Internal employment issues, HR policy updates, skilled staff shortages… the past 12 months have been a rollercoaster ride for business owners.

If you employ staff, or need to recruit staff, chances are you have faced a myriad of challenges, regardless of your sector or size.

As we reach the halfway mark for 2021, with a vaccination rollout on the horizon and the summer season fast approaching, we asked Bernadette Ryan-Hopkins, director of Ryan + Alexander, what lies ahead for the job market and employment in the Bay of Plenty – what are the challenges and how can employers use these to their advantage?

I’m not sure about any of you, but as I sit here writing this on the official shortest day of the year, I am blown away by how fast 2021 is flying by. At R+A, we are contemplating client Christmas gifts already and daydreaming about a Lorde-filled, ‘Solar Powered’, Bay of Plenty summer. 

The year’s speed has been fuelled by our general busy-ness. Coming off the back of COVID-19, employment in the Bay (and everywhere) started quietly, but has only gained momentum from there. In fact, R+A has just come off our busiest quarter in our five-year history.

The feedback from clients is that they are in the same position. We should all be throwing wild, celebratory mid-winter Christmas parties, but significant growth, low unemployment and closed borders does not a good party make – and we are starting to see some real negative impact in the employment space.

So where are we seeing the worst impact? Firstly, and Kiri has touched on this recently on LinkedIn, the highly-skilled temp and contract pool is drying up. Highly educated working holiday makers, who are on a gap year, and travellers looking for work to residence are simply not circulating in the country in the numbers seen pre-pandemic. As a result, key projects that are vital to growth are struggling for resource. Open borders cannot come fast enough.

Permanent opportunities suffer the same fate. The feedback from clients is that they are seeing a much tighter employment market take hold. Great people are getting harder and harder to come by and those great people are becoming more discerning around flexibility in hours, where they work and how they work. The pandemic has made employees realise (and illustrate) that they don’t need to be present in the office to prove their productivity. 

People are smashing out work in coffee shops and home offices across the land and good employers celebrate it. Those who don’t will find that no matter how high the pay, or how cool a pool table and fruit in the office is, they won’t be able to attract those who simply want more flex. 

If you are offering these things, tell people about it and take control of your employment brand. You could offer flexibility, a great work-life balance and half-day Fridays, but if people don’t know about it, across your website and your socials, then they won’t apply. 

If you are struggling to attract great people, do a reccy on what your competitors are doing and see if there are any improvements you can make to attract more of the type of person you want.

In the past month or so, we are hearing from our counterparts in the big cities and some of our clients here in the Bay, about the rise of the dreaded multi-offer and, even worse, the infuriating ‘counteroffer’ when an employer attempts to buy back their staff when they resign.

Why anyone would accept a counteroffer from their current employer when they have made the effort to apply and interview elsewhere is absolutely beyond me. Your current employer isn’t going to miraculously change their rubbish culture or micro-management style suddenly. And, if you weren’t worth that extra $5k for the last four years and it takes resigning for you to be valued, then I suggest it isn’t the place for you. It very nearly never works out. 

Multi-offers can be even more challenging to navigate. When someone is awesome, they might find themselves in the enviable state of having two or three offers on the table (which can sometimes be made more of a challenge with a counteroffer).  

Employers can help themselves a bit more though: Move faster. If you have a candidate who is great, and you need your one-up manager to meet them before you can offer, get them to cancel their meetings and meet them that day. Push your hard-working recruiter or equally hard-working HR team to move faster on references. Momentum helps. 

It’s not like dating when you are 14 and you have to pretend you don’t really like them to get them to like you. If you like them in interview, tell them. Openness and great communication start at the beginning of any great relationship and if they have a number of opportunities on the go, at least they know where you stand.

Some of these challenges are predicted to last well into next year but winter is officially on its way out and a big, bright, beautiful Bay of Plenty summer is coming. The borders will soon be open and we live in one of the most glorious places in the country. Who wouldn’t want to work here?

For more about Ryan + Alexander, visit their website. 

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