Short on Talent

Welcome back to The Supply Times. Today, we’re talking about the pronounced talent shortage that’s currently gripping our workforce, as well as how companies are handling new vaccination requirements.

Both of these topics are important because talent acquisition is critical to any business. Everybody wants to find good people, but what many aren’t realizing is that right now, it’s not about finding the best person for the job, it’s finding the best AVAILABLE person for the job.

Let’s dig in.

Industry Highlights: The Talent Drought

It’s time to brace ourselves for a prolonged talent shortage. Talent shortages have tripled in the last decade, with 69% of US employers struggling to fill positions, according to a recent Manpower Group survey. What’s worse is that Korn Ferry estimates that by 2030, the global talent shortage could reach 85.2 million people.

The driving factors of this shortage? COVID-19 has certainly made an impact, not only due to increased restrictions such as masks, social distancing, and vaccination requirements (see below), but also a shift in employee priorities and values.

According to The Washington Post, employees are seeking more malleability in their jobs—flexible start/finish times, work-from-home options, and a better work-life balance. Yet employers still continue to favor candidates with experience, availability to work evening or weekend hours, and in-person work.

In order to acquire and retain talent, employers need to understand what workers want. Competitive pay and healthcare are non-negotiable, but adjusting roles to meet employee needs is becoming increasingly necessary as well.

A recent Manpower Group report showed 36 percent of employers are incorporating flexible start and finish times, and 31 percent are offering a mix of remote and office-based work options.

While it might be a long haul until positions are fully-staffed, here are some ways AIHR Academy suggests employers can fill the void:

• Build - Invest in learning and development to grow the talent pipeline

• Buy - Go to the external market and attract talent not found in-house

• Borrow - Cultivate communities of talent outside the organization

• Bridge - Help people move on or move up to new roles

The Future of Work: Vaccine Requirements Cometh

There’s no shortage of coverage on all things related to vaccine requirements in the workplace. From the impending OSHA rules to legal challenges to companies mandating their own policies, there’s plenty of fodder on this critical topic.

A primary way vaccination requirements are affecting businesses is talent acquisition. Some employers are not interested in unvaccinated candidates or those who decline to volunteer their status. ResumeBuilder.com reported 69 percent of hiring managers are more likely to hire someone who’s already been vaccinated, especially in the IT, advertising, and Food & Hospitality industries. And, following the release of President Biden’s vaccine guidelines for companies with 100 or fewer workers, it’s possible employers won’t have a choice in the near future.

Many employers are now putting vaccination status requirements directly into their job postings. Nearly five percent of US and Canadian postings for jobs paying $80,000 a year or more now mention vaccine mandates—double the rate from the previous month, according to research released Wednesday by The Ladders. Similarly, new job postings on LinkedIn listing vaccine requirements increased 120-fold between July and October. They recently introduced a field on company profile pages allowing employers to list vaccine requirements. Thirty-three percent of companies added a vaccine policy, and nearly half of those indicated that vaccines are required for on-site work, LinkedIn reported.

Many job candidates are getting ahead of the curve by volunteering their vaccination status directly on their resumes, a practice career experts told both the Wall Street Journal and Forbes is a good move.

Asking a potential employee for their vaccination status might feel uncomfortable, but it’s absolutely the employer’s right to do so. It’s only a matter of time before such awkward questions become standard.

The Supply Aside: What I’m Reading, Watching, Listening to, and Thinking About

RE: Supply Chain, Work, and Beyond

• Read: Pepsi CEO Indra Nooyi recently published her memoirs, and this insightful Financial Times interview provides a good preview of how she climbed the ladder, the personal toil it took, and the ensuing regrets. It’s impressive that she was one of 11 women running a Fortune 500 company when she became CEO in 2006. Today, there are 41 women on that list. She’s a strong advocate for increasing that number even higher.Two things struck me in this interview: First, the regrets of missing all that time with her family as she worked so hard for her success; and second, she twice mentions she wished she had more tailwinds when dealing with the challenges from investors and activists. She consistently proved her detractors wrong, and as she reached a corporate apex so few have, she'll definitely be a role model for a long time to come. I’m adding this book to my list of required reading.

• Watch: I’m watching The Future of Work, a three-part series on PBS. The documentary explores how the US workplace has grown and changed, and the long-term impact those changes will have on achieving The American Dream.

• Listen: I’ve lately been listening to my supply chain colleagues grapple with material and talent shortages, and it reminded me of a VP of FInance I once worked for. She had this giant poster hung prominently in her office in which the Grim Reaper states “Inventory is Evil.”Just in time, meet just in case. Here’s what a research study concluded on companies grappling with post-pandemic inventory numbers, as reported by The Wall Street Journal: “The costs of carrying inventory during the period of depressed consumer demand and sales outweigh the benefits of inventory holdings as a buffer against supply-chain disruptions during this pandemic.” My bet is that many companies will probably return to pre-Covid inventory levels whenever trading conditions stabilize.

• Think: I’m thinking about the big breakup of GE as they announced the splitting up of the corporate juggernaut into three different entities. One of my favorite books this year was “Hot Seat’ by Jeff Immet, the former CEO of GE. It’s a candid take on his successes and failures and an attempt to set the record straight for all the lampooning from his critics. For the flip side, I also read the book: ‘Lights Out - Pride, Delusion and the Fall of GE.” For a balanced view on the travails of this once iconic behemoth, consider these two books essential reading.

Thanks for reading. If you liked this newsletter, please subscribe below! For all the U.S.-based readers - Happy Thanksgiving.

For the latest on supply chain opportunities, visit www.supplychainspark.com