Post #18: Where Did All the Workers Go?!

As we’ve been discussing regularly the past year in the Blogs, Podlectures and on the Help Desk, there’s plenty of challenge keeping a bricks and mortar small business, particularly a private practice, fully staffed in this day and age. And there’s a common question that seems to come into the conversation regularly: Where did all the workers go? 

They couldn’t have just disappeared, right? So why this major shortage in the labor force? And how is this related at this juncture to the pandemic? Will I have to keep paying more to get and keep staff? Will all this get back to “normal” at some point? 

The so-called experts seem short on hard – as well as fast answers to these questions, but that said, we are certainly seeing a number of answers emerging as we move deeper and deeper into the present normal. Based on how frequently we’re hearing these questions, now seems a helpful time to discuss a few of these emerging answers. 

Certainly one answer, and the first that comes to my mind, is the quality-of-life answer. A considerable percentage of the work force (it seems no one knows the actual number, but in my estimation, it’s double-digit) learned during virus era home time that they like it better this way; and one of the household income makers simply didn’t go back to work. They had an opportunity to slow down and think for a moment and experience life without both bread winners flying a million miles an hour and decided they like this. So they took advantage of some time to think (on Uncle Sam’s nickel) and figured out their particular way to make this work. 

That has certainly contributed to the labor force challenges of our day, but if you think about it, such a realization and trend could be a fine thing for these people and their families, and perhaps for our world accordingly. That said, as we’ve observed in most things, the pendulum swings back-and-forth over time (I believe that’s why history repeats itself), and my guess is it will swing back the other way to at least some extent at some point. It’s a bit like managed care, right? It has to swing far enough one direction before we see signs of it swinging back, so I’d say we might be without a good many of these workers for a while. 

Another answer is the side hustle. Many workers, perhaps including some of your own staff, have had some kind of gig to make some money “on the side.” With that aforementioned paid time off, rather than watching the grass grow, many workers got right after that. And when they were able to put more focus and time into that side hustle, they discovered it can be more. And considerably more lucrative. They experienced pitching it, landing customers (including perhaps their former bosses who are now clients instead of employers) and generating revenue with it instead of just thinking about it and wondering if it would go. So the side hustle became the main hustle, and they didn’t go back. And now the side hustle is hiring! So a new crop of businesses popped-up out of nowhere, and not only did the workers powering (and owning) them disappear from the so-called workforce, but they doubled down and took other workers with them! 

I have a long-time friend (and our colleague) who saw this first-hand when their son started a food delivery business, which quickly grew to require several delivery people (there’s that once side hustle now requiring its own human capital!). Remember the distribution fascination with the drive-through window? (…Fast food, then the pharmacy, then the veterinarian and perhaps even your practice, right?) Now the distribution fascination is delivery. When did you last watch a ballgame on TV without seeing a fast-food place marketing delivery? … So now they have to staff all three – distributing to customers inside, at the drive through window and at home! Think of how much of the work force just this delivery fascination has gobbled up the last couple years, most of which started as someone’s side hustle! 

Then, of course, there’s the bricks-and-mortar workforce drain of the working remote trend. This seems to me the single biggest taker of what was the at work work force just a few short years ago. And certainly, one take-away from the pandemic for workers (and employers) is remote rules! 

Whether they’ve jumped on the bandwagon or not, most workers realize in the present normal you no longer have to leave home to have a job, and many have opted accordingly. We’ve seen this with our own staff, as well as our friends and family, right Colleagues? So many people in the work force decided to simply rid themselves of the commute that contributes to “the grind.” Oh, and that means they don’t need daycare anymore, right? Even the weekly team meeting is available remotely, and I don’t have to wear a mask or even get out of my PJ bottoms if I stay seated at my desk! So for many workers, the “workplace” is no longer going to be part of work, and as more people opt for this, less are available to report to the office. 

This doesn’t mean no one will go to work, but it does mean, at least until the pendulum swings again, far fewer will. So we have to make work work with fewer workers going to work to do the work (try saying that three times really fast!). Working remotely is now the state-of-the-art and cutting edge of employing people. I talked with a friend and former work colleague of mine last week who now works for the state human resources department, and apparently now, once hired and clear of the initial evaluation period, she and her colleagues can work from home whenever they so choose (in fact, she was working from home and on a break when she called me). WHAT?!! Government employees don’t have to go to work to go to work?! Yup, you just read that, Friends — at least for her and her department. 

So if work-from-home is the workforce state-of-the-art, can we leverage that in bricks-and-mortar practice? Sure we can, and practices have been doing so for years now. We talk to colleagues every week that have moved roles in the practice to at-home positions, including office managers, back desk employees (coding/billing, book-keeping, etc.), even receptionists. It may take some creativity and paradigm shifting, but adapting to new market conditions often does. The point for this conversation is simply that remote work arrangements are at least possible in our practices, and something we’ll likely need to leverage more as we’re able in coming days.

Workers insisting on compatible culture, rather than just grinning and bearing it, has also contributed to the worker shortage for many businesses. Where once the business called the shots and employees worked accordingly, a clear trend of the times is employees having the upper hand in establishing what they will and won’t tolerate, rather than bosses. And businesses are having to conform to that. There aren’t as many people willing to work where they don’t sense compassion and commitment to it as foundation to the culture. And they want their leader(s) to be leaders of people (that have families, lives, interests etc.) not just leaders of employees. They want community, not just handbooks. 

We remember, Colleagues, that employees desiring strong culture, although challenging, is a good thing, not a bad thing. But we want not only to have great culture, we want to reflect that in our leadership and policies. We want to reflect things like compassion in the way we actually run the place. I asked my future son-in-law over the weekend what he liked most about the corporation for which he works, and answer was immediate – in so many words, it was a culture of compassion. And we remember when recruiting that marketing our culture is way more effective in this normal than marketing job descriptions if we want to attract players to our teams. We’ve had some great dialogue on that of late. 

Another thing we again remember is the pendulum swings, Friends. Trends emerging as “normal” will not necessarily be “normal” for the rest of our days. I’ve written about a number of so-called new normals for over a decade, and although certain aspects of those have remained in place over time, the current obsessions of people at least ebb and flow and sometimes full-on change. World events, not just business, economy and internet, influence that as we go along; and companies that have a lot more zeros left of the decimal are guessing on workforce trends the same as we are. The key for the moment is we adapt to the moment, and these identifiable workforce trends can help us do that. 

Well, Friends, once again, as we’ve done and will keep doing in these times, we leverage our partnership and colleagueship to talk it out amidst what is clearly and absolutely the challenge of our day in private practice keeping a great team in place. These and other reasons account for their being fewer responses these days to that Indeed.com post, but as we have so many times, we can and will rise-up with commitment, realization, creativity and initiative to overcome the staffing challenge. We’ll lead our teams, not just manage our practices. In all times, but especially in these. 

Like all THRIVE content, the purpose of BOWEN’S BLOG and SUMMIT TALK Podlecture conversations is to keep us driving together toward IMPACT. If something here has struck a chord, shoot us an email or give us a call and let’s talk it out! Tbowen@mythrivecoaches.com or 402-794-4064.