In The War for Talent: Employers Are Their Own Nemesis
Ken Pinnock
Director Talent Management University of Denver, CO
This expression “The War for Talent” is being used quite a bit of late. This expression isn’t new, its more than 20 years old. It is widely accepted this expression was first used by Steven Hankin of McKinsey & Company in 1997 (Morgan, 2021). There have been a number of these “Wars for Talent” notably 2006, 2009, 2013, 2014, 2017 and now 2021. Employees or “talent” has become hard to find and subsequently retain.
A common definition of nemesis is a long-standing rival; archenemy seemingly impossible to defeat (Merriam-Webster 2021). Nemesis is fitting for employers as this challenge to find qualified employees let alone retain them continues to occur as it seemingly is now.
An effective way to respond to this current challenge, while not the complete answer, will help employers have the talent they need in a growing economy as the subsequent demand for talent is increasing. They need to focus on the talent that already exists in the organization every bit as much if not more, than looking outside for new employees.
This current challenge in which we find ourselves is complex. COVID-19 is still spreading at record levels in countries in Africa, India, and South America to name a few. Concurrently, several countries are “opening” back up as vaccines have taken hold with larger percentages of populations being at least partially vaccinated enabling economic activity to begin growing with rising consumer demand and the resulting demand for workers as jobs come back online.
The International Labor Organization (ILO) expects to see significant growth in employment starting in the second half of 2021, but this will be uneven and not vary by countries’ progress in gaining control of the pandemic (Cumming-Bruce, 2021).
However, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (O.E.C.D) projects the world economy will expand by 5.8 percent this year (Alderman, 2021). Economic growth historically portends increased hiring to fill vacant jobs as they tend to move in tandem, but that does not appear to be occurring at least not yet, this go around. Within the United States (US) and United Kingdom (UK) for example there are a great many vacant jobs available that continue to go unfilled.
More jobs being added and available coincides with more employees contemplating choosing not to return to their employers and change careers altogether. More than ever, employers need to look within to re-engage and retain their current staff. This appears not to be occurring, instead employers’ focus continues to be looking outside first. Again, our nemesis.
Our current labor challenges are not unprecedented. There is academic research that suggests the influenza pandemic of 1918 caused a shortage of labor resulting in higher starting wages and shortages of qualified and available labor (Garrett, 2007). Challenges today in attracting employees are numerous, notably:
o The current pandemic is not over. While the US and several countries around the world have vaccinated a significant percentage of their population, vaccination rates are languishing as people are stopping at one inoculation or not getting vaccinated at all. There are variants of the virus still circulating the globe. The Delta variant is spreading quickly in parts of the US, UK, South Africa, and India, for example. Concerns about the safety of being in their workplaces continue.
o Family responsibilities are a significant factor in hesitancy to apply for jobs. Childcare or lack thereof being available limits an employee’s ability to go back to work, at least in the office. This is especially true for working mothers and primary care givers making it hard to apply for available jobs.
o Remote work, for many workers – worked. So much so, that many do not want to give up remote working entirely. A study by PwC Consulting earlier this year shows most executives and employees view remote work as being successful both in terms of productivity and engagement (Schiavo, 2021). A recent study by Robert Half consulting, reported approximately one-third of workers currently working from home due to the pandemic said they would look for a new job if their employers required them to return to the office full-time and nearly half of respondents preferred hybrid arrangements instead (Moody, 2021).
So yes, the current state of the economy, pandemic, and the subsequent challenge to fill jobs is somewhat unique and is still in transition.
Simply raising starting salaries, stopping expanded unemployment benefits early as is occurring now in the US, or complaining that people just don’t want to work won’t remedy this situation. But one area employers have significant control over is creating or recreating workplaces people want to remain with let alone return to. This will help attract new employees as well.
The following recommendations can go a long way to do just this. Some to consider include:
o Minimize talking about “getting back to normal” or the “new normal”. There has been too much disruption and loss for people and their families (and still occurring) to underestimate the impact of what has occurred in people’s lives. Speaking this way is not reassuring or motivating people to want to return. What many people are hearing is we are going back to things as they were before, period. This is often not reassuring, depending on the employer and specifically the employee’s manager.
o Provide a safe workplace physically and psychologically. Take care to make workplaces as safe as possible for employees, vaccinated or not. Perhaps, more importantly, provide psychological safety. Bringing people back into the workplace is another transition to adapt to. Acknowledging and talking about what people have been through, providing flexibility for employees to continue to attend to family and child/elder care matters sends a strong message the employer cares about their employees as people, then as employees.
o Manage Differently. Employees in my organization reported that when working remotely ironically their relationship with their manager improved. Specifically, their manager demonstrated more interest in and care about their personal well-being and their family, paid deliberate attention to ensuring employees had the equipment and supplies needed to complete the work and provided greater autonomy and flexibility in how the work was getting done. These are hallmark behaviors to engage and retain employees.
o Rethink job design. During the past year or more of remote work, employees’ jobs changed to focus on the most important deliverables needed, other projects or tasks were put on hold or dropped completely as everyone had to prioritize what was most important and focus on what had to get done. Other projects or tasks would be revisited later if they proved to be a priority. This reduced the frequent occurrence of role ambiguity where employees are not always clear to actual priorities.
o The workplace is the new playground for bullies. Workplace bullying and other forms of aggression leads to a toxic work environment and affects employees’ safety, engagement, well-being, and your organization’s reputation as a workplace (Walsh, Perskey, Pinnock, 2019). Employers must prioritize workplace respect, diversity, equity, and inclusive practices and stop tolerating bullying behavior and harassment, even if from high performing employees. If not now, when?
o Finally, ask employees how they are doing, engage them in ideas of how to return to work and in new workplace practices or programs that would be meaningful to make the workplace better and more engaging. Finally, ask them about their development goals. Look for synergies between your organization’s needs and the needs of the employees. Chances are pretty good their career and personal development goals have changed to a degree.
At first glance, these suggestions may appear under-whelming, but they work in engaging your employees, supporting their well-being, and encouraging them to stay. While they may appear simple, they are not easy to keep top of mind daily as the usual task demands begin to take over.
Ultimately, employers pay for not doing these by having employees that don’t want to return to their old job or apply for jobs at other organizations that may be available. It’s a safe bet many of those firms you compete with for employees aren’t thinking in these ways, at least consistently. You’ll have to trust me on this one. This may be the time where we finally defeat our Nemesis in this War for Talent. It’s up to organizations to decide. I think we can do it this time.
Ken Pinnock is the Director of People Development at the University of Denver and has worked and consulted with organizations on talent development and engagement in the US and Internationally.
Works Cited
Garrett, Thomas A. Economic Affects of the 1918 Influenza Pandemic: Implications For a Modern Day Pandemic. Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, MO (2007) Accessed June 18, 2021.
Merriam-Webster. Nemesis|Definition
Moody, Katherine. HR Dive. Employees are Confident - And Ready to Walk Away, Robert Half Says. June 17, 2021. Accessed June 18, 2021 www.hrdive.com/news/employees-are-confident-and-ready-to-walk-away-robert-half-says/601991/
Morgan, Jacob. The War For Talent: It’s Real and Here’s Why It’s Happening. Accessed June 3, 2021. (2017)
Schiavo, Amanda. Employee Benefit News. PwC Finds Employees Aren’t Eager to Return to Work the office post-covid. (2021) Accessed March 13, 2021.
Walsh Janet L., et al. Global Journal of Business Research. The Effect of High Performing Bullying Behavior On Organizational Performance: A Bullying Management Dilemma. Vol. 13, No. 1, pp. 71-81 (2019).