Quits or Not, Employers Aren’t Providing What Workers Want

Employers are devoting an exceptional amount of time and energy to people issues and improving the talent experience as a way to address labor shortages.

About 84% of business leaders say they’re focused on talent experience like they’ve never been before, according to Randstad Sourceright’s 2022 Talent Trends Report. That, Randstad said, shows that power has shifted toward employees, at least in the labor market.

Given the number of quits happening across the U.S., that’s not surprising. The labor shortage is the top worry for U.S. CEOs, according to the Conference Board, and the third for CEOs globally, behind Covid-19 disruptions and inflation.

At the same time, the survey found that, for many organizations, a disconnect remains between talent-strategy goals and execution. For example, while three quarters of respondents, 75%, said reskilling is an effective way to combat talent scarcity, only 29% are investing in ways to address the issue. Despite 86% claiming DEI is embedded in their talent strategies, just 43% said their hiring practices in 2021 supported their diversity.

Thinking Outside the Box

More than half of business leaders, 53%, plan to hire extensively this year, and are thinking outside the box in their pursuit of candidates. Some 80% found seeking talent beyond immediate geographical barriers was a useful approach, while 71% planned to shift more roles to contingent, project or contract status to get work done. That’s an increase of 15 points in the last year.

And in case you had any doubts, the Great Resignation’s impact is real: A quarter of business leaders, 25%, said their profit dropped as a direct result of labor issues. The same proportion were forced to reduce their level of service to customers.

Amidst all this, business leaders, including CHROs, are feeling cost pressures. Forty-five percent of them said their talent acquisition strategy is more about creating value than achieving savings – a five-year low and a 22-point drop compared to 2021. At the same time, 36% of businesses report increased recruitment costs because of talent scarcity.