Textile Insight

How Firms are Battling to Win the War for Talent in Today's Workforce. By Emily Walzer hen the Southern Textile Association queried members recently on what they considered the top three major issues of 2022, "labor/ workforce" ranked number one, with a 98 percent rating. Concerns related to inflation, fiber prices and supply chain issues also made the list. "Human resources is the biggest challenge in the industry right now, and how companies are addressing this issue is top of mind," commented Vance Tiller, president, Impact Workforce Solutions. "It is called the War on Talent." A panel discussion about battling to win this war and better understand the employment situation textile companies face these days kicked off the recent Southern Textile Association's Winter Seminar, held in person, and virtually, last month at Gaston College, Textile Technology Center, Kimbrell Campus, Belmont, NC. Tiller served as moderator and panelists included: Ben Talber, president and CEO, Better Than Found; Terri Ann Belk, HR manager, Glen Raven; Matthew Shannon, plant manager, Greenwood Mills; and Shane Trull, HR administra- tor, Hamrick Mills. Shannon pointed out a defining shift in workforce pri- orities. "Today, what's key is to want a work/life balance. This is more important than ever. In the past, you worked to make money. That is not the motivator it once was." Changes in communication style, the onboarding process and providing a sense of community was also discussed. "The younger generation wants immediate feedback and communicating directly, and communicating by text in the hiring process. This was not the case before." said Shannon, explaining that when it comes to compensation, culture and career path, "We have to pay, but compensa- tion now comes second. Purpose is a critical component." Execs mentioned that these days there are so many opportunities that HR has to act quickly to get hires onboard and make the process as easy as possible. "Speed is important. Onboarding should not take more than 72 hours," said Belk, adding, "Compensation is the attention getter, but to keep employees, it is about the culture, a culture of belonging and purpose." Talbert weighed in on what's not working, and outlined reasons why. "People are leaving jobs because of bad lead- ership, losing a sense of meaning in their job and having a sense that there's no opportunity to advance," Talbert stated. "Companies need to focus on becoming a place where employees want to work. In the past, the focus was making the customer happy, now it is about making the employee happy. It's a big flip and Covid was the catalyst." Talbert said that nowadays employees have the upper hand and companies that recognize this will win the war for talent. "You've got to think differently. You need to build a relationship and ask employees about their needs," Talbert stressed."We've got to change the paradigm on what we do to attract and keep talent." Problems with Hiring & Retention Rebranding HR and thinking about employees as you would your customers was addressed during the hour- long panel discussion. Panelists considered incentives for hiring, as well as programs to bolster retention. Suggestions included companies incentivising hiring by offering to pay for further education or help pay to finish education, in addition to offering more comprehensive employee assistance with mental health and other individual issues, which execs believe is more important than ever. "Covid made companies re-evaluate and become more flexible and creative" shared Belk, who noted that the missing link is face-to-face connection. "When we get past Covid we can re-engage." Other speakers from the Winter Seminar program shared their perspective on contemporary workforce challenges. In his economic update, Scott Baier, Ph.D., professor and department chair of the John E Walker Department of Economics, Clemson University, explained that "in good times, the number of jobs added each month is around 200,000, the worst loss ever was 800,000; 22 million jobs were lost in the first months of 2020. We are still 6.5M jobs below normal." Baier added, "Jobs lost due to quitting and layoffs were rising due to a healthy job market; job hire was out paced by the other side of the market. Now coming out of the pandemic, the quit rate spikes. We're seeing all the 'help wanted' signs everywhere. There is a big gap now between job posts and job hires." The upshot: today's market really favors the employee, and companies need to build an employee-centric culture. Vivien Hudson, coach/presenter/producer of Brain, Body and Business, who addressed the audience later in the meeting, added to labor/workforce discussion, stated, "A lot of people asked themselves during the pandemic: 'What is it that I want for my job?' For employers now is the time to align the people with the business strategy for talent optimization. We need to hire, inspire and engage our workers. Culture and values should be an everyday conversation." l IN THE MARKET | MADE IN USA What's Working 12 • Textile Insight ~ March/April 2022 Source: pi midlantic textileinsight.com "In the past, the focus was making the customer happy, now it is about making the employee happy. It's a big flip and Covid was the catalyst." Ben Talber, president and CEO, Better Than Found TALENT OPTIMIZATION DIAGNOSE BUSINESS STRATEGY BUSINESS RESULTS DESIGN HIRE INSPIRE

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