I have a friend who owns a business who has the same complaint as everyone else. He cannot find and keep people. His business involves providing a multitude of services to his clients. A major part of his problem is no one person can possibly know how to provide all of the services.
According to research from Dr. Joe Rubino, it is estimated that 85 percent of Americans suffer from low self-esteem. People who struggle with feelings of a lack of self-worth can successfully learn self-confidence.(1)
“Workers in private industry see fastest pay increases in 20 years”(1).
“Pay in the leisure and hospitality sector grew by 23.7% annually in the six months from January to July 2021”(2).
As the above US Chamber of Commerce chart demonstrates there are a large number of open positions across industries. At the same time, the industry unemployment rates are at 2-3% except for Hospitality which is at 5%.(1) The Workforce Participation Rate peaked in 2000 at 67.3%. In November 2022 it had fallen to 62.1%.
Recently a client showed me a comparison of great versus marginal employees. The list only had about six total items. There is so much more to this issue. Please find the attached comparison which can be used in the recruiting, evaluation and other areas of Workforce Management. Hopefully, I have created this in such a way it does not need much explanation. The list should be very relatable to all of you.
We have all seen the statistics of engaged and disengaged employees. 36% engaged, 48% disengaged and 16% ACTIVELY disengaged. Therefore, the total of disengaged employees is 64% or roughly two thirds. You are grossly outnumbered. There is a small number of instances where the disengaged are in open rebellion. An open rebellion would involve a large number of employees quitting at the same time.
I have a confession to make. Very seldom do I engage with speakers. I go to a lot of different conferences, service club meetings, Church and business networking events. Most of the time I am far, far away and would not know it if the speaker yelled “FIRE!!” I end up having an “urgent” need to look something up on my phone, check my emails or count the number of ceiling tiles.
I have been asked numerous times if I see pay discrimination in organizations. My answer is I always see a very consistent discrimination in every organization against a specific group. The person always starts listing off the usual groups. It is never the groups which are listed off. The group which is underappreciated is always the same.
A group of friends and I were talking about inventions, copyrights and non-compete agreements. Part of the conversation was how these might affect employees. I mentioned the number of times which I had seen organizations take a very negative approach. For instance, I went to work for a company who had non-compete agreements. These agreements were with the backbone of our company.