Staff Shortage - Acting the Maggot

Have you ever thought that job vacancies and labor force demand might cause trouble in our daily life and routine and disrupt our whole economy and financial system? 

We are already comfortable with the shocking news that 2022 (too) brought for us. Inflation is skyrocketing, stocks are down, the crypto market is at an all-time low, supply-chain and chip crises are still a high-discussed topic, and now the labor market is impacted more than ever. 

This article will bring a bit of hope and motivation towards the staff shortages that every industry is facing and will face for a while. It will also shine some light on how digital solutions can contribute to overcoming the current situation. 

Low restrictions, high employment rate, no labor? 📈

After significant turbulences in the labor market during the pandemic, the dust has somehow settled, resulting in a considerable staff shortage across the globe. In May 2022, in the United States, there were approximately 1.9 job openings for every person looking for one. In the US, employment rate is near 60%, while in the European Union is 73.1% (an all-time high in the past 10 years); still, “Help wanted!”.

                                                                                      Source:  https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/

EPSU (European Public Service Union) analyzed the social services across Europe and published a report showing that 85% of European social service providers are facing staff shortages. 

Transportation and logistics staff shortages are also on the front page of the newspapers. You don't need to be a regular media consumer to be aware of the transportation crisis since you're experiencing this firsthand. It is enough to take the bus, go by train, or maybe fly overseas, and your plans will run upside down right from the start. 

Waiting to hear any update regarding your flight or news about your luggage is something you might get used to since the airline staff shortages are expected to last until 2023.😲

Still, waiting? No worries, we have more for you 👇

Aviation has lost nearly 2.3 million jobs on a global scale during the lockdown. Thousands of flights are canceled on a daily basis, according to Flight Aware. Fraport, the company which operates multiple facilities throughout nine countries and the main airport in Frankfurt, aims to hire 1,000 workers this year, but they managed to recruit only 30% of the target in Q1 2022. 

The supply chain and the trucking industry crisis is yet another big topic. The industry is short about 80,000 drivers, and the turnover for truck drivers is 90%. An estimated 37% of truck drivers have left their jobs since 2021, and this percentage will only get higher. 🛻 According to the WA Motor Trades Association in Australia, the automotive industry estimates up to 40,000 vacancies in the automotive sector, which leads some businesses to shut down already. 

The current crisis also hits the United Kingdom's economy. 1.3 million public sector workers from the National Union of Rail, Maritime, and Transport Workers went on strike. People are demanding better pay, better working conditions, and a balanced workload.

Small steps for you, a big step for your staff 👨‍🚀

At first glance, "plenty of open jobs" sounds more like an opportunity than a problem, and in many ways, it is, but it has also led to countless businesses struggling to fill their teams. Now it's time to focus on the solutions and what opportunities we can leverage from the current situation. 💪 
No matter the industry or the profession, all jobs have their share of boring or repetitive tasks. Not only can these lead to annoyance or lack of engagement in your team, but they also block time people could actually spend on more attention-intensive tasks.

A solution could be automation, which can increase efficiency for your employees and reduce the need for more people. Note - we're not talking about replacing employees with hardware or software but rather leveraging tech to help your staff achieve better results in less time. 🤝

As there are huge differences from industry to industry and even between companies, finding (or building) the right tools requires you to look at your current processes and how they could be improved. Still, some areas that have benefited from advancements in tech, especially automation, are:

• Reporting, note taking & document sharing;
• Invoice processing;
• Accounting;
• Various content creation processes (from image creation to text proofreading);
• Customer support (via chatbots or similar solutions);
• Employee onboarding;
• Data processing and analysis. 

In the following, we’ll take a look at some simple examples of how tech solutions that aimed to handle the above-mentioned repetitive tasks had a significant impact on specific industries and businesses. 

The Good, the Bad, and the App 🏇

Let’s assume the transportation sector would focus more on how to automate its industry. In that case, they could highly cut manual labor costs and increase staff efficiency, which would also balance employee workload. 

Let's take a great example of how Transreport's digital solution addresses the UK's rail sector.  They are focusing on fixing three main issues: passenger journey experience by providing digital assistance, improving reporting to train operators and reducing rectification fines by developing a custom-built SQR system. Their approach was simple and smart, making them one of the most significant contributors to innovation within the rail transportation industry in the United Kingdom. 
But what makes them so powerful, and what have they done to get here? 

The digital assistant aims to provide high-quality services to simplify accessible travel. Thanks to this solution, they can keep up with the high demand. More people can now enjoy a high-quality journey experience using only an app which makes requesting a passenger assistant more streamlined and efficient both for themselves as well as for the staff. 

Rock, Paper, Healthcare 🚑

Alongside the issues we talked about above, which have impacted the Healthcare system, workers in this field can't keep up with the high demand. 

Doctors spend too much time filling paperwork, decreasing the time spent consulting the patients; because of the high demand and low supply, burnout in the healthcare industry is at high rates and a daily topic among professionals. A study published by Medscape shows that, on average, doctors spend around 15.6 hours per week on paperwork and administrative tasks in 2021. In 2018 these numbers were approximately 10 hours per week. 

A long-term and sustainable solution to address this issue would be, for example, a custom Management tool integrated with a simple CRM that connects patients with healthcare professionals. This way, we could reduce employees’ stress level and the time spent on administrative tasks. But there are also short-term solutions too. 👇

A great and recent example is Bemlo which made a marketplace for short-term staffing of nurses and doctors. It aims to connect the best professionals with vacant short-term positions in the Healthcare sector. 

Managed by Apps, Operated by Professionals 🧠

AutoProff and Auto Insurance App also used a similar approach to Bemlo in the automotive industry. 

AutoProff focuses on connecting professional traders while reducing the time spent finding the right dealers and cars, thus making the car trading industry more cost-effective across Europe. 

Auto Insurance App aims to streamline communication between drivers, clients, and insurance companies, reducing cost and time on repetitive tasks. The cloud-based solution combines management, quotas, accounting, and payments in one single platform. 

Conclusions 📚

The current situation didn't happen overnight. Similar to other global crises, we have contributed individually and collectively to it. Let's use this time to stop for a moment, sit back, and reflect on our actions and how we can shape the future for the better. 

A sustainable and long-term solution for the current crisis is a collective bundle of calm and simple approaches that can ease your staff’s workload on a daily basis.

Each small step toward digitization is already an outstanding achievement, and the benefits it brings with it are recognizable both short and long term. 

What's your plan to address your company's challenges? 

Check out what digital solutions we developed to help our partners achieve their goals and make an impact. 

And if you’d like to get in touch, shoot us a message! 
Until next time! 👐