It’s no secret that many industries are facing labour shortages.
This is because the pandemic, for better or for worse, led to a growing number of people reconsidering their career paths. From cynical office workers to friendly retail assistants, staff are questioning whether they can get better elsewhere. So, if this is an issue you’re facing, you need to know how to manage it.
Understand why people left
It’s not an easy conversation to have, but if you’re haemorrhaging team members, there may be issues with your internal policy. To prevent further losses, you need to understand what they are. Taking on board feedback from exit interviews (if you don’t do them, you may want to start) is a good place to begin.
At the same time, you should be speaking to the rest of your team. Engaging them to understand their outlook will help corroborate any consistent themes that your outgoing employees may have raised.
Some of the feedback requests will be out of your control. If your team is unhappy with pay, and you don’t have any budget to increase salaries, there may be little you can do.
If this is the case, honesty and transparency about the situation is your best option. You can also layout a framework to achieve their goals, which might be contingent on certain metrics being met.
Seek outside help
For many who are understaffed, turning to contractors or agency staff might be the answer. Whether it’s worth it, depends on how serious your situation is.
If your staff are overworked, you’re losing customers and there are no new hires in sight, then you probably don’t have much choice.
While short term reinforcements will be expensive, you’re paying for flexibility. Those who freelance or work for agencies are also likely to be good at slotting into a team quickly, meaning they hopefully won’t need too much training.
You might also find that an outside perspective, experienced in your field, has new insights for your business.
Reward current staff
Even if you understand why your team left and are working to rectify it, you’re still short-staffed. This in itself can cause extra stress for your current team members.
They may need to work longer hours as a result, which is likely to be especially galling if they are not getting paid for it. A survey from Edenred found that only 38% of line managers recognised staff when they went above and beyond.
Exactly how you manifest recognition is also key, and should go beyond a slap on the back and free beer. It might come in the form of time in lieu, bonuses or career progression. Whatever it is, when times are tough, rewards should be tangible.
Make use of time-saving technology
Finding the right tools to automate labour-intensive processes should be a business priority. When you’re low on staff, it becomes a necessity. Understanding what these are requires a holistic view.
Rather than looking at which each individual spends their time doing, try to break it down across the entire company.
If, for example, you’re a small tech company and your sales team is spending a large amount of time on reporting, you may want to consider software that does it for you.
Similarly, if you’re running a business that deals with a lot of lost property, and are finding it’s eating into your staff’s precious time, you may want to look at a nice shiny platform to take over…
NotLost as a solution
All jokes aside, lost property management can be a real pain. For organisations dealing with large amounts of footfall, the logging of lost items and handling of enquiries can leave your staff far less time to do the job that they were hired to do.
If you’re working with a depleted team, this can be disastrous. NotLost’s tailor-made lost property platform automates each part of the journey.
- Found items are uploaded with a photo and our image recognition software creates a profile
- Customers are directed to a self-service portal to make their enquiry
- Our matching tool combines suitable enquiries and matches, making suggestions for your staff to validate
- When the match is approved, your customer just needs to select their return option
Find out more
If you want to streamline your lost property process, get in touch with us on +44(0)20 8037 3970 or drop us an email on Josh@notlost.com.