The struggle to recruit in-house staff
The impact of Covid-19 is obviously going to have an enormous effect on our working lives for some time to come.
For many this has been a long haul. So far as infrastructure in large organisations is concerned, for example, Facility Managers had to bear the initial brunt of the dramatic change, with office closures overnight and the immediate effect on the staff for which they were responsible. To name a few, in-house caterers, cleaning, security staff, receptionists and technical maintenance crews were all badly hit.
As offices have begun to open again, a new challenge may be on the horizon for Facility Managers. This time it’s about maintaining a sufficient number of the in-house staff who are key to the smooth running of the organisation.
We believe this could well be the case because a surprising number of employees have decided that a return to work in their previous roles may not now be what they would choose. There are many reasons for this:
– Some employees have used their absence from the office to rethink their career
options and have retrained whilst on furlough
– Some are still concerned about travelling on public transport and indeed the
enormous time this takes up in any working day
– Some have health concerns which means they need to shield
– Others have simply become used to a home-based lifestyle.
You might be surprised to know that several recent polls also suggests that 54% of those surveyed would consider leaving their jobs if they are not afforded some flexibility about where and when they work.
Since Facility Managers don’t have the ability to offer such flexibility to those who must be office based (by the very nature of their job roles), we believe that recruitment demand to replace exiting staff may just go through the roof.
Now let’s face it, recruitment is a pain at the best of times. It has become even more of a challenge as compliance and regulation have driven the requirement to undertake background screening of individuals as part of the pre-employment process.
Unfortunately, this looks likely to happen just as Facilities Managers find themselves settling back in to work in a different environment and under difficult circumstances, where the employee relationship may well have changed.
This will not only create the need for different priorities and focus points, but may also require an expanded role as many Facilities Managers additionally find that they’re required to be more actively involved in strategic and operational decisions.
Given this, it’s hardly surprising that facility partners will have to up their game in support. We believe suppliers like ourselves will have to demonstrate:
– Flexibility, inventiveness, and close co-operation
– Solid and measurable Service Level Agreements
– High performance systems and platforms and
– Guaranteed ongoing service to support business continuity plans.
Support with Pre-Employment Screening
Fortunately, when it comes to pre-employment screening and vetting services we are already well placed. Established since 2005, we have committed ourselves to the ongoing development of all these elements of customer service, which is why many regard us as a long term and integral part of their recruitment process.
Since 2016 we have also been able to offer a quick, efficient and low-cost criminal record checks using our “DBS Platform”, which has the additional benefit of being really easy to use by both client and candidate alike.
We believe our DBS Platform is ideally suited to an area which is likely to embark on finding and retaining a larger than usual number of employees at any one time. If you would like to find out more about our specialist system and bundle offers, please do get in touch.