Be cautious of the pitfalls of an employers' job market

The current state of the economy has created an employer's job market. Such a high unemployment rate (the highest in Nevada since the state began keeping records in 1976) means very qualified, very dedicated people who are either unemployed or underemployed are actively seeking better opportunities. This creates opportunities as well as pitfalls for employers. It all depends on how you manage it.

The longer the economy takes to recover (and many analysts are now saying that could be 2013) the larger the potential pitfalls are for employers for two reasons. First, the longer people remain unemployed, the less money they have to spend, the more homes go into foreclosure and the downward spiral continues to affect the overall economy. Second, the more desperately they need work, the less they are willing to accept as a wage or salary. While some employers may look at this as an opportunity, it is a double-edged sword.

Employees can make or break your business. They can be your greatest asset or a significant liability. Employees who are treated fairly and who feel like they are being compensated fairly are usually very good assets more productive, loyal and willing to stick with you through good times and bad. They are a great return on your investment in education, training and orientation to your company's way of doing business.

Many employers, however, are using the plentiful supply of workers and the desperate nature of their plight to pay wages and salaries below what, even they know, is fair, simply because they can. While they are probably not going to have a difficult time filling open positions (at least in the short-term), they are also likely to not end up with good long-term employees and worse, may even damage their ability to recruit good employees when the economy turns around.

The best strategy in this market is to capitalize on the potential to find great employees. That is not an easy task, because for every advertised job, employers get a plethora of applicants. Weeding through, pre-screening and processing those applicants can be extremely difficult and time-consuming. You can do this yourself, or many staffing companies can do a lot of this legwork for you. If that process narrows down your pool to the best qualified applicants, you will be pleasantly surprised at their quality.

Now the hard part. Offering wage and salary packages that are below what you would historically pay for these positions just because you can is the pitfall. Although this will likely result in a cheaper hire it will not generate productivity, loyalty or longevity. Rather, it will result in an employee that will do only what they have to to get by, looking at the position as only a steppingstone and actively seeking any better job offer that comes along. The return on your investment in education, training and orientation will be lost. Worse yet, they will tell everyone that they know in your industry that you are an employer that does not care about its workers as much as it cares about the bottom line. That alone can make future recruiting efforts much more painful ... at least it will when the economy eventually turns around and it suddenly becomes an employees' market where you must compete for the best employees.

Those same concepts apply to temporary employees. Many staffing companies are undercutting each other with their bill rates because it is so easy for them to fill temporary positions at minimum wage. Sure, they will fill the orders, but the productivity, reliability and loyalty that you should expect from those employees, will not be there. As the adage goes: Price only matters in the absence of value.

The best employers understand these concepts and are willing to pay for good, hardworking employees in this job market, just as they would in an employee's job market. Those are the employers who will find the greatest opportunities today to find good, loyal employees, thereby increasing the success of their business.

John Skowronek is a human resource specialist and OSHA trainer providing staffing and training services to Nevada businesses. His Reno-based staffing company is Square One Solutions. Contact him at 825-9675.