Struggling with the Global Talent Shortage? You’re Not Alone
AllCloud and Ensono, part of the recent Cloud Roundtable discussion, talk about the problem and share ideas.
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To be sure, the channel as a whole needs to develop new approaches to old ways of working. That applies even to jobs that must be carried out in the office, rather than from home. Onsite employees are demanding more flexibility than ever, not just those who work remotely, Manpower Group says. So, the company notes, to attract and retain the best staff, employers such as channel partners need to implement policies that support the following perks:
• Flexible start and finish times
• Hybrid work
• Flexible/condensed hours
• Job sharing
• A choice of locations from which to work
After all, eight in 10 people Manpower Group surveyed said they want a better work-life balance, and that will not change even once the pandemic ends.
That should present little surprise. One of the silver linings of COVID-19 came in the mass realization that work can still get done, and done well, from nearly anywhere. This gave people more time for fulfilling activities such as working out, spending time with family and pursuing hobbies. Now they expect permanent flexibility from their employers. And the companies that don’t provide it will struggle with an ongoing talent shortage.
Duan van der Westhuizen, senior vice president of public cloud at Ensono, said the talent shortage is problematic. One of 2022’s more difficult trends will definitely boil down to “talent,” he said (an observation with which Tony Safoian, CEO of SADA, agreed).
And that puts many a channel partner in a tough spot: “You’re competing with the folks you’re partnering with,” van der Westhuizen said.
The hyperscalers, for example, had 14,000 open jobs at the time of the Channel Partners Conference & Expo Cloud Roundtable on Nov. 1, van der Westhuizen said.
In many cases, too, those providers are able to offer “30-50% more than the market rate.” MSPs such as Ensono have a hard time matching those wages.
“We’re always trying to add more talent,” van der Westhuizen said.
Channel partners who can’t offer the salaries the hyperscalers have to get creative about attracting — and keeping — the right people. That’s going to be an imperative as the IT talent shortage looks to drag on. MSPs and other partners unable to pay the same as the cloud vendors can take cues from their peers.
Ensono, for instance, recently launched an equity program that gives associates ownership in the company. The MSP also runs a cloud and mainframe academy that lets employees shadow other engineers to learn their skills.
“We’re selling expertise,” van der Westhuizen said. “You want to keep engineering and customer service specialized.”
For AllCloud, one solution to the IT talent shortage comes in offering people the opportunity to switch careers. There is “no way” the MSP can compete against the hyperscalers’ salaries, said CEO Eran Gil, so the answer lies in helping employees move up in the company.
“Working at a smaller difference, you can make a bigger difference,” Gil said.
To do that, AllCloud gives staff the chance to certify in different aspects of Amazon Web Services and Salesforce, the two vendors in which it specializes.
As it turns out, reskilling has become just as critical for partners such as AllCloud and Ensono as hiring new people. That’s because the IT talent shortage no longer affects just the United States.
“We can’t compete with the cost of resources in India,” said AllCloud’s Gil.
Ensono’s van der Westhuizen agreed.
“We have resources in India and Poland, and the talent competition is just as bad,” he said. “We’re competing with AWS; they have a massive location there.”
Gil agreed.
“We had a Romanian delivery center for eight years and a 99% retention rate for six-and-a-half years,” he said, “Then, all of a sudden, everyone found Romania. … Rates went up 100%. … So we now have to take their junior folks and educate them.”
To fight back against the IT talent shortage, Ensono also has sped up its recruitment process. That, van der Westhuizen said, “is more critical now than it ever has been. We have to sell folks early and get them through the doors.”
Otherwise, Ensono risks losing a hot candidate to another business within a day or even a few hours. To help stem that tide, van der Westhuizen himself does a lot of the hiring on the spot.
“I’ll call them and say, ‘Let’s speak’,” he said.
AllCloud takes a slightly different approach. The MSP recently hired a chief people officers to improve its chances of hiring strong talent. Other channel partners might consider following suit.
The takeaways from AllCloud and Ensono offer just some ideas for channel partners trying to recruit solid talent. As Manpower Group’s survey findings suggest, extending flexibility to existing and potential employees will go a long way toward finding, and keeping, the right people. So will unique ownership strategies and other perks. Think about offering different kinds of insurance — not just for family, for instance, but for pets. Companies further can consider providing benefits such as tuition reimbursement or individual, negotiable vacation plans, for example.
Fighting the talent shortage will continue to require creativity and adaptability from channel partners. And the results will be worthwhile.
The takeaways from AllCloud and Ensono offer just some ideas for channel partners trying to recruit solid talent. As Manpower Group’s survey findings suggest, extending flexibility to existing and potential employees will go a long way toward finding, and keeping, the right people. So will unique ownership strategies and other perks. Think about offering different kinds of insurance — not just for family, for instance, but for pets. Companies further can consider providing benefits such as tuition reimbursement or individual, negotiable vacation plans, for example.
Fighting the talent shortage will continue to require creativity and adaptability from channel partners. And the results will be worthwhile.
The global talent shortage reached a 15-year high by the third quarter of 2021, according to a recent Manpower Group report. And technology roles rank among the most in-demand. This puts the power in the hands of job seekers.
All that came as no shock to the participants in the recent closed-door Cloud Roundtable discussion at this fall’s Channel Partners Conference & Expo. Indeed, the IT talent shortage consumed quite a bit of the conversation. After all, multinational consulting firm Korn Ferry estimates that the talent shortage worldwide could impact more than 85 million people. The most affected industries will include IT and telecom. Overall, this will lead to the loss of trillions of dollars in economic opportunity unless employers get strategic.
In this second installment from the Cloud Roundtable, we share what two of the participants – representatives from managed service providers Ensono and AllCloud – talked about at length. Fellow channel partners can take their challenges and solutions into consideration.
Want to contact the author directly about this story? Have ideas for a follow-up article? Email Kelly Teal or connect with her on LinkedIn. |
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