1 September 2023 by Angela Knox
Right now there’s a big black hole inside many companies in the UK and globally marked ‘looking for new recruits’.
Recruiters and talent spotters are going out of their minds trying to fill vacancies, and this is just as common in the marketing sphere as elsewhere - you just have to make a quick scan of the jobs boards and read a few articles in the marketing press to see that there's a shortage of marketers out there.
There’s been a mind shift happening in the workforce the world over since the pandemic - with some new trends having already started to gather pace before the first sneeze of the outbreak, due to an increased awareness of the need for balance in our lives.
The irreversible tide of technology
Technology has brought many benefits to us all. However over the last few years as more sophisticated and faster ways of carrying out complex tasks have increased efficiency levels, it has also created a different kind of pandemic: overwork and often unrealistically high performance expectations from employers.
Expected output norms for employees are very different compared to what they were 10 or 20 years ago.
Now we are completing tasks in fragments of the time that would have been needed only a few short years ago.
Lightning fast computer algorithms enable us to complete tasks in a speed that would have been breathtaking then, and this will no doubt continue as time moves on and advancements including AI, VR, AR and working/living in the metaverse will become part of the day’s routine.
There have been changes too in relation to the types of work that are available to us, with the CIPD reporting in its Workplace Technology update from July 2020 that:
‘employment in the manufacturing sector has declined by 20% over the past two decades, while employment in services grew by 27%’ - showing the shifting trends and dynamics of businesses in today’s climate.
Our working populations have had to adapt in order to thrive, with appropriate training and education programmes in place in order to provide for these changes.
Nonetheless, whatever the sector, we do need to be mindful of the fact that human beings were not designed to be machines.
It is an often reported fact that some work settings have developed into environments that do not reflect the most basic needs when it comes to equilibrium, balance and wellbeing, because the employers in question don’t seem to recognise how essential these things are, or are incapable of making the necessary changes.
The pandemic effect
No surprise then that many thousands of people realised during the pandemic that their wellbeing and sanity are more important than the endless grind of work and stress, for those fortunate enough to already have a degree of financial independence.
The BBC recently reported that the UK government is thinking about launching a scheme to lure the over 50s who left the workforce early to return to work, because there is a serious skills shortage due to this development.
This article also mentions the fact that there are now record numbers of long-term sick, with 2.5m people not currently looking for work and presumably not in jobs already / taking sick leave. This number has been rising steeply since the pandemic started, and so the assumption is that at least some of this number is due in some way to the same factor.
Endless column inches in HR and other media have been devoted to syndromes such as ‘quiet quitting’, bullying in the workplace, and other common trends which have been taking root in our workplaces.
And whilst the topic of wellbeing has become ubiquitous in most companies, the reality is that many employers don’t understand the full meaning of the term, and how the employer’s attitude to and treatment of their employees has as much to do with a state of wellbeing as how many ‘wellness days’ are given in a year, or whether or not there is an on-site gym or free fruit in the office kitchen.
Employee power and emerging trends
With the ability of today’s workers to tap into digital employee power via social media, it also enables them to vote with their feet and achieve solidarity with other workers, as illustrated by this example reported in the Daily Mail about some US workers establishing demarcation lines they will not cross when it comes to working hours, and not always following the (what would have been expected years ago) path of career progression.
The side hustle has never been so popular, and thousands of youngsters (as well as adults) are now making a good living out of digital businesses and projects, or at least a growing savings pot to build for their future.
Then there are the Gen Z groups (and others) voting with their feet and manifesting their wanderlust by taking to the roads in camper vans, or circumnavigating the globe in a medium sized sailboat - the plethora of YouTube channels run by monohull and catamaran owners where these tribes live are growing daily, and are becoming business entities in their own right.
You can easily work from a boat if you need to - all you need is a small desk, a computer, and the obligatory video outfit if you’re going to go the YouTube route. What better way to see the world - and get better weather! - and have a more pleasurable lifestyle, than on the bow of a boat or in a motorhome that’s big enough to serve as a home from home.
Then there is the syndrome of a different generational trend - that of Gen X and their predecessors who have inherited property wealth from parents, and with a sudden injection of cash realise that real freedom awaits.
This is a symptom of the property boom that started to develop in the early 70s and has continued ever since. There’s nothing like a large wad of unexpected cash to refocus your mind on new horizons and different life choices.
Conclusion
Because of all of these factors, talent sourcing has never been so impossible, and it is not likely to get easier any time soon as the march of technological development continues and more experts in different areas are constantly needed.
The pool of available candidates is constantly getting smaller and the skills shortage is getting more common as people are making life and career choices that would never have been possible until relatively recently.
And with all of these societal and behavioural changes at play, it’s no wonder that the traditional workplace has fallen out of favour with people who years ago would be following the well established path of leaving school or university and going to work for a respected employer for many years to come.
From the point of view of the marketing profession, it is such a fast-changing world with employers often struggling to catch up with progress and work out what they want and need from their marketing departments, finding the right person or people to fit in and help to build the business with all of the right marketing tools in place is a constantly moving target.
All businesses need effective and cost-conscious marketing that helps them to achieve their business goals and build/maintain/maximise sustainable revenue. It’s just that the mixture of skillsets and agility required in navigating this landscape are challenges that we all need to aim to meet.