A recent post on the Infohrm blog regarding using workforce planning to boost your company out of the downturn also received an interesting comment regarding skills shortages. In short, the argument centered around the use of the term “skills shortages” and how it was really a proxy for “shortage at the price I’m willing to pay.” I won’t get into the details as the author of the blog, Andy Jacobus, has already provided a thorough response by reminding us that strategic workforce planning enables organizations to proactively identify talent gaps and skills shortages so that they can strategically address those gaps through a number of methods, increasing salary being only one of many options.
Interestingly enough, this morning I found an article on cnnmoney.com that featured 15 stressful jobs that pay badly. It led me to think that the organizations who recruit and retain these employees must have a strong focus on the employee value proposition in order to keep jobs filled, and that we could perhaps learn something from them as we all seek the best and the brightest while operating within the constraints of a down economy.
I reviewed the occupations to see if we could make reasonable assumptions about why employees choose what would appear on the surface to be a miserable way to make a living. I found two broad themes, and luckily, these are themes that can translate to your hard-to-fill roles:
1. Several jobs carry the intrinsic benefit of helping others to achieve well-being, whether it’s spiritual, personal healing, quality-of-life, etc., there is a “feel good” quality. You may be thinking, “that’s easy to see for a social worker, but I’m trying to hire engineers/actuaries/ nurses/etc. – the link is harder to make.” That’s only partially true.
We all work for companies who (should) achieve some level of good in the world. Whether it’s the product and services you provide, the customers you help, or even the charitable activities in which you participate. Medtronic, a company that specializes in medical therapies, ensures its employees are familiar with patient stories so they can understand how the work they do is improving lives. One of my favorite stories is from President Kennedy’s tour of NASA. He stopped to introduce himself to a janitor and asked, “What do you do here.” The janitor replied, “I’m helping to get a man to the moon Mr. President.”
Even if you’re not contributing to the “greater good,” employees take great pride in being the biggest, the best, the fastest, or whatever superlative fits your standing in the market. Perhaps you provide the opportunity for unique, creative, or challenging work. The point is to find that lever and communicate it broadly to your employees.
2. Those jobs where I had a harder time making the link to intrinsic benefit (news reporter, for example – although the link is there), carry the opportunity for career progression. No one gets started in the news industry to be a beat reporter for a small-market station, but everyone knows that you have to put in your time to learn the ropes and climb the ladder.
Often times, the hard-to-fill roles where there are skills shortages are so specialized, that companies have a hard time creating a career path for their employees. However, those who have invested in developing career paths and developmental opportunities have seen the results pay off in employee retention and engagement and as a selling point in recruiting. Some companies have seen such positive results, that they are expanding the idea to those roles that aren’t necessarily hard-to-fill, but that have high turnover such as call centers.
So often we brush by stories like this because we think, “that’s completely different from what I do,” but you don’t have to look too far to understand the valuable lessons provided within these jobs and how you can mimic their success through strategic workforce planning in your own organization.
The 15 jobs listed by cnnmoney.com:
- Social worker
- Special events coordinator
- Probation/parole officer
- News reporter
- Music ministry director
- Membership manager
- Fundraiser
- Commercial photographer
- Assisted living director
- Minister
- Marriage/family therapist
- Curator
- Substance abuse counselor
- Film/TV producer
- High school teacher
Tags: career development, career paths, critical roles, critical skills, employee value proposition, intrinsic benefits, Skills Shortage, Strategic Workforce Planning, Workforce Planning