It seems everyone is talking about the “talent crunch” and the “skills shortage” these days, with some estimates forecasting labor shortages of 85.2 million skilled workers by 2030, resulting in lost revenue opportunities of $8.452 trillion. But fewer people are talking about solutions. What if our view of talent is limited, and the first step is to expand our perspective to see talent we might otherwise have overlooked?
At Citrix we recently surveyed 5,000 U.S. knowledge workers in partnership with OnePoll. One finding that stood out: 86 percent of respondents continue to see age as a factor that influences career success (that increases to 91 percent of survey respondents in the 55+ bracket). It doesn’t end there, unfortunately, as 69 percent believe that having a disability or health issue could also have an impact on career progression. And women are more likely than men to perceive gender as a potential issue in career progression (64 percent versus 46 percent).
Are organizations limiting their options, creating cultures or workforces that only welcome certain types of employees? Are they readily ignoring or excluding willing and able segments of the population representing all ages, walks of life, and backgrounds? Are they also considering applicants from all locations, including rural and metropolitan areas?
With those questions in mind, here are five areas organizations should focus on to ensure their search for talent is as wide as possible:
A Flexible Approach to Management That Embraces Organizational Context
For the first time, we have five generations in the same workforce: traditionalists, baby boomers, Gen X, millennials, and Gen Z. This presents organizations with a huge opportunity for greater collaboration, perspectives, and, more importantly, a flexible approach to management to accommodate the individual needs of varied generations who may have different and preferred ways of working.
Embracing a multigenerational workforce will have an impact on workplace culture. It is important to consider organizational context first, taking time to reflect and ensure any approach is appropriate and makes good business sense. As part of this “big picture” view, organizations should appraise their core business values, and the culture and purpose they are driving for. The nature of the business and the strategic business priorities are also relevant in determining the most appropriate approach. Finally, business leaders must also ask themselves how the flexible arrangements necessary to attract, retain, and engage diverse talent will enable them to achieve continued productivity and success for the organization, among all workers.
Inclusivity in the Recruitment Process
Now more than ever, it’s time to reconsider recruitment policies and anticipate unconscious bias.
When hiring, it is important for businesses to think about the requirements they are asking for in applicants. Are they being inclusive of all ages, also welcoming people of all physical abilities, generations, socioeconomic backgrounds, locations, genders, and gender identities? How are résumés being filtered, and are any strong candidates being excluded at the first hurdle, simply due to their age or other restrictive criteria? Does the shortlist truly reflect the full spectrum of potential talent available for the role? Too often, shortlists reflect only a limited spectrum of talent, and this must change.
Diverse Role Models
You have to “see it to be it,” but currently, there are few diverse role models who have carved a path for others to see and be inspired by. America’s c-suite is getting whiter. Consider the Fortune 500. Today, there are only three black CEOs in Fortune 500 companies, down from eight three years ago, and 24 women CEOs — 25 percent less than in June 2017.
We know that people can (and frequently do) hire and promote “people like me.” Without more diverse leaders at the top, there is no one to sponsor, mentor, champion, and influence an individual’s career, meaning that valuable talent goes overlooked or undiscovered.
Geographically Dispersed Teams
Talent isn’t always going to be in the city, and amid a skills crisis, it’s imperative that organizations look further afield, reaching out to where the best talent is rather than expecting the talent to come to them, as well as recognizing that skilled individuals often want to live outside city centers. In our survey, 54 percent of respondents said they felt where they live could have an impact on their career currently, and 69 percent reported there are more highly skilled job opportunities available in large cities.
Creating a flexible workplace, where individuals have the freedom to live where they choose and work from where they would like (e.g. outside of cities), or from where they need to (perhaps because of health reasons or a disability), could help organizations to significantly broaden their search for talent. Being physically present shouldn’t be a requirement for most jobs, and a flexible working policy can help to create a more level playing field, broadening the potential pool of talent available.
Inclusive Language
We know too well the power language has to leave people out or marginalize or discriminate against certain groups of people.
By using certain language in job descriptions, members of the opposite gender, for example, may be discouraged from applying to certain jobs. Competitive is a masculine-coded word while considerate is a feminine-coded word. This does not mean women can’t be competitive or men can’t be considerate, but the underlying culture stereotypes of these words can influence who applies for the job. One easy step here is to make use of a gender decoder tool to help see whether a job description has subtle gender-coding.
Above all, it seems particularly poignant that we are still referring to “diversity” when in an ideal world we shouldn’t need to: business should by default reflect the makeup of society, without making a concerted effort to do so. My hope is that once businesses recognize this fully and get organizational culture right, in a way that speaks to all demographics, our skills crisis won’t be nearly as bad as we imagined.
Methodology
Citrix commissioned a survey of 5,000 U.S. office workers who hold positions that could be carried out remotely. These are most likely to be knowledge workers who effectively think for a living. The research was conducted online by polling company OnePoll in March 2019.
