Employers are becoming increasingly resourceful in finding ways to boost their staff levels amid Australia’s current labour shortages.
With unemployment rates at lows not seen since the 1970s, employers across multiple industries are desperate for workers.
But HR departments may not need to enter the war for talent if they can make the most of their existing employees.
Current employees may be able to bridge the talent gap, said Roxanne Calder, author of Employable: 7 Attributes to Assure your Working Future.
“Employees have different skills we can leverage, but we have to open our eyes and be innovative,” she said.
“To tackle recruitment, you have to be entrepreneurial in the way you look at things and the first step is to have meetings and interviews with every employee to understand their dreams and their hobbies. Even get out their resume to see what they did before they worked for you.
“Maybe you’ve got someone in their 20s or 30s who is great on social media and your business is a plumbing business and you think you need to do that to get new business in.”
Regular check-ins with workers are the key to unlocking their hidden talents, but also to making sure they are happy and not planning to leave, said Calder.
“We call it human capital because people are assets of the business,” she said.
“If you had a manufacturing plant and your equipment was worth $1 million, you are servicing that to make sure it doesn’t break down because the moment it breaks down you have logistical issues, production issues and then you have customer issues.
“So you upgrade it and you change the parts to keep it as new. Why aren’t we doing that with our people? They require the same level of investment, training, focus and for people, nurturing.”
Leveraging talent in an existing workplace may require anything from structured training to informal mentoring.
But it’s not for everyone, said Kim Seeling-Smith, chief executive of recruitment consultancy Ignite Global.
“Honestly, there are people who are better suited to it because they have that willingness to learn and ability to handle change,” she said.
Taking on a different role in a company could also be a win for employees. But finding the time to do this could be the sticking point.
A survey of 760 technology workers across Australia and the US by tech company Pluralsight found 91 per cent said they want to improve their skills, but 61 per cent of respondents said they were too busy to undertake new learning.
Making time to enable staff to pivot their skills will be a challenge, but well worth it. Upskilling staff is not a solution for a short-term problem, but rather a long-term one, said Seeling-Smith.
“This is something that isn’t going away tomorrow,” she said. “This skills shortage is not going to turn around for a few years.”
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