How To Access More Hourly Workers In Today’s Tight Labor Market

With the Great Resignation raging on and millions of Americans leaving their jobs, today’s labor market is feeling the strain. Lower-wage sectors directly impacted by the pandemic, like hospitality, leisure and retail are where quit rates are highest – leaving a big hole in the availability of hourly workers. Businesses in these industries have tried a variety of tactics to dissuade workers from leaving their jobs– from raises and promotions to gratitude and recognition — however, it’s done little to stem the tide. In fact, according to a survey conducted by GoodFirms, 22% of employees are planning to leave their current jobs, and nearly 30% are at least considering it. 

Today’s businesses need a better solution if they are to keep their companies growing and customers happy. It starts with employers shifting their mindset around how they hire hourly workers. Right now, employers are saying that they’re unable to find people who are willing to work hourly jobs. What they really mean, though, is that they’re unable to find people within the confines of a traditional opportunity, where the worker has to commit to one employer, that employer’s schedule and earn minimum wage paid out on a bi-weekly basis. Instead of sticking with this traditional hiring model, modern businesses need to think about breaking jobs down to shifts, and taking a fractionalized approach to hiring.

Why Job Fractionalization Makes Sense

Fractionalizing a job means taking one full time role — let’s use a convenience store position as an example — and breaking it down into smaller shifts, ultimately creating multiple jobs spread throughout the day. These shifts would comprise the various components of the original job. In this case, the shifts could be for bathroom cleaning, merchandising, restocking and cashiering. This simple change can give hourly workers more scheduling options, which many crave. For example, a working parent may not be able to do an early morning shelf stocking when they are taking the kids to school, but a college student or retiree may be happy to take that shift, while the parent can work during school hours. 

If someone likes a particular job, take restocking merchandise for example, with fractionalized shifts, that worker could stack merchandising shifts across similar employers — restocking shelves at multiple stores and locations. If that worker instead prefers variety in their work, they could still stock shelves for a few hours but then come home and also work as a call center agent, choosing shifts based on their interests.

This way, the worker isn’t putting all their eggs in one proverbial basket, but opening themselves up to different opportunities and experiences. And doing so on their own terms — with as much flexibility as possible.MORE FROMFORBES ADVISORBest Travel Insurance CompaniesByAmy DaniseEditorBest Covid-19 Travel Insurance PlansByAmy DaniseEditor

There’s no denying thatthe pandemic has made an indelible mark on the labor market, but it has provided a bright spot as well: today’s workers are starting to expect more optionality and flexibility than ever before. Knowing that workers will prioritize this independence, employers must do whatever they can to meet their needs.

Widening The Talent Pool

Fractionalizing jobs doesn’t just benefit the hourly worker; employers can take advantage of this model as well. Currently, when a hotel or restaurant looks for a worker they need someone who can flex between multiple roles and commit to either a full-time or part-time model. With the fractional shift approach, that hotel or restaurant can say we need help, but it can be on your own terms. By giving workers more autonomy over their schedule and work, suddenly employers can access a wider network of workers previously unattainable because those workers couldn’t or didn’t want to work the entire scope the business needs. Instead, that hotel or restaurant can find a lot more workers willing to work a few hours a week just cleaning bathrooms or washing dishes, filling critical gaps in their business, without having to find someone to do it all for 40 hours a week.

It’s important for companies to realize that there are many people who are no longer interested in working a traditional 9-5 job, and adapt accordingly. The flexible model will allow employers to tap into a much larger pool of workers and it can ease some of the pressure of having to find the exact right person who can do all the jobs you need within the time constraints you need them. Of course businesses will still need workers to be there during specific times of the day, and all their tasks will still need to be completed, but fractionalization will open doors to a much larger network of workers than if you were looking for one person to do every task from 9-5 each day. Ultimately whether 1 worker works 40 hours a week or 4 workers work 10 hours each, shouldn’t matter to the employer as long as the work gets done at the quality level they need.

With a fractional approach to hiring, I believe that we can finally remove some of the tension that exists in the traditional employer-employee relationship and make the process of hiring smarter than ever, ultimately benefiting both the employer and worker.

Original article: (https://www.forbes.com/sites/aakashkumar/2022/03/02/how-to-access-more-hourly-workers-in-todays-tight-labor-market/?sh=42a80e5c2a47)