With HR professionals wondering whether the corporate employment culture will return to the old ‘normal’ as soon as the COVID pandemic ends, an increasing number of companies are already experiencing difficulty finding new employees. As more and more economies reopen after the lockdowns, reports of employers being unable to find the workforce they need are becoming more frequent. At the same time, the global unemployment rate still remains high in 2022. What is behind this paradox? We tried to find out from relevant experts what is behind the global labor shortage. Check out their opinions below.
Key Takeaways:
- Experts mention that aid flows to Ukraine are likely to affect the distribution of aid in countries like Yemen, Syria, South Sudan, and Myanmar or even cause disruptions in refugee support in Germany, Turkey, and Italy.
- Increasing military budgets in the U.S., the UK and Germany may have a critical impact on the future of humanitarian aid since these countries account for more than half of the total aid spent worldwide.
- The U.S. announced a US$13.6 billion aid package to Ukraine but should not have a significant impact on the distribution of aid globally in the short term. However, the situation will change quickly if the crisis spreads.
What are the main causes behind the growing labor shortage?
“The main cause of the labor shortage is the years of neglecting how workers feel and what they really need. The COVID-19 situation has proved to employees that what they have felt for years is true and that they do not need to align to companies’ interests and also that they have huge power of decision concerning their work-life balance. The idea that one needs to be focused only on work and that work is everything is something that companies have been pushing for in communications with employees. Nowadays employees are aware this has never been true. You work for your personal life, not vice versa. This pandemic has shown most people that the fear of losing their job is something they can control and it is not the end of the world. Boards and owners are here to help their workers to be and feel the best they can be rather than just focusing on corporations and their earnings.”
“The pandemic has caused a rise in uncertainty within many economic sectors leading to the migration of professionals from one segment to another. The labor shortage however does not entail just the lack of professionals. Instead, it involves the tectonic shifts in the ways that market demand connects to the available labor. Also, the expectations of workers have been impacted by data availability and so these often do not align with the actual possibilities. And thirdly, the digitalization of society has caused many humans to have the wrong idea of what is possible in terms of employment and what is achievable.”
What could be the long-term consequences of this phenomenon?
“The long-term consequences of this phenomenon will be that companies will need to adapt and change their way of persuading employees to work for them with better solutions and offers. Also, companies that do not adapt to these new circumstances will lose their position on the market and, in the worst case, disappear. The shortage on the labor market can provide workers with the ability to move globally as a workforce and spend their money in less developed countries, helping these to rise on the global scale of development and increase the GDP. Office space will need to change completely. It will no longer need to be focused on employers and their space, but as a space for interacting, meetings, and other possibilities.”
“The impacts will cause inflation of salary demands bringing more disruption and the creation of more pronounced niche markets. Also, contractual methods will change leading to more short-term relationships and further rocking the boat, having as an impact a rise in prices and the inequality and reduction of labor market stability.”
“Consequently, a rapid rise in the required employment skill sets and competencies is reported by several HR professionals which is actually starting to have an effect on the market trends toward positions merging as a short-term solution while relying on re-skilling/development to mitigate the gap.
What are some possible solutions to counteract the global labor shortage?
“I would say just listen to your employees. You will gain information from them about what they want and how to avoid a labor shortage in your company. It is not one fits-it-all solution, as it depends on your skilled workers and their ability and willingness to change. I would suggest to openly ask your employees what they need and want and to adapt to their wishes. Not all needs must be met but the main ones such as home office possibilities, working hours to match employees’ needs, education, etc. should be. At the same time, you need to think about innovation and bringing together employees to be more focused and driven by the quality of work. In the end, one needs to be profitable and nobody can afford to forget about that.”
“One of the solutions is to create new certification standards that will halt the wild expectations of workers and measure in a different way the loyalty and real knowledge and contribution of workers. An additional solution would be to create a global human capital fund for employers that would permit those workers who respect certain “old school values” to be enlisted and would thus create an alternative and secondary labor market at a global level. This new system would find its way to be acknowledged by institutions and step by step receive sufficient acknowledgment to become embedded in the labor-management process.”
“The shortage is in how markets function given the nature of political popularism. Skills development driven by climate change agendas for localisation and a change to the scale of production and service delivery have to be the way forward.”
“One solution is to adapt hybrid shift systems with respect to compensation and reward plans in addition to investing in training and development initiatives as various reports indicate that the global trend is to boost the orientation of the hiring process towards skills and behavioral competencies rather than expertise.”
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