A study released last month shows that pay transparency in job postings has more than doubled during the pandemic, increasing 137 percent between February 2020 and February 2023.
“Heightened employee expectations and new laws requiring disclosure in some parts of the country mean more employers are adding salary information to their job postings,” wrote Kathryn Mayer for the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM).
On one side of the American economy, tech companies almost daily announce new layoffs, while in other sectors, such as shipbuilding, companies cannot hire workers fast enough.
There were mixed signals with the release of the June JOLTS report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) as job openings fell by over 600,000 to 10.7 million, but for the 13th consecutive month more than 4 million workers voluntarily left their jobs.
“The drop in job openings marks the third month in a row of declines, indicating that labor shortages are beginning to ease, although levels remain nearly twice as high as the pre-pandemic norm,” wrote Roy Maurer for the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM).
The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary (JOLTS) for June 2022 released on August 2, 2022, showed that, while down slightly, “the number of quits was little changed at 4.2 million.”
In a perfect world your hiring managers would only select top talent to join your organization.
These are not perfect times, however, as HR teams must navigate one of the tightest labor markets in memory while being buffeted by external factors such as the pandemic and rising inflation which have changed both workplace and salary expectations.
In this challenging environment, assembling your team with “A” and “B” players is harder than ever. While business leaders never want to see their positions go unfulfilled, settling for less-than-stellar hires can be a costly move.
Much of the HR playbook has been rewritten, if not completely run through the shredder, since the COVID-19 pandemic started, and talent acquisition is certainly no exception.
Hiring experts at the Society for Human Resource Management’s (SHRM) recent Talent Conference & Expo 2022 highlighted a shift in HR tactics during a historically tight labor market.
“The experts on the panel agreed that the typical recruitment practice of screening out—or eliminating candidates because they don't meet all criteria—is not workable in the present environment,” wrote SHRM’s Roy Maurer. “Instead, talent acquisition teams should practice more “screening in” or hiring for competencies and training on the particular role.”
The Great Resignation, far from abating, hit historic levels in March as a record 4.5 Americans quit their job while employers posted a record 11.5 million job openings.
“A gap between the number of job openings and of people unemployed but seeking work has persisted since last spring. In February, there were 1.79 job openings for every unemployed person, according to Labor Department data,” reported the Wall Street Journal.
When software engineer Mike Conley posted a rant on LinkedIn recently about a broken hiring process where he was being asked to do nine rounds of interviews, it hit a nerve with job seekers everywhere.
His viral post racked up nearly two million views, 40,000 “likes”, and a whopping 4,000 comments, almost all supportive.
After a year of navigating the uncertain waters of the COVID-19 pandemic, business owners can be forgiven for wanting some clear sailing, but workplace experts are predicting a turnover tsunami in 2021.
“Employers were experiencing high rates of turnover prior to the economic shutdown triggered by the pandemic last spring, but since then, quit rates reached their lowest level in nine years,” wrote Roy Maurer in March for the Society for Human Resource Management. “Retention and turnover experts now predict voluntary job-leaving will increase significantly in 2021 as employees resume job searches they put off for the past year.”
On the heels of a disappointing April jobs report, the U.S. Department of Labor released a much-anticipated May jobs report on June 4 that showed an uptick in hiring, but overall numbers signify that the labor market is still lagging a heated-up economy.
CNBC said, “Job creation accelerated in May but is still below lofty expectations”, while the Wall Street Journal termed the news as, “Hiring picked up in May but lagged behind broader recovery”.
Artificial Intelligence or AI may conjure up images of Steven Spielberg’s 2001 science fiction film where advanced-thinking robots and humans uneasily coexist in the future, but the reality is that AI is here today, and the disruptive technology is changing the way we do business.
Most of us interact with different forms of AI on a routine basis without even realizing it and those interactions are only going to increase as the COVID-19 pandemic has sped up digital transformation in all sectors, including AI.
