New Global Study Exposes Creative Ways to Resolve Labour Shortages

According to a survey of more than 700 senior executives from Forbes 2000 companies, organisations are investing effort in actively expanding the available pools of talent in order to cope with the critical imbalance between labour market demand and supply.

The second part of “The Work We Want” research reveals that multiple strategies exist to attract talent. The most common approach (52% of respondents) is targeting and supporting talent from underemployed sectors of the workforce, such as people who are long-term unemployed, disabled people, people with criminal records or from ethnic minorities. Other strategies include:

• Making the job application process more accessible (47%)
• Offering specialist support to refugees and asylum seekers (36%)
• Using new recruitment platforms to access untapped talent (33%)
• Reducing formal education requirements when hiring. (32%)

The need for a More Flexible Workplace

To attract and retain under-employed worker groups and workers from other countries, businesses will need to offer more flexible working arrangements and diverse forms of work. The research shows that for 88% of business leaders surveyed, increasing employment of agency workers will be important for building workforce flexibility in the next two years. A significant proportion of employers working on these initiatives have implemented them by partnering with an HR services provider.

“As employers around the world wrestle with major labour and skills shortages, it’s becoming critical that they pull every lever available to them in an effort to close the gap,” says Denis Pennel, Managing Director of the World Employment Confederation. “Enabling diverse forms of work is one of them and policymakers must also wake up to these shifts in worker preferences and ensure that the full opportunities of the modern labour market can be accessed by every part of society.”

The final chapter of “The Work We Want” research will explore how that multi-pronged approach can help provide the work life we want and what regulatory changes are needed to make it happen. In its first chapter, the project examined how tech disruption has been a rollercoaster for businesses in recent years and particularly how Artificial Intelligence is completely changing how companies think about their talent needs and strategies.

“The Work We Want” Initiative: Let’s Talk about Work

• The project is led by the World Employment Confederation, the global voice of the HR Services industry.
• The initiative aims to spark discussion and co-create solutions for delivering better labour market outcomes for all. Join the conversation!
• The World Employment Confederation commissioned FT Longitude to conduct a survey in November and December 2023 of 715 senior executives from around the world, including 680 from Forbes Global 2000 companies and 35 public sector organisations.
• The project also included interviews of senior business leaders and global experts in talent planning and the future of work to learn their perspectives on the evolving world of work.