Tag: short staffing

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The staffing shortage will be permanent

Most hourly staff businesses have struggled with labor shortages since the pandemic. Government restrictions, initial mass layoffs, and a shift in consumer preferences have all been touted as the underlying cause of the pandemic-induced staffing shortage.

Except the pandemic wasn’t the main cause, the staffing shortage was already underway.

Prior to the pandemic, unemployment was already at record lows at 3.5%.

The actual cause is America’s changing demographics. Its aging workforce has caused a collapse in the US labor force participation rate, dropping from 67% at the turn of the millennium to 63.3% in February 2020. A 2019 study by the Brookings Institution estimated that the labor force participation rate would decrease to 58% by 2050 due to the aging workforce. However, because of the pandemic, we’re already four years ahead of schedule. The pandemic simply accelerated the staffing shortage timeline.

While the severity of staffing shortages will rise and fall with the business cycle, it will continue to worsen. Every business will have to pick how they adjust to the shortage:

  1. Pay higher salaries to attract staff from a shrinking talent pool
  2. Reduce the operations and revenue of your business
  3. Schedule smarter and become more efficient with your staffing levels

If you’re not actively pursuing (3), you’re accepting the first two by proxy. It might not occur in the next three months, but it will happen. The inertia of our aging workforce is half a century in the making.

The path to avoiding higher wages and reduced operations requires you to fine-tune the way you run your workforce. 

How to staff more efficiently 

Use precise labor forecasts

Choosing staffing levels based on manager intuition has been the default for most companies. This approach may prevent egregious over and understaffing, but it misses the small shift details that add up. Staffing based on a “busy lunch rush and a quiet afternoon” isn’t specific enough and will create many instances of overstaffing, even if it’s only 15 minutes of someone’s shift. 

Across a whole team, these 15 minutes per worker can result in your needing multiple extra staff over a day. To thrive, you must know your demand indicators, create staffing ratio to demand units, and then ensure all your managers are building schedules according to this demand. 

Adjust staffing levels during shifts

Another outdated concept is the belief that a schedule is finished once it’s published; this assumes that nothing changes once a schedule is created and staff are working their shift. The problem is that call-outs, no-shows, and random downturns in demand are almost inevitable. Your managers must be prepared to anticipate and react to these challenges during shifts, adjusting labor accordingly. 

Enable your managers to make the right decisions

You can’t leave staffing levels to chance. Your managers need the right tools to support them so they can optimize their schedules to customer demand. Beyond this, you need to have complete visibility into when, where, and how managers are actively adjusting their labor – this is the only way to know for certain that you are staffing efficiently.

Many businesses won’t do this. They will continue on their current path of paying higher labor costs to attract a shrinking talent pool, as well as reducing their operations and losing customers because they don’t have enough staff. 

You need to make the choice not to be left behind.

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How short-staffed resorts can optimize scheduling

We live in the time of “The Great American Labor Shortage.” The leisure and hospitality industry faced a high unemployment rate of 39.3% in 2020, which, combined with the high number of job openings, reveals just how understaffed the sector is.

The World Travel & Tourism Council estimated a labor shortfall of 690,000 workers in the tourism and travel industries in 2021. Vail Resorts is one of many resort companies facing this problem. A shortage of chairlift operators, lift engineers, and snowcat drivers has delayed the resort’s ability to open doors to its skiing visitors.

Why has COVID led to a shortage of talent?

According to the Colorado Sun, lots of resorts in the country are in the same predicament as Vail Resorts. This widespread lack of active workers in the industry can be attributed to several reasons — all tied to the COVID-19 pandemic:

  • COVID fears: Staff doesn’t want to return to work because they’re scared of catching the virus.
  • Poor management: Resort management let go of many people last year, and one of the possible reasons they may not be hiring anyone back is to help recover from the profit lost during shutdowns.
  • Parental caregiving during the pandemic: The COVID-19 pandemic led a number of schools across the country to shut down. Parents without access to childcare are forced to remain home and are unable to rejoin the workforce.

In order to prevent the loss of customers whose needs are unmet, resort managers must optimize their scheduling while short-staffed.

To optimize scheduling while being short-staffed, you need to:

1. Use labor forecasting

Estimate sales demand by using labor forecasting software to look at historical sales data and then schedule shifts accordingly. You’ll be able to schedule your scarce labor smartly to meet sales demand. For instance, you might be able to schedule more experienced employees when the sales demand is high.

Sales demand is likely to fluctuate post-pandemic, and managers need to ensure that worker scheduling can adapt easily to meet sudden demand shifts.

You can also forecast labor demand by individual departments and monitor whether, say, more employees need to be scheduled in mountain operations versus lodging at a ski resort. For instance, a lot of people may be coming to ski for the day but not booking rooms for the weekend, meaning the level of scheduled labor needed will vary between the two departments.

2. Make schedules agile and adaptable

Prepare schedules in advance, two weeks at a minimum, to give employees the ability to communicate their need for coverage in the event of unforeseen scheduling conflicts.

Use hospitality employee scheduling software to centralize scheduling and increase your staff’s commitment to shift adherence. By using mobile technology like shift swaps and replacements, you minimize any last-minute scheduling changes, increasing both administrative adaptability and staff agility.

You must also manage leave requests in a timely manner to avoid being short-staffed. You don’t want too many employees taking leave at the same time. Discuss leave requests with each staff member to avoid any scheduling surprises down the road. Staff members should be encouraged to put in leave requests by giving at least a few days’ notice, so you can plan schedules in a timely manner.

3. Increase employee engagement

Focus on improving your overall staff experience. If your employees feel engaged, they are more likely to show up and do their best work and provide the best service.

With a centralized communication tool, it’s possible to quickly notify staff of timely updates or important company announcements. Getting your message out there efficiently on a unified system properly engages staff, makes them feel valued, and solves issues in disconnected communication with management.

Another way to increase employee engagement is to open up more avenues for staff to provide shift feedback. Employees may feel inclined to report on how various aspects of their shifts, from coworker cooperation to issues in staffing levels. Having the ability to give management feedback like this empowers employees, making them feel more valued. This leads to engaged and productive resort staff, even in the face of a shortage in labor.

You should also offer incentives to engage employees and boost their morale. Workers are happier when they’re well compensated. A lot of restaurant and hotel owners are offering higher wages to attract and retain employees. For instance, an ice cream parlor raised wages to $15 an hour and filled all of their 15 open positions immediately. As per Hotel Tech Report, higher pay rates can decrease absenteeism and control employee turnover, which is good news for short-staffed hotels and resorts.

Replicate these successes and improve employee motivation by offering a higher pay rate during busier shifts and during peak season.

4. Automate breaks

Employees need breaks so they don’t feel stressed or overworked, factors that often lead to staff attrition.

Between multiple departments with varying needs, resort management already spends too much time preparing employee schedules manually — up to 12 hours a week. Short staffing levels only add to this time, causing even more headaches for management. In the midst of all these hurdles, scheduling and enforcing breaks might slip between the cracks.

Solve this by implementing employee scheduling software that automatically applies legally compliant breaks to every employee’s schedule. These breaks should be easily monitorable by both employees and managers alike, ensuring short-staffed teams stay well-rested and productive. Leadership should receive notifications when employees miss breaks, and they should be able to track a live timeclock feed to know when and where workers are taking their breaks.

5. Cross-train employees

Train employees to handle a broad range of tasks so they’re more well-rounded and well-equipped to deal with short-staffing challenges. The best way to do this is to encourage your staff members to mentor and train each other.

Start by making a list of everyone on your team and include their job descriptions. Think about the expertise each role requires and then pair positions that share similar skill sets. For instance, you can pair up wait staff with those working in the front office team, both client-facing roles. The wait staff team members would learn how to perform check-ins, check-outs, and make reservations, and the front office team members would learn how to serve customers at the restaurant.

If all of your staff are cross-trained and multi-functional, they’ll be able to fill in for each other. It will become possible for you to rotate your staff across different departments to meet varying customer needs.

Proper WFM practices mitigate short-staffing pains

Workforce management can be quite complex for individual departments to handle, especially while short-staffed. By uniting staff on one platform and deploying the tips above, it’s possible to have executive oversight on staffing needs. If you’d like to overcome the challenges of the short-staffing problem at your resort, get in touch with us today!

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5 best ways to deal with short staffing

Summary

  • Labor shortage persists across the nation, spanning multiple industries

  • Unemployment benefits, COVID fears, and career reevaluations fueling shortage, among other reasons

  • Beat short-staffing with labor forecasting, scheduling in advance, increasing engagement, automating breaks, and cross-training

In what people are now dubbing The Great American Labor Shortage, businesses across the United States are suffering from severe understaffing issues – and small businesses are taking the biggest hit.

Indeed, recovery is happening slowly. The National Restaurant Association says that, as of July, the industry is within 1 million jobs of its pre-pandemic peak – this is after three consecutive months of increasing employment levels. Nevertheless, short staffing still persists. The NFIB found in July of this year that 49% of small businesses reported having job openings they could not fill – the historical average is 22%. Restaurants are still experiencing the most difficulty with this, even in the face of recovery. Many of them, both local and franchise alike, are having to slash opening hours a significant amount due to low availability of staff. You know it’s bad when Alabama Chick-fil-As are closing early nearly every day of the week. 

Needless to say, this is as concerning as it is stressful for hardworking business owners, HR and front-line managers everywhere. After such a tumultuous year as 2020, one would think that things could only get better with the economy opening back up. Clearly, the staffing recovery is happening much slower than people hoped for or expected. 

Why the shortage exists

So why is this all happening you may be wondering? Well, there are several contributing factors to the problem; each probably plays a role in its own way. Understanding these causes will better inform how to schedule an understaffed business more effectively.

The first and most obvious reason is that people are afraid of COVID-19 still. Recently, the Census Bureau found that 3.9 million people are not returning to work because they fear catching or spreading the virus. The increasing prevalence of the Delta variant only adds to this already strong concern for personal health.  

And why bother risking going back to work when you can live comfortably without a job? Herein lies the second potential reason for the labor shortage: unemployment benefits may have acted as disincentives. The American Staffing Association reported that some people made as much as $6 more per hour on unemployment insurance with pandemic bonuses. Due to these benefits, perhaps it makes sense that people don’t want to return to work. 

However, the problem is not that simple.

26 states withdrew federal unemployment benefits in June and July, months before the Sept. 6 due date. In a recent study, it was found that there was no meaningful difference in increases of shift work between states that ended benefits and states that continued benefits. In fact, states that ended the benefits only saw a 2.2% growth in shift work between May and July, as opposed to a 4.1% growth in states that continued benefits. Clearly, there are other, more personal factors keeping people from returning to work.

While unemployment benefits and pandemic fears are the most discussed causes, they might coincide with a longer-running trend. 

The United States has a rapidly aging population and in turn, a shrinking workforce. Many industries are affected by this trend, and the pandemic only served to exacerbate it. Older workers probably chose to retire early in the face of remote work. Others may have relocated to work remotely in an attempt to spend more time with their families. 

Whatever the reasoning may be, the fact remains that industries across the United States are struggling to attract young workers to replace retiring older workers. The healthcare industry knows this well, as they are facing a nursing shortage. The NCBI reports that 1 million RNs are over the age of 50 and that in 10 to 15 years, about one-third of the current nursing workforce is due to retire. Slightly alarming, right?

These staffing shortages impact a variety of markets, ranging from hospitality to healthcare. With a multitude of factors causing the shortages, it can be extremely difficult to address each problem directly. There are, however, a few simple techniques you can use in your scheduling system that may help. 

Solve the shortage with better scheduling 

One of the best ways to handle an understaffed workforce is to adopt more efficient scheduling techniques. With smarter scheduling, managers can get the most value out of their limited number of employees. As the old saying goes, “work smarter, not harder.”

1.) Use Labor Forecasting

Automated employee scheduling software exists now that makes the creation of schedules quite simple. Labor forecasting is perhaps the most impressive example of what this technology can do. It looks at historical sales data and other external factors, predicting how many employees are needed for certain shifts. Not only does this ensure proper staffing numbers but it also helps maximize productivity. Managers should use labor forecasting analytics during staffing shortages to accurately schedule their scarce employees at the right times to best meet predicted demand.

2.) Make Schedules in Advance

Tools like labor forecasting software help expedite the scheduling process; this allows managers to send schedules to employees far in advance. Doing this gives employees ample time to plan their personal lives accordingly. With a dedicated workforce management platform, these schedules are published in one place for everyone to see, no matter where they are. When faced with a staff shortage, publishing schedules early is extremely important because it ensures dedication to upcoming shifts. It also allows for early communication regarding potential conflicts – shift conflicts are often a nightmare to deal with last minute while shorthanded.  

3.) Increase Employee Engagement

Simply publishing schedules early isn’t always enough. Managers need to empower their employees with tools for communication. Shift swapping software lets workers signal via phone notifications if they need a shift covered; co-workers can then choose to claim a shift with the tap of a finger. Utilizing a shift-swapping tool lets employees adapt quickly and efficiently to schedule conflicts. 

Shift feedback is also critical for handling a short-staffed business. By allowing employees to briefly rate different aspects of their shifts, managers gain valuable insight into how their employees perform under certain conditions.

4.) Automate Breaks

With understaffing comes the risk of overworking. It is tempting for workers to skip breaks in order to keep up with demand; however, this can be disastrous for a manager trying to avoid labor compliance violations. With automated workforce management software, managers can input their own required fields for employee break times. These breaks then show up automatically in every schedule created. If an employee misses a break, starts it late, ends it early, etc., the manager will be notified. 

Errors in break times are very common in short-staffed environments, but by scheduling more efficiently with the proper software, these errors can easily be mitigated. 

5.) Cross-Train Employees

Finally, it is worth considering cross-training employees to perform multiple job roles. In a short-hand environment, it is always useful to have people on duty capable of performing a variety of tasks when needed. Cross-training makes scheduling much easier since the manager will almost always have people with the right qualifications on duty. 

Dealing with a staffing shortage is no easy task. The issue is something business owners in many industries have had to deal with forever, and there are really no definitive answers on how to solve it. However, utilizing more efficient scheduling techniques will nearly always help. Scheduling is one of the main things under the complete control of a manager, even in the face of a labor shortage.

Curious to learn more? Check out our webinar below featuring the founder of Grategy Coaching, Lisa Ryan.

Webinar: How to Schedule While Understaffed

 

Want to take immediate action? Innovative scheduling software like Workforce.com gives managers the necessary tools to start allocating labor more efficiently. 

Book a call with one of our team members to learn more, or try our software for free today.