Stopping the Insanity

In our last newsletter, we talked about the real reason we can’t fill all of our open positions – demographics. While it’s a tough problem to tackle (How DO we get people to start having more kids?), we also believe that there are solutions for every problem. Most often, it requires us to stop the “insanity” – and start doing something different.

For example:

Why is it that our primary method of hiring employees continues to be posting an ad on (insert your favorite job board here) and praying that an amazing candidate responds, EVEN after we have known for YEARS that this doesn’t work?

We think it’s time for a change. It’s time to be much more creative with the talent attraction process. We promised some creative solutions. Here’s a few:

• Automation – Think replacing a job function or even just PART of a job, freeing up human capital for other things.
• Shift to part-time workers or consider job sharing arrangements for flexibility in scheduling, appealing to people who don’t want full time roles.
• Upskill the job, using more skilled workers to replace unskilled.
• Childcare – 4% of women are still out of the workforce due to this issue. Find a way to help them get back to work by providing solutions. We addressed some specific solutions in The Welsh Wire podcast.
• Shift in-person work to be from 8:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. and allow a hybrid schedule outside of that to accommodate parents with school-age children.
• Rethink your approach to talent acquisition – Is it really ONLY HR’s responsibility? Get your entire leadership team involved in the process.
• Nurture students in middle school and high school, introducing them to careers in your company.
• Interns, interns, interns – Most companies don’t maximize their internship programs like they should.
• Retirees – Contractor basis or part-time. Bring them back – or don’t let them get away!
• Employee referral programs – Start one, or, if yours is lackluster, blow it up. Make it easy for your employees to get engaged in the process.

Each one of these suggestions could be explored in much greater detail, and we will get to that in future newsletters. For today, let these ideas stir up some creativity in your approach to talent acquisition and encourage you to stop the insanity.