Nowadays, it is difficult to pass by a restaurant or retail store of any size and not find a “Help Wanted” or “Now Hiring” sign posted by its entrance.
While this is normally an encouraging sign for the labor market, more than a few employers remain concerned that a continued dearth of workers will hurt their operations and, by extension, the still-fluctuating economy.
The nation”™s unemployment rate is at roughly 4.8%, down from the nightmarish 14.8% in April 2020; Connecticut”™s unemployment rate stands at 6.4% while New York is at 6.9%. Waves of federal and state financial aid, including extended unemployment benefits, helped get those suddenly unemployed and underemployed due to Covid-19 through the rougher months of the pandemic.
But those pandemic-era benefits have mostly ended, and many businesses that furloughed workers are urging them to come back. Yet many companies, both large and small, are having problems recruiting workers.
Could ongoing fears about Covid exposure be a contributing factor? The pandemic is hardly over, yet one Sacred Heart University professor downplays that concern as the key reason behind this new chase after potential employees.
“It”™s probably a part of it, but it”™s not the main driving force,” said Jeanine Andreassi, chairwoman of the management program at the university”™s Jack Welch College of Business & Technology.
Instead, she said, some employees have discovered the joys of working from home at least part of the time ”” and are essentially demanding that their employers bend to their will.
“There”™s a perception now that management doesn”™t trust them” to work from home when the office is ready for them, Andreassi said. “At the same time, most of the data supports the idea that allowing that leads to greater job satisfaction, better performance, and higher employee retention.”
Companies today are in “a precarious situation” when it comes to flex time and hybrid schedules, she said, noting that both were coming into vogue even before the pandemic.
“If they embrace the new normal, they”™ll see less work exhaustion, have a workforce that is actually less distracted than some people thought, and lose fewer workers,” she said. “It”™s a win-win.”
Expanding on the topic, Andreassi invoked “Theory X” and “Theory Y,” management strategies that are essentially in opposition. Theory X managers assume that their employees are unmotivated and dislike work and need to be micromanaged constantly; Theory Y practitioners have a more positive outlook and tend toward a more decentralized style, allowing employees to self-manage and thus be more self-motivated.
A key to success with the latter approach is to establish clear performance metrics ”” possibly including employee input ”” to further ensure that everyone is on the same page.
Andreassi said she personally believes that some onsite attendance should be required to help coworkers bounce ideas off of each other and to maintain interpersonal relations ”” though she allowed that the return of regular company retreats is probably not coming soon.
“The biggest negative about working offsite can be social isolation,” she said. “The hybrid approach is really the best of both worlds.”
That can also give a company an advantage over competitors that are less likely to accept and establish Theory Y principles. “There are so many jobs available that if you can find one that”™s higher-paying with a flexible, work-from-home option, you”™ll probably come out ahead,” Andreassi said.
Even so, some workers may never reenter the workforce, she said.
“There are people who left their jobs and found themselves much happier in life, either because they started their own company, found another pursuit, or just decided to reevaluate their life and what they want most out of it,” Andreassi said.
“It”™s a shift in power, away from the companies and towards the employees,” she added. “That”™s good for workers, but it can also be good for companies that can adapt. They”™ll see improvements in job performance, retention and overall employee satisfaction.”
