Securing a Skilled Workforce: Essential for Staying Relevant in a Competitive Market - Essay Sample

Introduction

A skilled workforce is a necessary condition; every business has to adhere to if it wishes to remain relevant in a competitive business market. Employers of different Organizations are thus tasked with tedious work of making sure that their businesses have adequately skilled employees who can help the company remain competitive in markets that frequently change. A sufficiently skilled workforce is competent in skills, knowledge, experience, habits that an employer can utilize whenever needed (Rodriguez, 2018, pp 4). Most Organizations and businesses are reporting difficulties in finding skilled workers in the workplace. Unattractive job offers could cause this, or hesitance in an employer to invest in talent management. Other organizations face these challenges in labor shortages despite being willing to pay well for these needed skills. These genuine lacks of skills are more likely to prevalent in economic sectors such as ICT, health, and social care and manufacturing (Andreff, 2015, pp 313-338). This paper will seek to examine the skills and labor shortages in the manufacturing industry and the IT data center industry. There will be a comparison and contrast of how these industries have responded to these challenges, and lastly, provides recommendations using the human capital theory and others that might be useful to those industries.

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The skills gap in the data center industry is one of the most significant challenges that the industry is currently experiencing. The future of this industry is now dependant on the number of quality youth it can attract. The Data environment word is highly specialized, with reports indicating that the industry doubles in size after four years ( Hall, 2018, pp 507- 523). This, without a doubt, makes expansion challenging as data centers are having a hard time recruiting and retaining staff. The lack of adequate labor in the data center doesn't affect only this industry but other aspects of a whole economy such as healthcare, electricity distribution, and many more (Kahn, 2015, pp 247 -250). More awareness is needed in the data sector among young people, or the industry will be on a long line of organizations looking for the same talent. This is one of the biggest challenges the industry is experiencing as few individuals know what the data industry is all about, and the significant part it plays in the day to day lives of people. This lack of knowledge goes beyond learning institutions but also to the general public. The industry should urgently address these problems by ensuring young people interact with people from this industry so that clarification on different aspects of the data center industry can be resolved directly. Organizations should try and implement corporate social responsibilities theory to boost their brand among the community therefore attracting potential employers as well as access a business's impact on the community that hosts its premises (Panda, 2012, pp.56).

There have been growing concerns over a potential slowdown in the manufacturing industry owing to the increased trade wars. However, the industry has an immediate problem that is causing an increased gap in skills, leaving hundreds of thousands of jobs remaining vacant. The National Association of Manufacturers estimated that a record number of 522,000 jobs had been left empty as of September 2019 (Nam, 2019, pp 7-9). The Association has even come up with potential solutions with collaboration with the government to train around 2 million workers by 2024. These workers will be needed in large number since a report by the Manufacturing Institute, and Deloitte estimated that approximately 4 million jobs would be vacant in a decade and a half of these jobs may remain unfilled in the long term due to lack of skilled labor (Sati, 2018, pp 21). These Labor shortages may be attributed to lack of awareness of the manufacturing industry and the perks these jobs offer, including pay benefits and job stability. Most people recognize that the manufacturing industry is essential, but few would encourage their children or friends to join the industry (Matthews, 2019, pp 30).

The manufacturing industries have responded in different ways to these shortages in the United States, many people above 65 years have either retired or are at least considering retirement. This is contrast to the Japanese market that actively hires retirees and people of 65 years and above and are encouraged to work as they get older. This approach makes sense because most people who retire often wish to go back to job on a part time basis after a brief period after retiring. Some big manufacturing companies such as Mercedes-Benz have adopted this approach with programs that help individuals over 50 years without prior formal experience, train and acquire jobs in the company(Maree, 2015, p.5-6). When manufacturing industries tap into the mature workforce, chances are great there will be potential benefits which include hiring experienced personnel who possess managerial skills as a result of the many years of experience.

Industries are also trying to change the views of the public on manufacturing jobs. Some businesses have adopted approaches such as organizing company tours targeting young people and other persons that might need to be enlightened or are interested in these jobs. After people have toured these different manufacturing industries facilities, people may come to the realization that the preconceived notions existing on the manufacturing industry are mostly not accurate. Leaders of companies have also tried to deal with the labor crisis by adjusting their pay packages or increasing perks that make manufacturing jobs more appealing (Turner et al, 2017, p. 56). This makes people change their mind on applying for these jobs since pay perks become more competitive with other industry jobs. People are also less likely to take manufacturing jobs when they don't have prior experience .Companies can deal with this problem by supporting apprenticeship programs that help people gain real world experience. Employees that receive training feel more confident and well adjusted to handle their responsibilities while employers spend less money and time dealing with incompetent workers (Zwick, 2015 pp.136-150.).

`Some of these measures adopted by the manufacturing industry can be used in the data centre industry. Some of the measures that can be used include the hiring older people who might be of help to the industry. Veterans are more suitable for hire in the data centre industry since they offer precision and discipline when carrying out their acivities ((Zwick, 2015 pp.136-150).These are crucial factors that determine the success of any company. Data centers are known to offer flexible hours to their employees and staffs that are almost nearing retirement should be provided with extra perks and shorter working hours to encourage these workers to extend their stay in data centre industries. Another solution used by the manufacturing industry and might be useful in data industry is vocational training programs that train employees on various emerging issues in the data industry. Employees that receive constant training at the workplace are more likely to remain at their workplace on a long term basis. Increased awareness is also another approach similar to the manufacturing industry that can be adopted to address the increased labor shortages in the data industry. The public is made more aware on the activities carried out in a data centre facility as well as providing information on different aspects of these jobs in order to attract potential candidates. Internship programs are also useful to the industry since potential candidates are offered visibility of the working environment thus eliminating any misconceptions that may exist. Similarly to the manufacturing industries, data industries should give inclusive opportunities to make it more attractive to potential candidate.

Apart from labour shortages, manufacturing industries are also facing problems with skill shortages. Skill shortages occur when the current workforce or employees that are newly hired possess fewer skills that required for an organization to reach its goals (Bosworth and Warren, 1992,pp.100). The shortage in skills can be attributed to the scarcity of the workforce. A survey conducted on industry veterans revealed that 56% of them reported to have appropriate training to carry out their responsibilities as needed (Nazi, 2010, pp.203- 211). In industries such as data centre that doubles in size after every four years it is no surprise that these data industries are facing problems. Data centres and manufacturing industries are experiencing similar problems related to skills and labour. While training is the best intervention to address this issue, manufacturing industries are also adding more resources to apprenticeship programs as a way to teach necessary skills needed in the data industry. Organizations are hiring high school students using programs and these students get to be paid while still being in school. Another potential solution that most manufacturing industries use to address shortage of skills is by offering salary increments and providing sighing bonuses to candidates that are skilled. In 2018, companies were surveyed and 78% of these companies reported that they offered high wages to attract potential talent ((Nazi, 2010, pp.203- 211). Lastly some manufacturing industries are outsourcing their work to address the talent gaps. More and more companies are trending towards hiring workers on contract basis though there is risk of these industries not developing killed employees on a long term basis.

These measures adopted to deal with skills shortages by manufacturing industries can also be successfully be applied to the data centre industry. Diversity and training programs should also be adopted by various data companies. Staff are retrained and given new skills to deal with existing and potential problems that may arise in the future. Similarly internship and apprenticeship programs should a be created in the data industry since potential candidates are taught on various skills that enable one to be competent once hired. The responses to skills and labour shortages by manufacturing industries are applicable to both industries (Davis, 2012,pp 584)

Using the human capital theory, there are solutions that could help address these worrying trends of labour and skills shortage. This theory is based on economic and educational views with claims that conclude that the higher the education, the more likelihood for better economic returns (Booth, 1996, pp. 130)It also suggests that Organizational success begins with people, how important they are and the value they add to an organization. The theory puts emphasis on the cost of labour relative to the investment return in order to obtain future productivity with development of employee's knowledge and skill (Booth, 1996, pp. 130). This can be applied to the manufacturing and data centre industries.

Another recommendation that might be of use to these industries, is strategic workforce planning which should be a priority for businesses as time goes by. Businesses should clearly define their workforce development goals and then make decisions on who will implement these programs as well a put up resources. Manufacturing and data centre industries should also invest in training individuals with technical skills which increase their productivity and competitive advantage (Gertler, 2016 pp. 235)..Organizations that aim at growing and increasing employee performance should put more resources towards training their employees on a wide range of skills. Si...