Racine Sun

With the labor market tight and expected to stay that way, businesses must "evolve or die," according to Eric Vanden Heuvel, vice president of talent and education with the Greater Green Bay Chamber, NEW News Lab, a local news collaboration in Northeast Wisconsin reported.

"If your business takes the approach ‘This is how we do things,’ you won’t survive,” Vanden Heuvel said.

In the modern workforce, the concept of a job is different than it was in the post-Great Depression era when employees felt fortunate to find work and stayed at their jobs through retirement, Vanden Heuvel said.

Declining birth rates mean there are fewer workers to replace those who retire, he said. At the same time COVID-19 pushed many workers to retire early.

“It just results in more jobs than there are people,” Vanden Heuvel said.

He predicts this trend will continue for the next 10 years.

“It just results in more jobs than there are people,” he said.

Sign-on bonuses don't work, only encouraging "employee churn," the story said.

Experts say tuition assistance for immediate family members, flexible schedules, opportunities to advance and assistance with basic needs like child care are a more effective recruiting tool, the story said.

Also, employers should make an effort to connect with historically underemployed workers such as those with disabilities, criminal records, retirees, people of color and those who speak English as a second language, NEW News Lab reported.