By now, few people haven’t found a business closed due to a lack of employees. Even among the ones that are still open, there are few that aren’t desperately scrambling for employees. Even large companies and corporations are filling the pinch as many have open job postings that simply aren’t getting filled. The great resignation is affecting almost all businesses in some way and in many ways that may not be immediately seen or felt. Here are three ways the great resignation is affecting businesses.
1. Cost of turnover
Hiring, onboarding, and training a new employee are all costly, and it can even be more costly when those new employees are directly dealing with money. In addition, the longer a person holds a certain position or works for a company, the more jobs and tasks they tend to take on. Replacing one tenured employee can often mean having to hire two or three employees to replace them, and those are just the tangible costs. The intangible costs of employee turnover are incalculable.
2. B2B costs
There has perhaps never been a time when we have seen the global impact businesses have on each other so clearly. When a business shuts down in China, it drives up the cost of goods in the U.S. Even when goods are manufactured in the U.S., they often depend on other countries to provide raw materials.
When companies in those countries shut down, U.S. manufacturers can’t get the materials they need to produce necessary goods to replace those lost from businesses in China. Even when businesses can get the materials they need, it doesn’t do them a lot of good if they have no workers to operate the machines or make the products. When a manufacturing business has to pay more for materials or labor, they pass those cost increases on to the businesses that buy their products.
3. Boon for some businesses
While some businesses certainly tanked during the pandemic, others skyrocketed. Tech companies like Amazon and Apple saw their stocks skyrocket. There is simply no denying that what is bad for one business is often good for another. Businesses that have a long-standing history of both paying and treating their employees well will suddenly find themselves overwhelmed with applications from top talent.