The Big Staffing Crunch

Americans are reassessing.

That is, many people just aren’t comfortable coming back into the job market yet, and that means stretching existing staff to fill the gaps.

In fact, the U.S. had 10.1 million job openings at the end of June, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics—the highest number of open jobs seen by the labor market on record.

“Today there are more job openings than before the pandemic and fewer people in the labor force,” Becky Frankiewicz, president of the staffing company ManpowerGroup North America, told The New York Times in July. “The single defining challenge for employers is enticing American workers back to the workforce.”

OPTICAL STRATEGIES

Optical is no exception to these trends.

We talked to three top eyecare professionals, and all voiced the same reality—it’s tough to train staff when positions on the team remain unfilled.

PROBLEM: “There has been a shift in attitudes. Covid has altered the workplace. It has become more difficult to find staff—and opticians, in particular. In our area alone there are quite a few openings for opticians.”

SOLUTION: “We are cross-training and keep hoping for the best.”

PROBLEM: “Our biggest challenge has been finding new employees, particularly opticians. We have had very few applicants, and, in some cases, interviewees haven’t responded even when they are offered a position.”

SOLUTION: “Our response has been to refocus our energy toward training individuals within the office who have expressed an interest in taking on more optical-related roles within the practice.”

PROBLEM: “I call it the Covid crutch. At this point in the pandemic timeline, one of the biggest challenges I see is the Covid default. Everything that happens is because of the virus—failed jobs from the lab are because of staffing issues, back-ordered frames are because of shipping challenges, increased customer rudeness is because of post-Covid cabin fever, management decisions are cloaked in Covid-recovery, etcetera.”

SOLUTION: “My team push is to develop an awareness to honor Covid and its immeasurable impact, but to balance our actions and reactions.”

Clearly, the Covid-19 pandemic has underscored the importance of cross-training for businesses of all shapes and sizes—and, in the bigger picture, emphasizing adaptability.

According to global consulting king McKinsey, today businesses need to emphasize not just the training of hard skills but also “a talent strategy that develops...social and emotional skills, adaptability, and resilience.”