I still get asked all the time “how the market is” or what I am seeing in the market and the truth is I am starting to hear some of the same old things. “We have advertised and are not getting any good applicants” or “we thought we would get a better response to our ad.”
Yes the economy is improving and unemployment has fallen below 8% for the first time in a while and we in Canada now sit at 7.9%. Bt what does that mean? So I have done some digging to try and put it in perspective.
In 2004, the year that was widely regarded as the start of the economic boom. Do you remember setting new sales/occupancy records and starting to feel the crunch when it came to finding line staff? I do, I was still in ops at that time! Well, in 2004 the unemployment rate was… wait for it… 7.8%! YEP that is .1 lower than we are right now.
In 2005, when I got out of ops (largely because it was getting so hard to find staff) the unemployment rate was…7.0%. So from 2004 to 2005 it actually dropped .7%.
In 2008 what is considered the height of the boom with an absolute frenzy to try and lure, pay and retain staff the unemployment rate was…6%. So a full 1% drop from 2005. In fact from 2005 to 2006 the unemployment rate dropped from 7% to 6.8%. In 2007 it dropped to 6.4%.
The most dramatic drop in our unemployment in the last 10 years was in 2005 – NOT in 2008 when it was hard to hire.
The point I am trying to make is that we are entering “pre-boom” unemployment numbers. I want you to go back to 2004 and remember the challenges you had finding staff. The truth is we are at that same point for available talent. For those of you who are of the mind set that the market is ripe with talent – it’s not. It is 2004 all over again and the economy is growing just as it did back then. Staffing challenges are coming (if they are not already here for you).
If you have not made changes to your Retention/Attraction policies – Now is the Time to do so. Within the next 12-18 months your business is going to get busier and staff are going to become hard to come by. As I have preached, the best way to attract good people is to take care of the people you have – right now.
I also worked in hotels in the boom years and I can attest to the pain caused by staffing shortages. One of our partners recently wrote a short article regarding manager turnover and that the number one reason managers quit was due to scheduling frustration.
http://www.timeforge.com/site/blog/reduce-turnover/
Now, in the interest of full disclosure the article does talk about the product both them and I carry, but the point I wanted to make is to contribute something to the discussion for which I am familiar with and have some insights behind.
There are many different ways that the hospitality can tackle an upcomming labor shortage. In my opinion old ways won’t work with todays youth and the companies that employ creative and innovative solutions in getting ahead of the curve will feel less pain than the ones that leave it until its too late. Before long, companies will have to sell themselves to employees, not the other way around.
Love the blogs Corey.