My consulting practice often slows down around the holidays. That’s why it was surprising to get an urgent call from a potential client (Kris) right after Christmas. His message was succinct: “My operation is precise with no option to miss deadlines. We need to address labor issues today to have any chance of making it through next year’s holiday season.”
We set up time for a “conversational diagnostic”, time to gather information to understand the issues and discuss potential solutions. From that conversation, I learned:
- One physical location (HQ and manufacturing), extremely remote
- All employees are hired entirely from local population
- Retention is very high, with multiple generations of families working at the company
- No issues with talent on the supply chain side. The company has a highly classified delivery system that is so efficient all of their goods can be delivered anywhere in the world in 24 hours or less.
- The issue revolves around manufacturing. The company can’t match increasing global demand with seemingly no way to add employees to keep pace.
Kris’ company is not alone. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the US job openings rate has remained consistently high in recent months, indicating a significant labor shortage across various sectors. With Kris’ business focused on manufacturing for the short window of the holiday season, the labor shortage gets magnified.
Total (non-Farm) US Job Openings rate is at 4.60%, compared to 4.40% last month and 5.20% last year. This is higher than the long term average of 3.64%.
US Bureau of labor statistics
“It was a tough year. Finding the right skills and employees with diversified expertise to help in multiple areas is harder than ever”. He’s right. But, after gathering additional information from Kris and some of his key employees, ES Talent Solutions put together a plan for the future. Three recommendations were presented:
Maximize skills of current employee population
- Build flexibility into the workforce with cross training, upskilling and/or reskilling programs. This should make it easier to increase productivity by moving workers to areas of highest need.
Be creative in attracting new employees
- While the location is away from a large population of skilled workers, there may be a way to increase, in even a small way, the number of relocated workers by adding/enhancing benefits programs like extended vacation time, competitive health plans, generous 401(k) matching, etc.
Consider flexible work arrangements
- Remote work arrangements and manufacturing operations typically do not align. But if there are roles that do not have to be onsite (i.e. accounts payable, buyers, legal team, etc.), it will be easier to keep at least some functions fully staffed.
Kris and the team are excited to explore the possibilities of these programs. As he stated, “The magic of Christmas will never fade. We may need to adapt but, with the right strategies, we should have smooth operations for years to come.”
Editor’s Note: While ES Talent Solutions is indeed a recruiting strategy company which works with clients to improve hiring through process optimization and technology enhancements, the above case study is fictitious and meant for entertainment purposes only. Happy New Year!
For a free conversational diagnostic of your recruiting ecosystem, contact Eddie at estewart@estalentsolutions.com. In a few short minutes, you could receive practical tips to improve the efficiency of your hiring process.
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