The 5 Takeaways from CEO Survey: The Struggle of Hiring and HR Across the Country

The 5 Takeaways from CEO Survey: The Struggle of Hiring and HR Across the Country

I have been a member of Vistage, a CEO groups organization, for over 15 years. Every year, Vistage creates a report where they poll thousands of their small to medium-sized business CEO members across the country. I find the CEO Projections 2022 Report incredibly interesting because as a small business CEO, it is beneficial to know what other CEOs like me are thinking when it comes to the economy, the hiring market, supply chain, and more.

Just look at these numbers:

  • 72% of CEOs are experiencing higher costs of labor

  • 25% of CEOs are delaying growth because of hiring difficulties

  • 78% of CEOs are increasing wages

  • 29% of CEOs are offering hiring bonuses

  • 29% of CEOs are experiencing decreased retention rates

I know you might not have time to read the Vistage Report, but here are my Top 5 Takeaways:

  1. Look at This Data and Know You Are Not Alone - Many CEOs are experiencing the pain associated with this candidate market.

  2. Give Your Employees a Significant Raise if You Can - It will save you headaches and money later. This is the most impactful item you can do at this time to move the lever of retention. Average wage increases are usually 3-4% annually, but not this year! This year, give 5-6% and then another 4-5% within 9 months. Replacing people is just so expensive. If you need us to recommend how much to increase wages vs. bonuses, we can help!

  3. Do Not Delay Growth - If you look at the future years projections, it is the time to grow. Contact us and we can help you hire! We haven’t come across too many jobs that we just can’t find. We can help you navigate this strange candidate market and trust us, it is crazy.

  4. Know the answer to this question: "Why would someone come to work here when they could go somewhere else?" Think through this with your leadership team. If you don’t know this answer, we need to talk to you.

  5. Your Managers Need to Be Exceptional - Your leaders need to be able to retain and engage their teams. This is crucial for retention. Our advice is to read a book called It's the Manager if this is an area of need.

Focus on these things and you will start winning the war for talent.  As always, let us know where we can help..

If you want to read the whole report, here is the link: CEO Projections 2022 Report. We have highlighted the parts that relate to Hiring and HR, but there is a lot of other items like Supply Chain that may be of interest to you.

Weekly Tiny Sales Pitch: The HR Audit

When it comes to HR, do you feel like you have processes in place to ensure you are compliant with State and Federal regulations, retaining your best employees, and hiring with efficiency? If you are skeptical on any of those, the HR Audit is a perfect HR discovery tool for your small business. Here is more information if you are interested: HR Audit Informational Material