Employers get creative to lure potential workers amid pandemic, but will it work?
Jim Hagerty
Special to the Rockford Register Star
The pressure is on for area organizations to find workers as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to decimate the local workforce.
From private companies to hospitals to local school districts, recruiters are doing everything they can to hire new people, including offering them cold, hard cash.
But, as the worst part of the pandemic seemed to be over with the arrival of COVID-19 vaccines last year, the anticipated "great return" to the workforce didn't quite happen.
Restaurants and bars were short staffed for much of 2021, and many remain so today. Hospitals can't find enough hospitality workers to keep cafeterias open, and nurses are even harder to come by as COVID-19 variants are again bearing down on emergency rooms and intensive care units.
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Managers who were banking on the end of the additional $300 per week federal unemployment benefit making a difference, now know that it's not. At least not enough to get them comfortably staffed once again.
"It's a fascinating time," said Jennifer Furst, president of Furst Staffing, a full-service staffing, recruiting and workforce solutions organization with offices in Rockford, Stockton and Darlington, Wisconsin.
"The million-dollar question has become ... Where did all of these people go?'"
Some, namely Baby Boomers, have decided to retire. Others changed careers as their positions were eliminated during the worst public health crisis in more than 100 years.
The worker shortage hit the Rockford Public Schools transportation hard.
The district is currently offering new bus drivers, paraprofessionals and nutrition workers $3,000 signing bonuses and attendance incentives of up to $5,500 per year. A first-year driver can earn $40,000, a package that includes paid training and holiday pay.
"These are strategies we are using to combat not only recruitment but also retention," said Jason Pope, the district's director of recruitment.
"We need to keep people, get people to come to work every day and reward them for coming to work," Pope said. "We need those people here to service our students."
While COVID-19 is playing a role in the district's recruitment struggles, licensing and other requirements also are to blame.
The district requires bus drivers to have commercial driver's licenses, which requires several weeks of training. To make the job more attractive, the district is also paying for that training.
"We are hiring a large percentage of people without CDLs," he said. "So that's another incentive. You can earn your CDL by taking a bus driving job with RPS 205."
The pandemic has radically changed the health care employment market, too.
Some nurses are earning more money than nurses have ever made before, while others who planned to dedicate their entire lives to the profession are leaving the industry altogether.
Paula Carynski, president of OSF HealthCare Saint Anthony Medical Center, sees it unfolding every day.
"We know our nurses provide outstanding care and create remarkable patient experiences every day, but there is little doubt they are feeling the pressure of a very intense job market," Carynski said. "The pace at which new health care opportunities and dramatic compensation and benefit offerings have developed over the last few months is unlike anything most of us have experienced."
According to Salary.com, the average salary for a registered nurse in Illinois was about $66,610 as of Dec. 27, 2021. In today's market — with overtime, incentives continuing education and renegotiated wages — some nurses are earning upwards of $80,000 a year.
Though it is slightly easier for employers to fill professional positions, it's an employee's market, Furst said.
Mid-level managers and other highly skilled workers are more than willing to leave, forcing bosses to sharpen their pencils to keep from losing them.
"If they think the grass is greener somewhere else, they're going to start looking," she said. "They'll move from company to company. And companies are finding that they need to take care of the people they already have, the people that they value."
Pope said it's too soon to tell if the incentives Rockford Public Schools is offering to new employees is going to work in the long run.
The district started offering the new bus driver incentive package in 2021, but the transportation department continues to operate with fewer bus drivers than it needs.
As of last week, the district was unable to run four bus routes a day — out of 160 —because it still doesn't have enough bus drivers.
Furst said she's optimistic but isn't ready to say cash bonuses are the answer for any industry.
"I haven't seen a lot of success with it," she said, "And I hate to say that. I think (cash incentives) are about trying whatever you can to get people. But I haven't seen a lot of success with those types of offerings."
Jim Hagerty is a freelance correspondent.