being unwilling to upskill individuals that they already have. Upon upskilling pre-existing employees, businesses will come to find that they are able to improve their employees’ experience, retain employees and attract new ones much easier.
Apprenticeships and skills bootcamps both serve as key ways to upskill workforces and help solve key skill gaps.
Apprenticeships
Apprenticeships have long been mistaken as a second-class substitute for university for young people. The introduction of the Apprenticeship Levy in 2017 has created an attractive mechanism for recruiting and upskilling workers. Apprenticeships are available to any person, of any age and at any stage in their career. Whilst the suite of programmes varies between the four nations, all employers can take advantage of the integration of learning and work to create a holistic development experience
Skills Bootcamps
Skills Bootcamps, introduced in England in 2021 offer a short, sharp upskilling mechanism to solve key skills gaps. Skills Bootcamps have been designed for the engineering, construction, digital and green industries (UK Government, 2022). They are free to attend, delivered flexibly over a period of up to four months and lead to a fast-track interview with an employer.
Here at iungo Solutions we deliver 10-week full-time coding bootcamps for the financial services and manufacturing industries. Across the 10-week programme, learners participate in a range of technical and team building activities that enable them to build their skills and confidence. At the end of the programme, they are guaranteed an interview with a local employer.
The next bootcamp that we will be running will be a data bootcamp, this will focus on the analysis, processing and display of data, whilst also providing wider industry skills. Interested in finding out more about our bootcamp, then head on over to our learning opportunities.
Employee Experience
Employees are looking for that opportunity that is going to offer them the best experience, what this means is the way in which businesses attract people have to change with those expectations. One of these methods is around flexible/remote working, employees will have a better experience when they are able to incorporate a healthy work-life balance. By using these newer policies businesses will find it easier to attract new employees or retain current ones.
Additionally employees are often looking for that opportunity to develop and progress, by offering opportunities for employees to learn and develop, this will add to the overall experience and feeling valued by the business. There are a number of ways a business can incorporate this within day to day operations, for example, by promoting cross team collaboration, a new perspective can be brought forward that gives employees opportunities to learn and be involved with other areas of the business.
