Just when you thought we were out of the woods, with a pat on the back for surviving Covid’s impact on our business, it seems we have a new challenge to navigate. Staff shortages.
With Covid still very much present, the flu doing the rounds, and unemployment at an all time low, owning a business sure is keeping us on our toes.
Possible Solutions to Your Staff Shortages
- Virtual support can be both a short or a long term solution
- Cross train your team so critical tasks can be covered in the event of absence
- Ensure systems and procedures are (always) current and accessible
- Recruit outside of the square including Facebook groups, existing networks, website popups, even a creative TicTok might catch the eye of your next employee
- Focus on retention
- Ask your existing team to spread the word
- Audit your operations. What tasks are being done that don't add value to your business?
- Review your procedures. What could be automated to reduce manual execution?
"I wish I'd called you earlier, I thought the volume of emails would ease up. They haven't."
Meanwhile, most of us are busier than ever. I had a call from an old client this morning asking if we could help them out. We’d filled in while they hired a full time customer support employee in-house. This person is working out brilliantly, but the entire team are over capacity and reaching burnout.
So we’re managing their support inbox with a budget of 25 to 30 hours a week so their team can breath again (and know emails will be responded to same-day).
"I'm losing sleep worrying about what I forgot to do today. The details keep getting away from me."
A discovery call last week was the first step for a business owner in Australia feeling like he was balancing a lack of team with his own spinning plates. All plates had the wobbles and could come crashing down on his head any minute (his words!).
We’re now working with him to recruit the missing team and in the meantime filling in to manage his marketing, admin and bookkeeping. At the same time we’re documenting procedures and looking at his systems so when we do find his missing team, onboarding won’t drive his anxiety back through the roof.
"I've got half my staff away with either Covid or the flu, can you help me get ready for our workshop?"
An enquiry came through our website where the business delivered wellbeing workshops to corporate organisations. She has a 5-day series coming up in 6 week’s time and none of the admin, registrations or workshop resources had been done. You can understand the panic!
A zoom that day with one of our team meant we could start organising the workshops straight away. Being wonderfully professional, they had checklists and run sheets in place so we knew exactly what needed doing. While this had the client breathing a sigh of relief (understatement!), it also took the pressure off the sick members on her team. Meaning they could focus on getting better.
One Action
Do you have a skills shortage in your business now?
Come up with a list of actions you can take to solve this shortage.
