John Morgan is President of Career Transition & Mobility and Learning & Development at LHH, an integrated talent solutions provider.
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CEOs have been bracing their companies for an economic downturn for months now. High-profile layoffs have captured headlines. Where companies have chosen not to lay off staff, many are implementing hiring freezes with the hope that they can shrink their workforces in a less disruptive, more cost-effective way.
While these options may solve short-term cash flow issues, they have long-term ramifications that need to be considered. Onboarding new talent is expensive. According to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), the average cost per hire this year was nearly $4,700, with some roles being as expensive as three or four times the position’s proposed salary by the time that person is brought up to speed. Meanwhile, understaffed workforces could continue to hamper overall productivity.
As business leaders look for new ways to weather the recession in 2023, it’s important to remember a better investment of time and money.
Take advantage of quiet hiring.
“Quiet hiring” may be the latest “quiet” workplace buzzword at play, but it’s also a powerful HR tool that can help companies prioritize their most important business functions in a cost-effective way. "Quiet hiring" also provides workers with new opportunities to stretch their skills, strengthen their résumés and avoid getting tired or burned out from the mundane.
By giving employees a new set of responsibilities or broadening the scope of their existing roles, companies can maximize existing skills within their organization without having to hire more full-time staff. This trend may also refer to the growing popularity of temp workers, who can help take the burden off overworked employees without companies having to make long-term financial commitments.
In these scenarios, it’s important that you have buy-in from your staff, that they understand the new expectations of their role and that they feel comfortable taking on the new tasks being sent their way. However, employees can also benefit from taking on more responsibility in the form of thoughtful recognition, future promotions, salary increases and more.
Consider radical redeployment of talent.
Against the backdrop of the economic uncertainty we’re currently in, it’s likely that companies will continue to downsize in certain areas due to the post-pandemic over-hiring that’s taken place over the last year and a half. However, cutting specific roles and implementing hiring freezes in some cases does not negate the fact that companies will still have hiring needs as workplace demands continue to shift.
Now more than ever, companies should be looking internally to identify employees who have the skills and are willing to take on new emerging roles that will be required in the future workforce. As employees adapt and grow within their organization, new and unfound capabilities may have emerged over time that can create new avenues for growth.
Skills assessment testing is one way to reveal skills that are untapped that can move a company closer to its goals at a time when adding headcount isn’t possible. Companies can also develop radical redeployment programs to help them identify segments of displaced workers who can be successfully moved into new roles.
In times of economic uncertainty, companies tend to make urgent staffing decisions without adequate planning or thoughtful execution. But in order to build a meaningful, enduring company culture, it’s important that you take the right steps to address skills gaps, keep the right people and challenge workers to apply their skillsets and experiences to new roles. In doing so, your organization can fill much-needed roles, improve retention and boost overall performance and productivity.
Prioritize engaging and retaining critical talent.
The definition of “high performance” for both companies and employees can many times be redefined as outside conditions change. But the commonality between most high-performing organizations is their ability to engage and retain staff that is closest to their company’s mission and most in tune with the path to it. However, even these workers are not immune to feeling unsettled amid budget freezes and staffing cuts, which is why an increased focus on empowering this group is vital to coming out ahead on the other side of a recession when macroeconomic forces improve.
Executive coaching is one tool that facilitates future thinking and an individual’s professional growth. For non-managers, reskilling and professional development programs have grown increasingly important. Lay the groundwork for your leaders to be successful as we face an uncertain future by addressing communication and crisis management.
According to the University of Phoenix's "Annual Career Optimism Index 2022" via SHRM, 68% of employees stated, "they would stay with their employer throughout their career if the employer made an effort to upskill them, while 65 percent of workers said they would stay throughout their career if their employer made an effort to reskill them." According to the "Global Workforce of the Future" report from the Adecco Group, (which LHH is part of), nearly 50% of workers who want to stay in their current company would only do so under the condition of learning new skills and promises of career progression.
It’s clear that today’s workers are eager for more career conversations and guidance, as well as training opportunities that can advance their careers down the line. By providing it, companies can not only improve employee satisfaction and retention numbers but also begin charting a path that can help them emerge in a post-recession world stronger and smarter than ever before.
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