Around 77 % of employers around the world are having trouble filling jobs at their companies. This is the highest global labor force shortage in 17 years. Why are we seeing such a drastic drop in the labor market worldwide?
Employee Shortage 2024
Although it does seem to be touching most countries in the world and spans across industries, there are a few likely contributing factors to why many countries are experiencing labor shortages. Of course, much of the reason has to do with economic uncertainty and employees not returning to work after the COVID-19 pandemic. Some factors and global talent trends include:
Low global birthrates
Many countries have lower birth rates and have had births on the decline for decades. While most baby boomers will likely be on their way out of the workforce around 2030, younger workers, including Gen Z and Millennials still have not had the chance to gain adequate professional experience or training to fill the vacant positions.
Industry changes
With rapid adoption of new technologies like AI and machine learning taking over the world of work, many workers still do not feel comfortable with their knowledge of these technologies and are slower to adapt.
Entrepreneurship opportunities
It seems to be easier than ever to become an entrepreneur, especially with new and emerging freelance roles popping up online and opportunities for digital workers to create their own talent niches, brands, companies or digital platforms. With more interest in self-employment and side hustles, many workers no longer value the structure of major corporate businesses. They are looking to explore new creative or entrepreneurial opportunities outside corporate structures.
Global Talent Trends 2024
On top of these factors causing a workplace decline, employees who stay in the workforce are demanding different things of their employers. Some are struggling to keep up, to their own detriment. These include:
- Competitive Salary Demands: With rising global costs of living, employees want to be paid competitively by the companies they work for. This is especially true in global hub cities for fields like technology. If workers are required to live in New York City, they expect to be paid a New York City salary— no one better suited for rural Arkansas.
- Salary Transparency: Increasingly, workers are calling on employers to post actually salaries on job postings— not just “competitive salary.” Large salary ranges are being called out for creating confusion too. When you list a role at $50,000 - $250,00 annually, it’s unclear what the duties in the position will really be and what qualification levels a potential employee should have if they are interested in applying.
- Health and Wellbeing: Many workers are abandoning roles that don’t make them feel happy or valued or those where the stress levels are so high it takes a negative toll on their mental health.
- Boomerang Employees: Whether it’s a post-pandemic return or a retired employee looking to come back in a smaller capacity, some workers are returning to companies they worked for in the past.
- Fractional Executives: Part-time CFOs, CMOs, or other executive roles are becoming more popular. Many companies realize they don’t need these roles in a permanent capacity, and since executive salaries are expensive, scaling down on executive presence and talent leaders in favor of a more situation-based structure can help to cut costs and redirect company focus.
How Can I Attract Top Talent?
All that being said, how can you actually structure your company in a way that will entice and retain talent in the global workforce?
Although it may seem like a dire employment landscape, one benefit of the world of work post-pandemic was a deepening talent pool. With most companies going remote around the world, people realized many jobs could be done digitally.
Because of this, theoretically (and with a little tax compliance!) your skilled workforce can be located anywhere. You’re no longer competing with every other employer in your region for only the best employees locally. With a little ingenuity, you can source top talent all around the world.
Attracting top talent in a competitive job market with global talent shortages can be challenging, but it's not impossible. To stand out as an employer and draw in the best candidates, you can employ several talent strategies:
Competitive Compensation Packages
What compensation do you offer your employees beyond just the paycheck? Offer competitive salaries, benefits, and bonuses. Research industry standards and make sure your compensation packages are at least on par with, if not better than, what your competitors are offering.
Flexible Work
Remote work is becoming increasingly flexible and if you’re not up to speed in allowing employees freedom to work where and when they want (within reason) chances are they’ll look elsewhere for opportunities that fit better with their schedules and lifestyles. Provide flexibility in terms of remote work, flexible hours, or compressed workweeks. Many talented professionals value work-life balance and appreciate these options.
Professional Talent Development Opportunities
You can tell your employees they’re great all day every day, but if your actions don’t show that you truly value them, they will begin to feel untrusting of you as an employer.
Showcase your commitment to employee growth by offering training, mentoring programs, and opportunities for skill development. Highlight the potential for career advancement within your organization, and reward high performers with recognition for their contributions to your team.
This is also an opportunity to look at employee career cycles holistically. Some top performers won’t work for you forever, but you can still be supportive of their professional goals and ask them how you can help them get from point A to point B even if they move beyond your company. This can help demonstrate that you see them as more than just their roles.
Strong Company Culture
Foster a positive workplace culture that values diversity, inclusion, and employee well-being. Highlight your company's values, mission, and vision to attract candidates who align with your culture. If you’re looking abroad to fill positions, invest in learning about the cultures in the countries you’ll be hiring from. How are they different to your own and how might you bridge and cultural gaps, religious differences, or language barriers that could crop up with employees working across borders?
Employee Referral Programs
The best marketing strategy is usually through word of mouth! People don’t always trust companies they’re unfamiliar with, but they do tend to trust other people. Encourage your current employees to refer top talent within their own networks. If a potential candidate hears good things about you as an employer from someone they already know, personally or professionally, they’ll be more likely to trust that you are an employer worth doing business for. Employee referrals often result in high-quality hires and can create a sense of camaraderie within your team.
Recruitment Marketing
Use digital marketing and social media to promote your company as an employer of choice. Highlight your unique selling points and share success stories of your current employees. Many companies even turn to platforms like TikTok and Instagram to advertise job openings during the hiring process rather than just LinkedIn. These social media outlets are popular with younger potential workers around the world.
Even if they’re not actively looking for work, engaging them on social media helps you to meet them where they’re at and demonstrates that you are socially aware and on top of current trends.
Having a Strong Employer Brand
Invest in building a strong online presence. Showcase your company's achievements, values, and workplace environment on your website and social media channels. There are many easy-to-use digital tools for things like graphic design or website building, even if you are not a professional. Putting a little bit of care into developing your brand online can help you stand out from similar competitors.
Look at what other similar companies within your industry are doing with their branding and think about elements that work that you could emulate or things you can do better. In a talent market where capturing attention is key, having a cohesive and recognizable brand helps potential talent become familiar with you and your company values and sets you apart.
Networking and Partnerships
Build relationships with post-secondary institutions, industry organizations, and talent pipelines. Attend job fairs, conferences, and workshops to connect with potential candidates. Although it may seem like everyone is recruiting through social media, there’s still value in attending face-to-face events.
Although you may not attract the same volume of job applicants that you would online, you’ll probably attract highly qualified potential hires. Job seekers making the effort to attend industry events or even pay for things like professional conventions likely have a high standard of care towards applying for positions in your company and making a good impression.
Streamlined Recruitment Process
Make your recruitment process efficient and user-friendly. Lengthy and cumbersome processes can deter top talent. Many qualified candidates do not want to do hours of unpaid work and multiple interviews that sometimes come with securing a role. Even the usefulness of the cover letter has been called into question in 2023.
When you create a process for talent recruitment, aim to put yourself in a prospective candidate’s shoes. Are you giving them too much work to do to join your company? How can you make the job application journey easier for them? For non-managerial roles, you may want to stick to one interview. Consider as well, including short survey questions instead of required cover letters or even allowing candidates to submit cover letters in audio or video format if it makes the work easier for them.
Offer Unique Perks
Stand out by offering unique perks like wellness programs, flexible PTO policies, or opportunities for sabbaticals. These will help differentiate your company from curious applicants. And for existing employees, it’s an opportunity to talk up the company culture to their friends, their professional networks, or on their social media channels.
Transparent Communication
Be clear and transparent about job expectations, career growth prospects, and company culture during the recruitment process. Open and honest communication can help attract candidates who are a good fit. If you mislead your employees, you risk deterring other candidates from applying. With increased employee communications and larger networks than ever, it’s important to maintain your integrity and a good reputation by fostering an environment of honest communication.
Showcase Impactful Work
Highlight the meaningful and impactful projects that candidates will have the opportunity to work on within your organization.
Global Talent Acquisition and Networks
Leverage global talent networks and platforms to access a broader pool of candidates. Talk to your workforce and find out if they have worked in other countries. If you are looking to expand your company into other global branches, your team may have insights, understand the culture or be able to leverage connections that could help you on your global expansion journey.
Retain Great Talent
Once you've hired top talent, focus on retaining them through engagement, recognition, and ongoing professional development! Show your team that you are genuinely invested in their growth over the long term— not just to hit KPIs or monthly performance metrics. Good workers are not cheap, but hiring and firing bad workers is even more costly. Although it can seem like a lot of effort up front, investment in keeping your team happy will keep them around.
Continuous Improvement
Regularly review and update your talent attraction strategies to adapt to changing market conditions and candidate preferences. Look at what works and what doesn’t. Try out a data-based approach to track what you can tweak to make your talent attraction strategies stronger.
Remember that attracting top talent is an ongoing process. It's essential to continually evolve your approach and stay competitive in the job market to attract and retain the best candidates.
How Can Borderless AI Help?
No matter where you’re hiring in 2024, you deserve the best.
Borderless AI enables businesses to compliantly hire and manage talent worldwide without establishing a foreign entity. We alleviate the complexities and risks associated with hiring global employees with zero deposits, dedicated in-house support, and AI-powered global employment law resources.
Speak with our team today to on-board your global talent.
Disclaimer
Borderless does not provide legal services or legal advice to customers, contractors, employees, partners, or the general public. We are not lawyers or paralegals. Please read our full disclaimer here.
