TRU Trends: February 2022

February has shown that, at least for right now, employees across industries, but especially in knowledge work like privacy, ediscovery, and cybersecurity, continue to hold all the bargaining power in the job market. And that power is only escalating. The Great Resignation, along with an economy speeding toward full employment, have left hiring managers reeling from a lack of resources. According to a recent Gallup poll, men are leaving current jobs to gain roles that are more flexible. Women are leaving for better pay and opportunities.

How should ediscovery, privacy, and cybersecurity employers cope? Generally, employers have a few options:

1. Pay and get flexible to retain.

Companies who want to retain current talent need to pay more to be competitive or at least compromise on the most common employee pain points to earn their loyalty. These may include:

• Raising Salaries. Inflation is at a 40 year high at 7.5%, effectively canceling out the 4.5% national average wage increase in 2021. And despite higher wages, inflation gave the average worker a 2.4% pay cut last year. Given all of that – it’s not surprising that employers are handing out cost of living adjustments that alone are averaging around 15% in 2022. In addition, employees are demanding merit increases on top of COLA, and if they don’t get them, are quitting and looking for employers who will pay more. If you can pay more, do so. If you can’t, try upping your amenities, promotion opportunities and flexibility to gain worker loyalty.

• Dropping Mandatory Mask & Vax Requirements. Mask mandates and vaccine requirements are heading out the window. According to Former US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, at least 400K people left their jobs instead of complying with vaccine mandates – contributing to a depressed labor supply. TRU is seeing more candidates come to market in January than in December or November related to refusal to comply with mandates. Past that, no one wants to sit at their desks or in meetings with face masks on for hours on end. Social distancing is more acceptable, but even that is questioned in some cases where people are vaccinated and boosted. If you are in a jurisdiction and business that can tolerate dropping the requirements, give this a try.

• Implementing Hybrid Work Arrangements: Employees became accustomed to working from home. As long as they felt their productivity was high and interaction was available via video conferencing, they feel no need to enter an office. In addition, remote work alleviates childcare woes, commuting hassles, and saves on cost-of-living adjustments required from in office working.

2. Hire and train new staff.

If your organization has already lost key employees, you will need to rehire and bring new folks up to speed. If your organization is unwilling to compromise on any of the above, be prepared to see resumes of less experienced candidates with fewer desired skillsets – particularly the technical ones.

3. Look for a better solution.

But we suggest a different path. Work with a qualified staffing firm like TRU Staffing Partners as soon as possible. We can provide your organization with top-notch full-time, contract, or contingent help in areas of data privacy, ediscovery, or cybersecurity. We prescreen and interview our candidates to ensure they are right for your organization before sending them on to you. You’ll get a comprehensive briefing on each candidate we represent along with how their skills match your requirements.

Contract positions traditionally help employers fill gaps in employment with knowledgeable talent not easily found elsewhere. In fact, 92% of our TRU contractors complete their roles, convert to full time, or are still on contract after the initial work is completed. Working for you, our contractors could soon prove to be the valuable employees you seek. And TRU can take your search time down from weeks to mere days.

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