The US Bureau of Labor Department forecasts in 2010 there could be ten million more jobs available than there are available employees to fill them in the US. So it is not surprising that Greg Ziols, Chair of Vistage, the world’s largest CEO membership organization, cites “recruiting and retaining employees in a tight labor market.” to be the most significant trend impacting business today. According to Ziols, Vistage’s 2007 “CEO Confidence Index” (www.vistage.com) found “Once again, finding and hiring qualified staff was cited as the most critical challenge for more than one third of all firms. Just one in ten CEO’s think it will become easier to find qualified employees.”
Human resource professionals, on the front line in the fight for talent, know this battle will not be won until their companies view employees as profit centers rather than cost centers. The good news is this shift in thinking is happening. Senior executives cannot ignore the impending labor shortage. And they cannot ignore the growing research that illustrates satisfied and engaged employees are good for the bottom line.