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Engage Your Workforce to Boost Performance

Mary O'Donnell Meldrum reveals how companies can retain great talent from the early stages of training. Get all the tips here so you can apply them to your own business.

3 mins readApril 04, 2022

“Today’s workplace isn’t nearly as vertically integrated as it once was, and seasoned leaders know that creating a culture of engagement begins with a more empowered workforce.”



The COVID-19 pandemic forced businesses to do more with less, and companies throughout the world are still being forced to operate with skeleton crews just to keep their doors open. Even though we have plenty of individuals in our communities that could seemingly fill these vacancies, we continue to encounter critical labor shortages throughout the United States. This is hardly a new problem for companies, but offering higher starting salaries isn’t substantially increasing the number of qualified applicants for many unfilled positions, particularly for skilled work.


Service jobs are a traditional way for young people to get valuable work experience and on-the-job training. Companies depend on entry-level line employees to staff their retail establishments, but many young people in their communities suitable for those jobs aren't actively seeking employment.


We’ll be discussing a few of the reasons why young people aren’t in the workforce and why it’s in our best interest to find new and innovative ways to prepare today’s youth for skilled employment to address critical labor shortages throughout the United States.



Where Are the Workers?



With so many open positions to fill, we always owe it to ourselves to expand our reach to all available talent in the area. Companies are offering generous starting salaries that are often comfortably above minimum wage to young workers, but these businesses still struggle to find the employees that they need. There are a lot of reasons that young people don’t finish high school or aren’t in the job market, and unemployment disproportionally affects people from families in poverty and people who speak English as a second language.


Young people from economically disadvantaged families often have other problems, such as food insecurity or transportation. If English isn’t the primary language spoken in the home, it presents numerous barriers to entry-level work.


Young workers may be intimidated to look for work


Young people with work experience and education are often still living at home well into their 20s and might not feel the pressing need to enter the workforce. It can also be frustrating to a young person to go through the steps to prepare for employment. As a leader, it’s important to learn about your prospective candidates and meet them where they are. Young people are often intimidated by the process of applying for jobs, and there are advantages to discussing your own vulnerabilities with job seekers to maintain better lines of communication.


Some candidates might choose not to pursue employment at companies if they don’t think that they meet the minimum qualifications for the jobs. Employers make the hiring decisions, but candidates are making decisions of their own. If you can overcome their objections and encourage them to learn about how to become an attractive candidate, they will be much more willing to learn about your company and pursue employment.



The Costs of Idle Talent



When young people remain out of the workforce for too long, it has more serious implications than simply creating labor shortages. For starters, they will earn far less money over the course of their lifetimes. With the rising costs of housing, goods, and services, this diminished lifetime earning potential will impact the comfort of their families. They also have less money to spend in their community and will provide less tax revenues.


A 2012 Federal Reserve Bank of Boston policy brief reported that over half of America’s manufacturers struggled to recruit workers, and 84% reported that K-12 education doesn’t adequately prepare its students to enter the workplace. The brief’s authors predict that the skills shortage is likely to grow in the future.

The Value of Human Capital



The Brookings Institute released a 2012 executive summary entitled “Creating a Virtuous Circle: Workforce Development Policy as a Tool for Improving the Prospects of America’s Unemployed Workers” that takes a detailed look at current and future workforce development needs.


Author Elisabeth Jacobs reports that our current workforce development systems are “woefully underfunded” and focus too much on short-term solutions to addressing labor shortages instead of focusing on the long-term development of human capital. It’s more expensive to train new workers in the short term, but it offers greater long-term benefits for companies.


Today’s workplace isn’t nearly as vertically integrated as it once was, and seasoned leaders know that creating a culture of engagement begins with a more empowered workforce. Line employees offer a lot of important insights that senior managers simply can’t glean from reports, and you’re far more likely to recruit and retain great talent when they feel like their voices are heard.


This culture should include your in-house employees and extend to stakeholders and members of the community. You’ve made a capital investment in the community, and you depend on members of the community to return your investment and operate your company.



Creating a New Generation of Self-Starters



When you think about must-have leadership qualities, integrity and honesty will top most people’s lists. But the best managers often think of themselves as more of a coach than a boss. Instead of adopting a traditional “top-down” approach, you can expect better results when you encourage your staff to improve their skills and education. That’s easy enough to do with your own employees by instituting continuing education programs in-house or offering tuition reimbursement, but it presents challenges for job seekers who don’t have the resources to attain post-secondary education or job training on their own.


Jacobs discusses the importance of creating lifelong learners as an intrinsic solution to keeping up with the demand for future skilled talent. It should come as no surprise that people are far more motivated to follow their heart than they are to respond to extrinsic factors such as a paycheck. Enrolling young people in college or vocational training programs is an important first step, but they’ll be much more invested in their program with good mentors and plenty of autonomy in planning their program of study.


Traditional education may not prepare young workers for the workplace


Companies throughout the United States don’t believe that K-12 education is preparing young people for the workplace, and that’s unlikely to change in the immediate future. Job seekers also need to do more than merely finish high school to be an attractive candidate for most jobs. It might be intimidating for students who struggled in certain academic subjects to pursue secondary education, but community colleges, universities, and vocational schools are becoming increasingly more sensitive to the needs of non-traditional learners.



How Do We Reverse the Trend?



When you’re looking for the best ways to inspire employees, they include communicating your vision, taking an interest in your employees, and soliciting feedback.


You should consider taking the same approach to people in your community who are interested in your company. Job seekers have the responsibility to learn about your operation, and you’re equally responsible for learning about your applicants.


Reach out to high school students in your community and discuss your long-term needs. If you’re prepared to put your money where your mouth is, community leaders are always interested in new projects that offer minimal costs to taxpayers.



Can We Solve the Labor Crisis?



The Great Resignation forced employers to find creative ways to keep their doors open with skeleton crews. This often involved temporarily suspending in-office work or even closing the office altogether. Many companies are now allowing their employees to work from home, which enables them to cast a wider net than ever. But engaging remote employees presents some unique challenges for leaders, and it’s far more ideal to find and recruit great talent closer to home.


The Biden administration's Build Back Better framework supports aggressive measures to connect young people to both jobs and education. The framework invests in practices that help at-risk and underserved students complete their education or earn the credentials that they need for union jobs. The framework includes increased investment in community colleges and sector-based training and apprenticeships.


The framework also includes a plan to increase the United States Department of Labor’s annual workforce development by 50% for each of the next five years. The framework offers a long-term strategy that seeks to better meet the needs of the job market by providing a more qualified workforce. Young people in underserved populations face a lot of traditional barriers to entry, and the framework is designed to take a long-term approach to overcoming those barriers.


Training talent offers community benefits


Training local talent for skilled jobs offers many great benefits to the community. It increases a worker’s lifetime earning potential and improves the community’s local economy. We continue to face critical labor shortages throughout the world, and savvy companies owe it to themselves to employ creative solutions to finding idle workers in their communities and helping them overcome obstacles that have prevented them from entering the workforce.

Author's Bio:

Mary Meldrum is the owner of The Line Dancer Professional Writing and Editing Services. She is a Michigan native, ski-loving volleyball addict, poet, and artist. She has now been an independent writer/editor for 22 years, working with media companies, authors, and business clients. You can follow Mary on Linkedin.

Author's Bio:

Timothy Carter

Mary O'Donnell Meldrum reveals how companies can retain great talent from the early stages of training. Get all the tips here so you can apply them to your own business.