No matter how big or small your business is, if you want success, you must invest in Talent. Here is where talent acquisition strategies come into play. Talent acquisition implies the process of recognizing and developing skilled workers to satisfy your administrative needs. With appropriate long-term and short-term HR strategies, you can create a skilled and robust workforce for your firm.
After the recession in 2022, every business has undergone a massive change in its functioning. It is needless to say more challenges have evolved if you are undertaking talent acquisition. Therefore, a clear idea of the challenges and effective strategies can help you to hire the top talents.
Today’s Challenges For Talent Acquisition
The emerging challenges of talent acquisition involve the following issues.
As most people have switched to remote work during the pandemic, a large number of employees are looking for more freedom in working through remote and contractual work for earning their living. Therefore, if you are an HR undertaking talent acquisition, you can easily hire the top talents by creating screening strategies that target the strengths and skills required for small work.
2. Increasing the Value of Compassion
Even though most companies have enlisted compassion in their core value, they lack it in practice. In the pandemic, most employees were jeopardized to work for longer hours, forgoing holidays, deduction of salary, and many other insensitive measures. Most people have been looking for a bit of compassion from their employers. If you want to hire talented people, you must not present yourself as an insensitive employer while building your strategies.
3. Growing Dependence on Technology
Developing technological compatibility has become a challenge to a large number of industries. Artificial intelligence has overtaken HR jobs of sourcing, shortlisting, and selecting candidates for jobs. The best way to deal with this challenge is to supervise the growth of artificial intelligence. This does not mean you should not use the latest technologies in the recruitment process, you should. But before hiring, you must organize a live interview to judge the potential of the candidate. After all, bookish knowledge reflected with degrees does not portray an individual’s talents.
4. Employees Experience is the Top Priority
In order to hire and retain the top talents, the company must have employees who can preach about their job satisfaction. Retaining high-performing employees will demand some efforts from the company to provide benefits like health insurance, seasonal incentives, tax advantages, etc. Moreover, happy employees will definitely attract more talent to your company as everyone does check reviews about the company on platforms like Glassdoor before taking up the job.
Proactive Talent Acquisition Strategies
Some of the proactive strategies that can definitely help your company in talent acquisition are as follows.
Industry forecasting: Understand where your industry is heading and cross-match the talent acquisition according to your business goals.
Data and marketing: Create a database or talent pool and use marketing techniques like email marketing, branding, etc. to reach out to talented or high-performing candidates. Do not forget to highlight the benefits that your company offers to the employees.
Retention of talent: Most companies do not utilize this effective strategy to hook and hold their talented employees. Offer attractive benefits, packages, or incentives for the high-performing employees in your company.
Employee branding: Branding and outreaching as recognized as the ‘go-to’ careers manager in your enterprise
Talent Acquisition professionals are a significant factor for an organization. Their actions play a vital role in the development of a business. In a situation like the COVID-19 epidemic, everything is indefinite; until a vaccine gets fully developed and execute, no one can guess what will come next. The basic strategy to grow in such an atmosphere is to pass over from reaction to pro-action by simply rediscovering, reinventing, and redefining Talent Acquisition in an exotic light.
At Pragna, Talent Acquisition strategies and the ideas built to back them are an essential part of our recruitment process. We use our analytics-backed tool to come up with new strategies and techniques to attract the right talent. We have helped several clients to successfully execute and manage recruitment using our overnight sourcing and recruitment strategy. To know more about Pragna, do check out our website.
The pandemic has laid a significant impact on the recruitment industry, obstructing the execution of the natural flow of recruitment strategy due to numerous lockdowns and quarantine periods that occurred all over the world in different periods. After the drastic dip in 2021, the recruitment industry made a difference in 2022 with the correct recruitment strategies in its pocket.
Is a recruiter or staffing agency prepared for 2023?
Let’s find out
Technological Adaptation and Use of AI
As most companies have shifted to remote working, there is essential recruitment of adapting suitable technologies to aid the remote working situation. The recruitment industry is no exception. The days of face-to-face interviews are gone. Most recruitments are automated with the help of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and digital interviews.
68% of recruiting professionals say that the best way to improve recruiting performance over the next 5 years is by investing in new recruiting technology. Therefore, if you are preparing an effective recruitment strategy for 2023 to tackle emerging challenges, you must consider investing in technologies.
Greater Emphasis on DEI
In 2021, DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) has come up as an eminent challenge to the recruitment industry. Therefore, diversifying your workforce at the ground level, i.e., during the recruitment process, is essential for the growth of your business. Moreover, a report by Glassdoor states, 67% of job seekers said a diverse workforce is important when considering job offers. Therefore, if you are in the business of talent acquisition, the only way to upskill your recruitment strategy is to consider equality and equity through greater emphasis on diversity in the workforce.
Focus on Relationship
the global recession has shown every industry a more significant number of layoffs and salary deductions to manage the situation for the organizations. Most job seekers are looking for employers who can handle such a situation with more compassion. Therefore, the recruitment strategy for 2023 requires a greater focus on the empathetic approach of recruiters to enhance the company-employee relationship.
One of the best ways to attract top-tier talents to your organization is to ensure that you have an excellent employee-employer relationship within the organization, making it a better place for work.
Branding as Employer
As of the current situation, there is greater social media recruitment than traditional recruitment sources. Introducing yourself as a good employer has never been so important earlier, but employer branding is the most crucial recruitment strategy today.
Social media platforms like LinkedIn have become an eminent part of recruitment now. Therefore, the recruitment strategy for 2023 revolves around creating an employer brand for your company. You can build several strategies that require engagement, reflects your employee retention facts, and has a greater emphasis on good candidate experience.
Skill gap and how to fix it
Skill gap refers to the requirement of the right set of skills that are not being fulfilled by the employees. Formulation of recruitment strategies usually involves assessing if there are any skill or talent gaps within the company. If yes, is it a temporary or permanent skill gap? This leads to another vital question, i.e., can this skill gap be overcome by upskilling, or does it require new recruitment?
Upskilling can be a good option if recruitment or talent acquisition is more costly. However, if the upskilling requires a longer time, say more than 3 to 6 months, to fill up the skill gap, the wisest way out is to recruit a new employee who has those skills. In case of a temporary skill gap, you may hire a freelancer to complete the job within a contract period.
Onboarding Experience
In most companies, new employees undergo an orientation program to acquaint them with the culture and working environment of the company. But as most companies have moved to remote working, new recruitment strategies are required to enhance the onboarding experience of the new employees. It is an essential area of focus, as this serves as a basis for talent retention. According to a recent survey conducted by well-known consulting firms, companies lose 25% of all new employees within a year.
During the recruitment process, it is essential to understand the candidate’s expectations and ability to adapt as these two factors do play a significant role when it comes to candidate experience. If you are still curious why we have emphasized candidate experience, again and again, let the survey answer you. According to a recent study, 72% of job seekers who had a bad experience told others about it online or in person. When this happens to your company, you can hardly find any top-tier talent coming to you for a job. The only way to avoid such a situation is to ensure precise and exemplary communication of recruiters to job seekers.
The Bottom Line
Even though there was an unprecedented setback due to the global recession, the recruitment industry has a more significant scope of turning over the previous year’s disappointment with the right recruitment strategies for 2022. It can be a tricky and challenging call to make as we do not know what 2023 has in store for us, but it is worth trying to make yourself strategically equipped for the future.
Through a pandemic’s peak, the staffing business has shown that it is more robust. Most businesses were able to scale down, make use of their resources, and then grow up again as necessary, depending on demand. A deliberate strategy using higher-scale labor on a contingency basis has replaced our industry’s past market-driven and low-skilled labor practices, making it more scalable and investable from a private equity standpoint. The epidemic has forced all of us to improve our skills and pay attention to fresh approaches to talent engagement.
For people involved in business, merging firms or buying another company can have a variety of advantages. Some of the benefits relate to how the company may engage with and service its clients, while others boost worker productivity. The following are a few benefits of mergers and acquisitions:
Benefits of M&A activity
Economies of scale and scope
The ultimate goal of a merger and acquisition is typically to realize financial benefits and economies of scale. This is made possible when the two businesses involved in the merger and acquisition are stronger, more productive, and more efficient together than they are separately.
Realizing financial advantages and economies of scale is frequently the final aim of a merger and acquisition. When the two companies engaged in the merger and acquisition are stronger, more productive, and more efficient as a whole than they are separately, this makes sense. Businesses merge to achieve advantages, including improved market negotiating power, more access to financing, higher production volume yielding reduced costs, and more.
One benefit of mergers and acquisitions is the economy of scope, which is the decrease in recruiting expenses as a result of the extra resources and tools available. The economy of scope, which refers to the reduction in production costs of one product as a result of the production of another related product, is one advantage of mergers and acquisitions. It often emerges that manufacturing several goods is more practical and cost-effective than manufacturing only one or a few. Often, economies of scope can be achieved through mergers and acquisitions that may be unachievable through organic expansion.
Access to new talent, resources and markets
Talent acquisition is one of the most important concerns for companies who want to rule the employment sector. The employee market is aware that top talent gravitates toward reputable businesses.
The combined financial resources of all firms engaged in a merger or acquisition raise the new company’s total financial capability. There could be new investment opportunities available, or the business might be able to reach a bigger audience thanks to increased marketing spending or inventory capacity.
Businesses operating in the same industry may occasionally be able to increase access to suppliers, raw materials, and physical resources through acquisition. For instance, a company could buy out or combine with one of its suppliers to enhance manufacturing processes and ensure access to essential supplies.
Even for seasoned companies, entering a new market may be difficult. A merger or acquisition may save businesses a substantial amount of time, effort, and money in comparison to beginning from scratch, even if opening a subsidiary or branch is always a possibility.
This is particularly true for companies that are prepared to enter a foreign geographic market. International markets may be extremely challenging to get into. Therefore, it is more practical for the majority of businesses to combine with or purchase an existing local company that already has a solid clientele.
Diversification of risk through portfolio divergence
Another benefit of M&A is the potential to increase the variety of products and services. The key to the distinction between a successful company and one that is having trouble is diversification. In comparison to other companies operating in the same product line, it offers the parent firm an edge.
Businesses could simply add new products to their present line-up for the benefit of their customers. Acquisitions for diversification frequently take place when a business seeks to boost shareholder confidence and thinks completing an acquisition might help the stock price rise or support profit growth.
M&As give firms the opportunity to spread risk across a variety of revenue streams by broadening the company’s offerings in terms of both current and future potential. If one source of money proves insufficient to fund operations, the business still has a variety of backup income sources, geographic location, industry, and staff diversity. It gives any staffing company resilience during ups and downs and aids in value and expansion.
More financial resources and tax benefits
The combined financial resources of all firms engaged in an M&A raise the new company’s total financial capability. The business might be able to reach a bigger audience thanks to increased marketing spending or inventory capacity. This will also help with some tax relaxations as well, depending on the company.
Acquisitions may result in tax advantages for the parent organization when the target firms are in an industry or nation with a favorable tax structure. An excellent illustration of this is the trend of US pharmaceutical companies to merge with smaller Irish companies and relocate there in order to benefit from Ireland’s lower tax rates.
The company’s geographic reach might be increased by a merger or acquisition, improving its capacity for greater distribution of goods and services.
Some countries provide tax breaks to businesses that engage in M&A transactions. Parent firms might receive significant tax advantages by starting a business in Singapore or joining forces with an existing business there.
Tax advantages, such as carryover of tax losses, may be provided. If one of the merging firms experienced net losses in the past, the other company might have deducted those losses from its earnings. As a result, the united company gains a lot. However, this form of agreement is advantageous only when the purchasing company’s financial projections point to potential strong operational profits.
Conclusion
Acquisitions and mergers have clear advantages. Staffing companies must implement the appropriate mergers and acquisitions strategy in order to preserve the positive benefits of any acquisition or merger effort. There is a natural tendency to keep things quiet, yet that somehow undervalues people’s intelligence. Be able to express clearly what is occurring. Communicate with your workers and encourage them to give everything a chance. This is true for a variety of business-related areas, including organizational structure, brand development, and customary guidelines for dealing with applicants and clients that have similar interests. Launching and carrying out a merging project is a lot easier after leaders have come to an agreement on how to tackle these problems. To capture synergies, achieve profitable growth, and value the transaction, a successful post-merger integration is essential.
Global recession is pretty much inevitable, according to US economists – it’s more a case of “when” than “if” at this point.
Staffing and recruitment agencies face a challenge during times of economic uncertainty, when employers typically reduce their headcount.
When recruiters are ready to react and switch on, however, the situation can work to their advantage. Let’s learn the meaning of recession to begin with.
Economic crisis that will affect the world grow of inflation and fuel price. Bankruptcy and declining stocks
What is a recession?
A recession is a period of economic decline. It may be defined as a number of consecutive or recurrent recessions lasting a period of time.
In some countries, this usually refers to a period of declining economic activity and overall growth rates, with unemployment rates continually rising.
The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) monitors the business cycles and has the authority to declare recessions officially when a nation experiences a deterioration in the gross domestic product (GDP) using three major criteria – diffusion, depth, and duration.
In addition to the significant dip in gross domestic product (GDP) ,the other factors used to determine when the recession has started include increased levels of unemployment, reduced wholesale retail sales and personal consumption expenditures, and a drop in industrial production.
According to the NBER, there have been around 17 recessions in the U.S. over the last century.The average recession in the U.S. lasted nearly 17 months.
In U.S. history, the shortest recession lasted just two months (Pre COVID-19 pandemic) and the longest recession lasted more than five years (1873-1879).
The recession is here. Why do I say that? What does it mean for us all? In the past, we may have predicted a recession when interest rates rose or when the price of oil fell.
We can all say we’ve seen the end of the Great Recession, but exactly when it will end,and who will suffer the most in the process is anyone’s guess.
The history of recession
In terms of the staffing industry, US staffing revenue declined 28% in 2009, and more than a third of staffing employees lost their jobs.
The industry bounced back relatively quickly compared to other ones, reaching pre-recession highs in 2011 and 2012.
A study conducted by the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE) found that 64 percent of engineering companies with at least 100 employees are engaged in foreign workforce acquisition, which totaled $25 billion in 2009.
This is a growing industry as more and more countries need engineers to support their economic development efforts. Mechanical, civil, and electrical engineers are among the most sought-after professionals for work abroad because they often possess specialized knowledge not found in many other fields. The rest of the economy did not recover fully until 2014.
Staffing revenue has jumped ever since as a tightening labor market and skill gaps made such services even more in demand, and as of recently, we have nearly increased revenue since the dip in 2009.
During the Great Recession of 2008, most companies made a halt on permanent hiring, with some of the hardest hit also being forced to lay off staff.
Even though there was an improvement, the employers were prudent. Therefore, they were inclined towards temporary and short term contracts to increase the required staff.
Will the recession of 2022 affect the staffing agency?
During the economic uncertainties, it’s more challenging for the staffing agencies since employers consider cutting down the roster and headcount in general.
Nevertheless, they can use the situation to their advantage if they are well prepared and ready to respond. Normally, the recruitment industry is a good indicator of imminent economic instability.
Let’s look back at the historical reports, in the year 2009 the staffing industry’s revenue in the U.S. was reduced by 28%, which hence resulted in a rise in unemployment of 30%.
At some point in time, recession is inevitable as it is part of the business cycle. The staffing agencies are benefitted if they realize the effects of a forthcoming recession and formulate how to operate and hold up.
Here are a few strategic adaptations to get through recession in 2022.
Start Contingency Planning Now.
The golden rule for contingency planning is to have a plan in place ahead of time. By defining action steps now, your business will be less vulnerable to uncertainty and fear, which could lead to poor decision-making during the stress of a recession—a key reason why many businesses that experience a major disaster without a recovery plan in place never reopen for business.
View Your Business From a New Angle
A recession can be a nerve-racking and demanding time, but it can also be a reviving one. It is a natural process for apprehension to clean out excess processes, habits, and expenses from better economies.
Dynamic business leaders re-evaluate their workflow, considering this an opportunity to create an augmented recruiting and hiring process – or even the business itself.
Identify the changes in the job market.
At the moment, the job market is very candidate-driven, but this could change dramatically if a recession hits. In the event of job insecurity, candidates tend to stay in their current jobs due to uncertain and obscure opportunities.
In the course of a recession, downsizing of the budget is always crucial. It’s essential to use an approach that will improve the long term employee satisfaction and retention in order to keep things in equilibrium.
Establishing an anti-recessionary (recession proof) plan of action by having a clear understanding of your hiring needs and how to balance shrinking budgets with staffing demands is the first step towards developing your recruiting strategy.
Create a recession-proof strategy.
Intending to prevent the probable staff deprivation, drafting a plan for a recession is exhaustive. But the absence of a recession proof strategy can cause more problems.
You can overcome the catastrophe and accomplish a steady going or profitable business by taking invulnerable decisions and steps to safeguard your company and employee morale.
Conclusion
Keeping a laser-like focus on your business is the best course of action when a recession appears to be just around the corner. Focus on what you do best: assisting in the placement of talent with organizations that require it, rather than trying to time the market.
While there isn’t much you can do to prepare for a recession, it can be wise to think about how your company would handle different revenue situations, such as a 20–30% decline in sales in the event of a downturn.
You should also think about whether your staffing company has adequate cash on hand to get through a crisis. One choice is to get a bank line of credit. To optimize your cash flow, it is worthwhile to investigate specialized lending options like invoice factoring. Pragna has been around since the last recession and also during the peak of the pandemic and has a fair idea how to handle business and help our customers and community
If you are currently using different solutions to address recruitment needs, consider opting for customized recruiting solutions that can help you do more with your existing budget. Then, figure out a timeline for implementing your new strategy to ensure that you’re able to stay ahead of the curve if and when a recession hits.
Business trends around the world are indeed changing and twisting to reach new heights of efficiency and profitability. Every section of the firm must keep up with these fast-changing trends, whether it be recruitment procedures or sales targets. However, the majority of the ace players are the ones who make the necessary alterations, while others fail to do so. Employer branding is important for firms to preserve the value they place on their personnel.
This rat race has also engulfed the recruitment business. The increased competition for top talent has made it more difficult for recruiting teams to find the right people. How can an HR professional or a recruiter stay on top of the game for the long haul in these current times? This scenario is governed by several things.
Employer branding is an example of a modern notion that has become necessary. It also plays an important function in assisting businesses in remaining competitive and influential in the marketplace. Hiring teams must comprehend the significance of employer branding in both recruiting and sustaining the company’s reputation.
What is Employer Branding and How Does It Work?
Employer branding refers to an organization’s capacity to demonstrate its value to potential employees. It is a strategy for attracting and retaining top talent in the organization.
It also aids in the recruitment and retention of potential employees. It is critical to keep them and help them flourish for the sake of the team and the organization.
Whatever the case may be, a business strives to maintain and improve its image and reputation in the marketplace for the products and services it provides. They should also be in charge of establishing a good employer brand. It’s also important to keep their reputation as respectable employers. And it is in this context that the concept of employer branding comes into play.
What does it mean to have a strong employer brand?
The significance of effective employer branding is enormous. Here are five reasons why employer branding is so important, and why your company should start implementing an effective employer branding strategy right away.
Employer branding aids in the development of your company’s brand identity.
In today’s technologically advanced world, building and maintaining an internet presence has become a must. Your prospective employees, as well as your clients, are looking at your website and following you on social media. They’re also listening in on what your present employees have to say about your organization. During the job application process, employers’ review websites such as Glassdoor are frequently consulted.
Having a greater online presence allows you to raise brand awareness, which is advantageous to your business. You may illustrate your company culture and show potential employees what it’s like to work for you.
Employer branding aids in the recruitment of top talent.
The basic idea or principle underlying the entire concept of employer branding is to develop your talent brand. Second, the employer brand aids in attracting, engaging, and retaining the best and brightest employees in your company.
The recruitment process has evolved into a massive undertaking that incurs expenditures and necessitates a significant amount of effort on the part of the Human Resource staff. Employer branding not only helps you attract job applicants but also cuts down on the time it takes to fill a position.
Finding and retaining the appropriate personnel has become a costly endeavor as the recruitment market has become more competitive. It costs money to post your job openings on multiple job boards, collaborates with recruiters, trains new hires, and so on.
Companies that have a great employer brand don’t have to put in as much effort to acquire top people. The company’s employer brand speaks for itself. This also means that employer branding reduces the amount of time you spend filling a position and the expenditures associated with it.
Creating a strong employer brand is no longer a one-step procedure. It’s a long-term procedure that necessitates a lot of effort. It all starts with a knowledge of the significance of employer branding and how it affects your hiring processes.
Ways To Improve Employer Branding
It’s a well-known truth that organizations with a strong employer brand are more likely to attract top personnel. Without a strong employer brand, businesses will lose out on excellent applicants, perhaps lose money, and have a negative impact on other aspects of the organization. The advantages of a positive employer brand, on the other hand, include attracting new employees, who are critical to the company’s success and growth.
Using the correct tools to go digital
The technology or tools utilized on the career site, the speed with which selection processes are completed, effective communication, or anything else that businesses do or invest in to make recruiting straightforward and easy for job seekers will all have an impact on the company’s employer brand. This necessitates locating the appropriate tools to aid in the hiring process. Recruiting teams can use the latest tools in candidate experience, such as CRMs, AI-based chatbots, candidate nurture engines, and so on, because candidate experience has a direct impact on employer brand. Investing in cutting-edge CRM technologies like Hyreo, for example, could help bridge the gap between candidates and recruiters throughout the hiring process, resulting in a great candidate experience and thereby strengthening the overall employer brand.
In social media and other platforms, consistency is important.
Most candidates rely on corporate reviews provided on various social media and review sites since they have quick access to information online. Current and past employees of the businesses are very frank about their experiences on such internet forums. Any unpleasant remark can raise red flags in the minds of potential employees and even clients. Each company should devote time to responding to unfavorable comments as part of its employer branding plan.
Sharing information on the company’s work culture
Companies can use some of the following activities into their marketing campaigns to improve their employer brand and recruit fresh talent:
Corporate events, work culture, company hiring procedure, benefits, and other topics are frequently blogged about.
Photos and videos of events, work culture, employee highlights, and other topics are shared on social media.
Employee video testimonials conveying their positive experience with the organization and incorporating them into the branding exercise
Conclusion
To summarize, employer branding is critical to a company’s capacity to attract and retain excellent personnel, which leads to overall success and growth. If you get it right, your employer brand will not only recruit top talent, but it will also provide current employees a reason to feel personally linked to the company. Developing a great employer brand takes a team effort, and it’s best accomplished through a top-down strategy that starts in the boardroom. An improved employer brand could be your most powerful weapon in separating yourself from the competition.
Pragna Solutions is a reputed recruitment & technology consultant company that has successfully helped numerous organization to build employer brand that attracts the top tier talents in the market. With our strategic approach, your business can fetch the best results through employer branding. Gain competitive edge through employer branding with our assistance.
Nothing could have prepared your staffing firm for 2020, but happily, that isn’t the case as we head into the second half of 2022. Bullhorn polled hundreds of staffing professionals before the start of 2020 and again during the COVID-19 crisis to learn about the industry’s outlooks, objectives, problems, and staffing patterns. Are your goals and difficulties in line with those of your colleagues? Are there any areas where you can set yourself apart from the competition or where you need to improve?
Here are some personnel trends to consider for 2022 as you make decisions regarding your company’s future:
Staffing firms had a difficult year in 2020, with layoffs and business closures, but respondents are generally hopeful about 2022. In the Survey, the majority of respondents predicted that the economy and business performance will improve in the second half of 2020.
While the staffing industry as a whole has struggled throughout the pandemic, a full 30% of respondents stated company performance has increased or remained the same since the onset of the COVID-19 crisis compared to Q2 of 2019.
Even when you take into account that many businesses have weathered the storm, there is no correlation between current business performance and future forecasts. For example, respondents at staffing firms that saw their performance improve and those that suffered a decline of more than 30% agreed on when the economy would revive – slightly more than half predicted it will happen in the last six months of 2020.
The bottom line is that employment firms are expecting big things in 2022, so don’t expect competition to ease up anytime soon. Invest intelligently to provide the finest possible experience to applicants and clients; your competitors will undoubtedly do likewise.
Clients are the most important thing to us.
The employment market has always been about relationships, but this year the emphasis has switched on which partnerships firms value. Candidate acquisition was a top priority in 2020, as it was in 2019 and 2018. This was mostly (but not entirely) due to talent scarcity, which is the ultimate difficulty for staffing agencies.
However, since the unemployment rate bounced from record lows to record highs throughout COVID-19, a talent shortage is no longer the issue it was at the start of the year. Instead, as businesses battle to acquire new clients and retain existing clients in a changing market, client relationships (the number-two goal coming into 2020) are now firmly the top priority for organizations.
That isn’t to argue that candidates aren’t important. Since the COVID-19 crisis, firms’ second-most essential priority has remained enhancing candidate engagement and experience, ahead of other important priorities such as managing cash flow. Finally, in this environment and any other, focusing on connections is still a winning business strategy.
DEI is a business requirement.
The staffing business, like the rest of the workforce, has always experienced issues relating to DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion), and 2022 will be no different. According to one Data survey, only 28% of companies have a person of color in any leadership position (and of those, only 5 percent are women of color). Furthermore, although accounting for nearly double the number of workforce practitioners, only 16 percent of all leaders in the business are persons of color (30 percent).
In 2020 and 2021, one thing that has changed is the global attention on inequality and inequity. As a result, staffing and recruiting firms are taking steps to address the industry’s DEI concerns. One thing to remember is that adopting DEI into the workplace is not only the correct thing to do; it is also good for business. Two-thirds of staffing experts believe that diverse companies are more effective than their homologs.
Work from home is here to stay.
Many agencies functioned remotely before COVID-19, but it wasn’t common practice in the industry. The epidemic, of course, requires distant recruiting and the use of remote technology: since the onset of the COVID-19 crisis, 91% of staffing professionals have adopted (or increased their use of) video interviewing or video conferencing solutions.
However, don’t expect remote employment or technology to disappear once the epidemic is no longer a requirement. Most staffing professionals, on the other hand, believe that the surge in remote jobs and remote recruiting will be permanent after COVID-19. Most of the positions we used to recruit for were office-based, but that is no longer the case. Even those in charge of large teams work from home.
COVID-19 could hasten the introduction of automation and artificial intelligence, particularly in work environments where people are in close contact.
Businesses have traditionally regulated costs and reduced uncertainty during recessions by embracing automation and revamping work processes, both of which diminish the share of positions comprising primarily regular tasks. By June 2020, China’s robots production had surpassed pre-pandemic levels.
To minimize workplace density and cope with surges in demand, many organizations implemented automation and AI in warehouses, grocery shops, call centers, and manufacturing plants. The association between high scores on physical proximity and automation use cases is a common feature of these automation use cases, and our research suggests that work environments with high levels of human engagement are likely to see the fastest adoption of automation and AI.
The mix of jobs may vary, with low-wage occupations seeing limited growth.
COVID-19-accelerated trends may result in more changes in the mix of jobs within economies than we anticipated before the pandemic.
We discovered that following the pandemic, a significantly different mix of jobs may develop in each of the eight economies. We predict the pandemic to have the most negative impact on workers in foodservice and customer sales and service roles, as well as less-skilled office support roles, compared to our pre-COVID-19 estimates. Although the expansion of e-commerce and the delivery economy may result in more jobs in warehousing and transportation, these gains are unlikely to compensate for the loss of many low-wage positions.
For example, in the United States, customer service and food service occupations may decline by 4.3 million, but transportation jobs may increase by over 800,000. Healthcare and STEM vocations may see higher demand than before the pandemic, reflecting increased concern to health as populations age and incomes rise, as well as growing demand for professionals who can invent, implement, and maintain new technology.
Productivity vs. Remote Work
10,000 employees polled by the University of Chicago’s Becker Friedman Institute for Economics stated they were equally as productive working from home as they were in the office.
In fact, 30 percent of those polled said that working from home made them more productive and engaged.
From the middle of March to the middle of September 2020, the same survey team determined that commute time was decreased by 62.4 million hours per day, resulting in a total time savings of over 9 billion hours.
Conclusion
Before the pandemic, net employment losses were concentrated in middle-wage manufacturing and some office work, owing to automation, while low- and high-wage jobs grew. Almost all low-wage people who lost their jobs could shift into other low-wage jobs, such as retail or home healthcare. We now expect that practically all growth in labor demand will occur in high-wage jobs due to the pandemic’s impact on low-wage jobs. To avoid job loss, Low-wage workers are expected to transition to higher-wage jobs that can only be acquired with different skills.
Pragna solutions has been an active recruiter before and amidst different stages of the pandemic. There has been subsequent increase of remote job post since 2019. In fact, most companies are promising permanent remote jobs. Therefore, it won’t be wrong to infer that remote job is the irreversible reality that will exist even after the pandemic ceases. Similarly, remote recruiting has adapted to the transformation. Pragna solution provides AI enabled recruitment solution so that our clients can harness the power of job board even if it is for remote jobs.
