Finding competent and committed personnel has become more difficult in almost every industry in Switzerland. There is no industry that does not talk about making the profession concerned more attractive. This is in the awareness that as an industry, it must succeed in winning over those already entering the profession. We cannot recommend any SME to wait and see how the industry reacts to the shortage of skilled workers. If there is a shortage of staff, it is essential for SMEs to keep the following factors under control.
Factor appreciation and affiliation:
Many employers believe that the reason for their employees' resignations is too low wages. However, the McKinsey study from the USA showed that around 40 % of employees state that the reason for quitting is a lack of appreciation or belonging to the team. For companies, this means that managers should take more time for their employees and actively involve them.
How fit are your managers on this issue? How important is appreciation and team spirit when evaluating leaders? How mindful are your leaders and with what images in their heads do they act?
Factor reconciliation of family and work:
Compatibility between family and work has been on everyone's lips for a long time. Reconciliation has become such a central issue that the topic should actually be called "work-life balance". Employees - with and without families - no longer want to be seen and treated as mere workers. It is therefore all the more important that managers show consideration for employees' private lives. The easiest way for managers to do this is to be flexible and to take employees' hobbies, wishes, dreams and realities of life seriously, while remaining non-judgmental.
Factor Flexible working:
Flexible working models and hybrid working have been a new standard since Corona. To still oppose them is a waste of time and seems old-fashioned. It is better now to focus on how the new world and the new models can be implemented company-specifically without having to accept a loss of identity. It is important to focus on team-building measures.
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Factor compromise
No skilled worker available? Enable a potential worker to become a professional. Empowerment with internal and/or external training is usually a win-win situation. The wage costs are lower and the motivation of the worker is very high. Nevertheless, such training takes time and energy. In return, you are rewarded with a worker who is tied to the company for a certain period of time and is highly motivated.
Are you already recruiting +50? It's high time to start. Older employees have a great rucksack of professional experience. However, the density of university degrees is not as high among the working boomer generations.
This is something to think about: the slower percep These employees easily make up for their slower comprehension and less IT affinity with their pleasant composure and broad savoir-faire.
Factor Professional Recruitment
In this day and age, it is of little use to publish a job advertisement only in the daily press or on a website. To keep up with the competition for skilled workers, you have to try to be active in as many ways as possible. The job advertisements can be published again via job websites, business or job apps (LinkedIn, Xing or Yooture) or via social media apps (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok) and thus be distributed further.
Thanks to the digitalisation of recruitment, the analysis of success becomes more visible. A good analysis shows which channels perform well, for which advertisements, at which prices. The data of the analysis lead to helpful insights and can thus be transferred to measures.
The important thing is and remains: if a professional is interested, it is important to react and convince with professional and fast processes. How a recruitment process is conducted, how it is approached and what tools are used are all part of the image that the company presents and will play a decisive role in whether the skilled worker accepts.
profawo helps
As a link between employees and employers, profawo helps to improve the compatibility of family and career. Under the labels "kids & co" and "care & co", profawo offers a wide range of services in the areas of childcare and family care. In addition to arranging childcare places and nannies/emergency nannies, these include our tailor-made consultations, our childcare programme during the school holidays and our emergency arrangement of respite services..
Conclusion
There are many different factors to consider in the fight against the shortage of skilled workers. In order to retain employees, it is particularly important to show them sufficient appreciation and to offer them a balanced work-life balance as well as regular, exciting further training.
