When Business Recovery Knocks, Leaders Need a Recruiting Answer
The cloud of COVID-19 continues to loom worldwide impacting nearly every industry. But early signs of recovery are emerging in a number of countries, with hiring expected to improve in Q4.1 While this is positive news, a dramatic workforce transformation is happening that will impact how employers fill these positions.
Economic forecast upbeat, yet cautionary
According to a new ManpowerGroup Employment Outlook Survey, conducted with over 38,000 employers, 37 of the 43 countries surveyed are seeing an upturn driven by anticipated workforce growth in construction, business services as well as wholesale and retail trade sectors. Poland is one of the strongest labor markets in the EMEA region, closely followed by Switzerland which anticipates a return to pre-COVID hiring levels by end of the year. Germany and Italy remain more cautious, seeing mixed levels of growth in certain sectors like finance and healthcare, while Finland is one of the few countries experiencing a boost in the hospitality industry.
Amidst these glimmers of hope in a shell-shocked labor market, new job roles are emerging. While pilots, chefs and hoteliers are currently in decline in most countries, new and essential workers include contract tracers - identifying people who may have been exposed to COVID-19 - temperature checkers and video meeting facilitators.2 Demand for many of these jobs is expected to grow in the coming months along with changing expectations on how and where workers will do them.
Return to work... from anywhere
If you’ve been online recently trying to buy a desk, you will be hard-pressed to find one due to a current global shortage. This is another indication of the dramatic workplace shift now in progress as some head back to the office while many others plan to work from home for the foreseeable future. As 60% of companies make plans to bring back furloughed workers full-time, over half of employers globally will offer flexible work options for the long-term. While China, the U.S., Poland, Hong Kong and India offer the least flexibility to their workforces, the Netherlands, Greece, Singapore and Belgium are leading the way in hybrid styles of remote work.3 That flexible approach is what workers want, especially at a time when many are still juggling work with homeschooling, personal and mental wellbeing and other post COVID-19 responsibilities.
Mauricio Vianna, CEO of the global consulting firm MJV Technology & Innovation, says remote work isn’t just a temporary fix to a pandemic problem. It’s here to stay and will likely outlast COVID-19. “Companies should create a digital environment for their teams that is comprehensive, seamless, easy-to-use and effective for remote work,” he says. “It’s crucial to craft a digital space that maintains operational efficiency, but also includes easy ways to foster and boost culture and morale within a company.”4
It’s not only teams who benefit from this new hybrid work environment. Employers can save an average of $11,000 per half-time telecommuter per year. These savings are the result of increased productivity, lower real estate costs, reduced absenteeism and turnover, and better disaster preparedness.5 Highly engaged teams and organizations gain a 17% increase in work productivity and a 24% decrease in staff turnover.6
Delivering work-ready talent with Project RPO
But creating the ideal environment amidst shifting workplace demands can be challenging, especially in industries with short-term specialty hiring needs, like retail, tech and manufacturing. That challenge is amplified during times of economic uncertainty when budgets may be limited but companies still require quick-turnaround talent recruitment for a variety of reasons from seasonal hiring spikes to mergers and acquisitions or regional expansion.
For this, an agile recruiting solution is needed – one that’s cost-efficient and scalable. Project RPO answers the call with a solution adaptable to teams of 10 or 400 who need to find quality talent on a short timeline. From strategic planning and best-in-class technology to global hubs with multi-language capabilities, this flexible approach finds the right candidates faster and more effectively than other traditional recruitment models. For example, a Fortune 1000 digital firm with clients located around the world recently worked with ManpowerGroup’s Talent Solutions team to improve their existing hiring process as they aimed to quickly scale up their Java Development team in Zurich. Within four months, over 128 positions were filled in a highly competitive talent market.
To learn more about how Talent Solutions Project RPO’s flexible, project-led approach can supply your organization with high-quality professionals quickly and efficiently, visit: manpowergroupsolutions.com/project-rpo