Emily Rose McRae, senior director of research at consulting firm Gartner, said ongoing staffing shortages present an opportunity for employers to fundamentally rethink their relationship with their workforces — especially as low immigration, an aging workforce and lack of affordable childcare create structural shortfalls that are likely to reemerge even if recession temporarily curbs demand.
McRae said while many service-sector employers have invested heavily in desk workers, the frontline workforce is a tool that’s replaced constantly. This model is backed by the assumption that there will always be a supply of frontline workers. This practice isn’t inherently bad, she said. “But if the workforce is a tool, you need to be upfront or compensating accordingly — otherwise nobody will work for you.”
An alternative model is to see the workforce as a cornerstone, a more permanent relationship where frontline workers form the foundation of the business. That means investing more in workers and offering training and career development, though it comes with the risk that those workers could still choose to leave.
“The second part of the sentence often goes unsaid: Nobody wants to work — for what I want to give them,” McRae said. “If your entire business model is dependent on paying the lowest possible wages and now you can’t pay people enough, you have a problem, you have to adapt.”
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.