One can argue that there never has been a good time to be a bad employer, but history would tell you something different.  In times where jobs outnumber the people seeking them there is little pressure on employers to care for their employees.

Things are different now.  There are real shortages of even averagely competent workers.  A combination of the pandemic challenging people’s thinking about their future, the effects of the pandemic on health and childcare, the shortages of raw materials, and in the UK, the effects of Brexit on those EU citizens who have left the UK and are not coming back.

Everywhere employers are faced with the necessity of keeping the people that they have and finding others who can fill the gaps.

 At a very basic level that means paying people the proper rate for the job. Some employers are sounding amazed that their underpaid staff would rather work for Amazon when they could be doing a “caring role” for far less money.

 Once you have got past that hurdle then look at the people you have got and do it from the top of your business right down to your most junior employee.  What talents do they have?  What needs do they have? Ask yourself:

• “Why would they bother to work for me?” 
• When you have asked yourself that question then ask them why they work for you, (make sure you do this in a way where they feel comfortable telling the truth) and see if the answers are remotely the same.
• Then ask, “What would make working here more attractive to you?”

When you have the answers to those questions take a long hard look at how your company measures up. What changes could you make to show your employees that you value them?  How could you make their lives better?  Can you train them to be the people you need them to be for the future?  If you need to go outside to hire, then what is attractive about the jobs you have to offer?

Remember that if your staff are attractive to you, they will be attractive to your competitors – and that means competitors in the widest sense both locally and globally.   And it’s not just your highly paid staff.  Who would have thought that there would be fierce competition for lorry drivers and waiters?

Invest in your people, give them unities for training and development.  Give them flexibility in the way they work.  Help them to be the best they can be.  That, after all, is what you need them to be.