Updated March 8, 2024
With low unemployment rates and very small growth of the working-age population in the United States, businesses are struggling with employee retention and recruiting. I’ve been studying the issue since I looked at the demographic trends over a decade ago and predicted today’s tight labor market. For readers’ convenience, my Forbes articles on the subject are listed below. The three key strategies for dealing with this problem are increasing employee productivity, improving retention, and better recruiting, in that order.
The Problem of Tight Labor
The Scariest Chart For Business In The Coming Decade: Workers Not Available
Tight Labor Market: Even Worse Based On New Census Projections
More Retirements, Less Immigration Will Clobber Businesses Needing Employees
New Census Projections Show Tight U.S. Labor Market For Years
Increasing Employee Productivity
Strategies For Increasing Employee Productivity With Better Tools
Strategies For Improving Labor Productivity Through Employee Training
Strategies For Improving Employee Productivity Through Manager Training
Employee Turnover/Retention
Leadership in Today’s Tight Labor Market: Turnover
Companies Need To Know The Dollar Cost Of Employee Turnover
New Evidence That Low Employee Turnover Correlates With High Profits
Retain More Employees With Stay Interviews
Hiring To Improve Employee Retention: Learning From Stay Interviews
Promoting Wrong People Hurts Employee Retention and Productivity
Don’t Delay That Performance Review
Hardest Performance Reviews Are For Good Employees
Rule No. 1 For Dealing With Millennials In The Workplace
Pay Raises from Tax Cuts Are Fake Generosity
Employee Retention Through Training Opportunities: Meet The Business Owner Doing It
Retaining and Recruiting Older Workers: Tight Labor Market Solution
What Business Leaders Need To Learn From Harrison Ford And Other Older Workers
Recruiting
3 Steps To Hire With Lower Education Requirements: Coping With The Tight Labor Market
How to Find Employees From Businesses That Are Cutting Back
Competing for Employees With Google, Amazon and the other Tech Giants
Young Employees and Work-Life Balance
Why You Should Hire Video Game Players
Hiring Job Applicants You Previously Rejected
What Business Leaders Need To Learn From Harrison Ford And Other Older Workers
Management and Unions
Strikes, The UAW And The Prospect For Unions Across The Economy
Unions And Stress—What Businesses Should Learn (June 22, 2022)
Starbucks With Labor Unions: Lessons For Other Business (February 22, 2022)