Employee Shortage In Rural Areas
The COVID impact on the U.S. Economy is broader than just health. It has resulted in closures of small businesses, especially, restaurants. There is an unbelievable backlog in shipping container vessels, just floating for months in ports all over the world. There is a shortage of healthcare workers of every level. And, service quality in any area (except banking, I hope) is at an all-time low. Much of this is attributable to the labor shortage. Before COVID, everyone knew that at some point in the future we would face a labor shortage, as baby boomers (being one of the most populous generations) retired and are being replaced with much smaller generations. COVID brought that prediction to life and complicated it with other factors. First, people were afraid to go to work. Then workers were paid more not to work than to show up. Some employees decided to retire earlier than they had planned. Some parents found that they couldn’t work with their children at home—daycare was unavailable or just too expensive. Others just liked the idea of working from home and refuse to return to the office while they chase the perfect remote employment.
Where does that leave banks looking for employees, especially in rural markets? Rural banks have all of the same issues that other banks and non-bank companies have, but they are complicated with the issue of location and/or potential candidates. But rural banks are also facing the additional challenges of keeping home grown talent from moving to more urban areas. They are also saddled with the burden of creating a more diverse employee and board population in a community that may not reflect diversity.
How does a rural community bank get this all accomplished? I can share with you some advice offered by “employment” experts: • Pay more money • Meet the generations where they are (whatever that means) • Apply workplace trends, like continuing flex-schedule, let them bring their pets to work, put a slushie machine in the kitchen (this is my personal wish) • Offer more time off, with pay • Better benefits These ideas sound great, but they don’t work in every company. A rural community bank is unlikely to be able to compete on wages with a “BIG” bank in an urban area. The size of smaller banks makes some other suggestions unworkable. But there are some things you can do.
SUGGESTIONS These are just my suggestions, in no specific order of importance. I have not scientifically tested them, but they work in my mind: • Promote from within. This instills loyalty and you don’t miss out on talent you have right there already in-house. • Take a chance on local highschoolers, whether family members work at the bank or not. Get them interested in banking as a career and comfortable with your bank’s culture. Maybe a part-time job or partial scholarship. • Talk to universities throughout the state, not just the closest to you and see if a student would like to work as a summer intern in your community. If a university has an established program that connects students with employers, take advantage. • Establish a sense of trust in your bank. Make sure that managers and HR personnel are properly trained in leadership and that they give honest answers to employee questions, whether it is about pay, time off, promotions etc. When a manager gives an answer that is untrue or “hopeful” it creates unease and poor morale. This is true during interviews as well. • Don’t require a diploma for every job. Can an applicant be trained on the job? • If a position you are looking to fill can be handled remotely, expand your employee search to out-of-town prospects. • Create a culture that makes your employees proud to be bankers. Make sure everyone in the community recognizes that culture. Social media is a great tool for this kind of campaign. • Sell the community as well as the bank to out-of-town applicants. • Take a chance on applicants who have been out of the workforce for a while or who tried the early retirement path and found out it did not work. • Make sure anyone involved in the hiring process goes into each interview with the assumption that the applicant is the ONE. • Look at employees in other businesses already in your area. If you see a retail sales manager who has all of the qualities you want in a personal banker, ask them if they are looking for a change! continued on the next page
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