The Labor Shortage Crisis: 3 Potential Solutions

As we slowly move past the COVID 19 pandemic and life begins to return to normal, we are being confronted with a unique and troubling situation pertaining to our workforce: a significant labor shortage.

Many businesses are struggling to find ways to navigate this labor issue and solutions have been hard to come by. In this article, we will detail three potential solutions to the issue of labor shortage in the US.

Offer Incentives to Employees

One of the most intuitive techniques designed to attract employees is that of increased incentives. While there are a number of options that may appeal to businesses as potential incentives for employees, some of the most common ideas include:

• Increasing pay rate;
• Offering flexible hours;
• Compensating employees for relocation costs;
• Allowing for hybrid/remote work.

For many businesses, implementing one or more options may be the only way to attract the necessary employees. More and more workers are realizing that the conditions, demands of jobs, and risk of viral exposure are not worth the amount of compensation that companies were previously offering.

Lower Certification/Degree Requirements

Some jobs require a certain level of competency and there is no way get around the issue. However, for certain occupations, degree and experience requirements can be relaxed which will allow more workers to apply for these positions.

For example: if a company previously required three years of experience for a certain position, they may now consider lowering this requirement to one year and providing increased training, continuing education opportunities, and on-boarding. This will be mutually beneficial for both employee and company because:

• The employee will feel better prepared for the nuances of the position as well as have increased job satisfaction due to higher pay.
• The company will benefit from having improved employee retention and loyalty. The less turnover that companies have during this difficult time, the better.

Outsource Services

Another interesting option that companies should consider is that of outsourcing certain services. This can effectively solve the issue of the labor shortage by decreasing the amount of effort companies need to go to in order to recruit new employees. Managers, employees, and business owners are all freed of the stress and issues caused by the labor shortage when companies partner with a comprehensive facility cleaning service.

For example, a company might elect to contract with a cleaning and sanitation service such as OpenWorks for all of their facility’s needs. OpenWorks provides numerous cleaning services as part of our TotalWorks system. Additionally, OpenWorks can provide a wide variety of facility services such as:

• Landscaping
• Pest Control
• Plumbing
• HVAC
• And Many More

Experienced and reliable cleaning services will be especially important in post-COVID times as customers and employees will be warier of germs than ever before. CDC-approved cleaning and sanitation practices, such as those implemented by OpenWorks will not only be desirable, they will be an absolute necessity moving forward. So, instead of taking the time to train new employees on how to properly clean and sanitize, companies can have peace of mind that services like those provided by OpenWorks will use best practices and keep everyone in the facility safe from disease