Welcome back. Did you all see the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey released recently by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics? In April, there were 11.4 million job openings compared with the six million counted as unemployed, leaving an unprecedented 5.6 million more openings than available workers.

Even though the number of job openings dropped by 455,000 from March, companies still need to double down on broadening talent pools, or the groups of people they consider for open positions.

Already, some companies no longer ask that workers live in proximity to one of their offices. Those like ECI, a financial-services technology provider, are hiring in markets recruiters skipped over before. Chief Executive David Andrade said that geographic diversity complements the remote services ECI offers its clients.

An airtight business case can assist with the necessary cultural shift. “Being more flexible with geography in hiring was a business decision given what our clients are now looking to us for, so that helped with buy-in,” Mr. Andrade said.

Some businesses have stopped mandating college degrees for professional positions and also are tapping retirees for part-time or project work.

Patricia Sharkey, HR lead for IMI People, which provides resources to the supply-chain industry, shared that her team is focusing less on college experience and instead hunts for particular skill sets. “We have also looked towards those who retired prematurely during the pandemic, because their years of experience are invaluable. The world really opens up when you expand your search to include a new set of applicants,” Ms. Sharkey said.

Carrie Boyd, managing partner at architecture and interior design provider M+A Architects, said her firm too has loosened certain criteria such as years of experience. “We’ve flexed because it’s more important that the person is willing to learn. We have a mentor program that provides on-the-job training for those who are motivated to grow into a position.”

According to Ms. Boyd, the effort has paid off. Broader talent pools were in part responsible for the 20% increase in minority hires last year. They now total over 14% of M+A’s workforce.

While these initiatives are a good starting point, there are potential pitfalls when broadening the hiring pool, including:

• When selecting candidates. Once you have policies in place for opening up new talent pools, do you still hire the same type of people you’ve always hired? “Some people are resistant to considering less traditional hires, based on ingrained biases about in-field experience and college education. It will take time to change these norms,” Ms. Sharkey said. To get a head start, craft “why it’s desirable to expand our horizons” messaging from your leaders and communicate it systematically from your CEO down.                                                                                     
• When confronting skills gaps. You may have access to a large number of people with the potential to contribute (such as retirees, boomerang employees, caregivers, non-college graduates, etc.) whom you would bring aboard if there wasn’t such a daunting knowledge gap. Fortunately, upskilling and reskilling don’t necessarily involve creating new training content from scratch. Rather, consider partnering with a third-party educational provider to target and customize short-form, video-based coursework that time-pressed workers can access when they need it.                                                                                                                           
• When hiring externally. Many hiring managers have told me they are searching outside the company because they want a fresh perspective. But people who have experience with the company are gaining different perspectives all the time–and they are proven and loyal.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Again, human bias can get in the way here, but internal talent marketplaces and artificial-intelligence-based hiring software can help you see how an employee’s skill set in one position might be useful in another, or how a full-time role might be converted to a part time one.                                                                              
• When managing taxes. While hiring across all 50 states is an attractive proposition, state taxes can be tough to navigate. Issues related to hiring workers in multiple states include the state-tax registration processes, state-dependent benefits requirements and corporate income-tax disparities. Because having employees in a multitude of states can be a tricky and potentially expensive proposition, consult a tax adviser before finalizing your remote hiring strategy.                                                                                                                                              It is one thing to say that you are willing to hire a candidate with caregiving responsibilities, but it’s another to understand the implications beforehand, sign the offer letter, and then commit to that worker’s development. Your hiring success depends on your ability to get to these next steps.

According to February 2022 research from the Burning Glass Institute, a labor-market analytics company, employers are resetting degree requirements for certain roles. More companies are dropping the bachelor’s degree requirement for middle- and high-skill jobs.

This shift began before the labor shortages brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic. For example, the Burning Glass Institute found that 46% of middle-skill and 31% of high-skill occupations experienced material degree resets between 2017 and 2019.

The institute suggested that when employers drop degree requirements, they target their job descriptions more thoughtfully to include soft skills that are often assumed to come with a four-year university education. Employers are also considering certifications and other microcredentials to prove a candidate’s skill competency.

Based on the research, the institute believes that an additional 1.4 million jobs could open to workers without college degrees over the next five years.

Access the full report.

Thousands of workers in the U.K. are beginning a four-day workweek this week, one of the largest tests to date of whether employees can accomplish just as much—for the same pay—in fewer hours.

More than 3,300 workers at 70 businesses ranging from banks to fast-food restaurants to marketing agencies are participating in the six-month pilot project. The study’s organizers include U.K.-based think tank Autonomy and two nonprofits focused on the four-day approach. They will work with researchers at Cambridge University, Oxford University and Boston College to explore how a shorter workweek affects company revenue and productivity, as well as employee turnover and health.

The study is the latest effort to examine whether reducing workers’ hours can improve employee well-being without sacrificing productivity, an approach that has attracted more attention in recent years, according to company executives, labor organizers, academics and some governments. The four-day workweek is one of many ways some employers say the Covid-19 era has prompted them to rethink the traditional five-day, 40-hour schedule as they look to boost employee loyalty and morale.

“The biggest driver of change has been the impact of the pandemic, but specifically the impact on leaders becoming interested in this idea,” said Joe O’Connor, chief executive of 4 Day Week Global, one of the nonprofits organizing the U.K. study.

• Strategies to Expand Labor Pools Today and in a Recession (Forbes)
   
• Summer Worker Shortage Means Things Will Be Closed. Again. (WSJ)
   
• U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Neil Bradley: The Current Labor Shortage Is Unprecedented (U.S. Chamber of Commerce)
   
• SmartBrief: Workplace Values Can Help Increase Hiring, Retention (SmartBrief)

Alexandra Levit is a business and workplace author and speaker. Chitra Vemuri curated and edited this newsletter.

✍️ Feedback on this newsletter? We would love to hear from you, so please get in touch. And be sure to visit us at The Workplace Report.