This year, a global survey of 40,077 employers found that 3 out of 4 businesses had difficulty filling roles. Whether you're an urban corporate organization focusing on services like call centers or IT, or a more rural-based business like those in the manufacturing and food production industries, filling those critical vacant roles requires expanding your hiring pool.
While many HR professionals and business leaders focus on recruitment factors like compensation, there are a few fresh approaches that have been shown to improve recruitment and boost hiring: understanding your demographics, connecting to new geographic areas, providing commuter benefits, and connecting with community organizations.
1. Pinpoint Your Demographics
"Company data is often overlooked but can serve as the cornerstone of recruitment strategies," reports Forbes business analyst Anna Frazzetto. She says that examining staff demographics helps create a workforce that's "rich in diversity," empowering you to identify any gaps or imbalances that may exist in terms of age, gender, or other factors so you can build a more inclusive and well-rounded team (this improves team productivity and employee satisfaction by enhancing innovation, decision-making, and overall company performance).
Understanding your business's local demographics also allows you to:
- Better align your hiring strategies with the available talent pool in your region
- Target geographic areas with a high concentration of underrepresented groups in your workforce
- Create more inclusive job advertising and recruiting campaigns
For instance, if data shows that a nearby area has a high population of individuals with skills relevant to your open positions but who are underrepresented at your company, you can adjust your outreach to tap into that talent.
One food manufacturing company based in rural Kentucky put this tactic to good use. For years, it struggled with nearly 20% of its available roles chronically unfilled, costing the business nearly $150,000 annually for each individual unfilled position.
After analyzing their employee demographics with the help of SHARE Mobility, including geographic concentration and socio-economic information, the company was able to highlight population centers within a reasonable distance to prioritize for talent recruitment. The company quickly filled most of its unfilled positions—and saw a nearly $13 million increase in annual productivity.
2. Connect to New Areas
Millions of Americans report driving at least an hour to work each way, and millions more live in transit deserts (areas where transportation options are limited or non-existent). Transportation access is one of the biggest barriers to work, and whether recruiters realize it or not, that barrier effects your hiring pools—and even eventual employee retention.
HR professionals and business leaders who offer commuter transportation benefits, such as company shuttle services with dynamic routes, will open up opportunities to new hires who may have otherwise been unable to commute to your workplace due to distance, limited public transit options, or the cost of transportation. This kind of smart workforce commuter benefit expands your hiring pool and helps you connect with new and diverse talent that may have previously been physically inaccessible.
For example, a large home manufacturing corporation in Kentucky was struggling with filling job vacancies. After rolling out transportation benefits for its staff and new hires, the business filled 87% of its empty positions, saw its staff retention rates skyrocket by 62%, and experienced a nearly $4 million gain in workforce productivity.
3. Provide Equitable Access
Even when there are existing transit options, they're not always equitable for your new hires.
"Transit equity [is] the general concept [of] looking at how to design transportation systems that are fair...among different populations," explains Steven Farber, a professor of human geography who specializes in studying urban and rural transit. He says this means considering the efficiency of transit links, how frequent and affordable services are, and which populations have the most access to transit systems.
For instance, potential new hires with disabilities continue to face numerous transportation accessibility barriers. And for low-income workers, the cost of commuting, even via public transit, can be prohibitive.
Services like SHARE Mobility offer tailored, dynamic transportation solutions to directly address these barriers to transportation. This includes solving last-mile problems in transportation, where public transit doesn't connect directly to your business. Now, you can schedule employee pick-ups from different locations and dispatch vehicles equipped with accessibility features for individuals with mobility concerns. Partnering with SHARE can improve your employees' commutes, showing your commitment to equality and employee well-being.
4. Connect With Your Community
Research shows that there's a very positive business case for hiring immigrants and refugees. Even major international corporations like IKEA recognize the benefits of hiring newcomers to the U.S.
Nonprofits like the International Rescue Committee (IRC), Upwardly Global, or local immigrant support organizations in your region help immigrants and refugees enter the workforce. Partnering with these nonprofits can enhance your hiring practices by providing a steady pipeline of refugee and immigrant candidates who are motivated and well-prepared to contribute.
There's a similar business case for those who have previously been incarcerated.
One-third of Americans have a criminal record—a huge number of people—reports MIT, adding that "getting intentional about second-chance hiring can lead to a more diverse workforce and promote economic growth during a time of labor shortages." In fact, a survey conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management found that formerly incarcerated employees often outperform employees who don't have a criminal record.
Example organizations that work to get convicts into steady employment include:
Partnering with nonprofits that help underserved people, such as re-entry programs for formerly incarcerated individuals and organizations supporting immigrants and refugees, allows your company to tap into motivated and often overlooked groups—while contributing to social equity, enhancing community development, and meeting the goals of your company's corporate social responsibility (CSR) policies.
SHARE for a Shorter Commute for Everyone
Labor shortages are "the new normal," and economists predict this issue will only get worse over the coming years. Future-proof your business's success by thinking outside the normal LinkedIn or Greenhouse box and using these novel ways to expand your hiring pool.
If transportation is a barrier for your current workforce and potential new hires, savvy HR leaders know that getting ahead of this systemic problem makes a real difference in workforce recruitment, employee productivity, and staff retention. Contact our sales team today to explore SHARE Mobility's innovative ridesharing solutions and employee commuter solutions for businesses. SHARE Mobility can even help you analyze your employee demographics, including geographic concentration, to help you best serve your workforce. With these innovations, you can eliminate transportation barriers and improve transportation equality to help you unlock the potential in your local job market.
