What impact does the rising cost of living have on the talent landscape?

Shannon: Okay, so I'm joined by Manish today to talk about the impact of the rising cost of living. It is a little bit, sorry, it's a little bit doom and gloom on today's show. But looking specifically on the impact that that has on both job seekers and hiring managers this year. Thanks for joining us, Manish.

Manish: Kia ora, Shannon. Thanks for having me.

Shannon: Excellent. So how has the rising cost of living across Aotearoa started to impact that talent landscape?

Manish: Um, cool. So um, we obviously released our annual employment and salary trends report for 2024 called the pdp post. It's got a lot of very important information about the landscape and the current climate of recruitment and everything around recruitment. The report revealed that the cost of living crisis has led over one-third of workers to safeguard their annual leave and bank it just because of fear of redundancies and what if their hours go down and how they will look after themselves. And that's quite significant number. And also 70% of candidates have expressed significant concern about applying for new roles because of the economic uncertainty. An overwhelming 80% of workers have also adjusted their lifestyles just to align it with the escalating cost of living, just making small changes just to have a bit more money in the pocket. Also, 40% making quite notable and significant changes. 64% are now more worried about their finances now than they were in the start of 2023. So we haven't had a very sustained or long economic stable period ever since COVID. But yeah, and to think that people are still having to look at where their money is going and having to safeguard themselves is quite telling. Under these circumstances and the current kind of economic landscape, the number one priority for job seekers is a pay rise so they can match the level of lifestyle that they used to have before the cost of living crisis got bad.

Shannon: Yeah, well, that obviously makes sense. I guess the tricky part as well is obviously it's affecting businesses as well, so they may not be in that kind of position to be able to offer as big pay rises at this time. I was just looking the other day, so one of the, you know, there's always the debate over flexible working and working from home, and there has been a bit of a push to bring people back into the office. But of course, one of the benefits of being able to work from home is some of those reduced costs as well. So saving on things like transport or parking. Even lunch times can rack up the dollars for your bought lunch instead of finding something through the fridge at home. So all these kind of things. come together when you're trying to make ends meet and keep your job in the process. What about for hiring managers? How do you think this has affected them in terms of talent?

Manish: Hiring managers certainly must look to kind of adapt their strategies around the current situation to attract and retain top talent because of the cost of living. Offering competitive compensation packages will be absolutely the top way to go about it. But as you mentioned, even most businesses are not in the position to hand out that kind of packages to keep their employees. But that will be if they are able to muster up competitive compensation packages that's perhaps slightly above the market value and what the market is offering or at least match it, they would definitely have a very good chance. Additionally, they can also explore alternative perks, such as what you mentioned, flexible work, save upon transport and all the other costs that come with traveling into and back from work every day, professional development opportunities. So just having a conversation with them and saying, see, this is a difficult time for the company, but we are able to invest in your personal development, professional development opportunities. So when things are looking a lot better, you've come out of it gaining something or exploring options like assistance with housing to stay appealing to potential employees.

Shannon: Yeah, and that point around professional development, it was really interesting when we first got out of lockdowns, we're navigating that period through just out of COVID, really people's careers and development got put on the back burner a little bit. So it was more about, you know, I'm happy to have my job and I've just got to dig in deep and do all we can for the business. But definitely over the last two years or so, we've seen that emphasis back. So, you know, workers really want to focus on their career and make sure that they're still moving forward. So that's a great tip for employers to put their emphasis back on continuing to develop their staff as well. Any other tips for the remainder of the year to get ahead?

Manish: We are obviously in mid-May, so looking ahead into 2024, both job seekers and hiring managers should keep several considerations in mind. Firstly, just staying informed about economic trends and how the market is looking, what is most appealing right now, and just understanding people's struggles would definitely be the number one step they can take. so they can make more informed decisions regarding employment and recruitment. Additionally, fostering open communication just between employers and employees is always a healthy thing to have, but especially in times like these regarding financial concerns and how the employees are getting on, are they able to go from week to week without much struggle because that in turn can affect their performance at work as well. So being aware of things like that can definitely help. Embracing innovative solutions like, as we mentioned, remote work arrangement, sharing house initiatives may also help some or most employees with rising cost levels. The rising cost of living in New Zealand presents multifaceted challenges for job seekers and hiring managers. So when we have a situation like this, no one's essentially having a good time. Everyone has their own challenges. But by remaining adaptable and quite flexible architecturally and being able to just take informed, proactive decisions and navigate these challenges can definitely help in kind of surviving through this uncertain landscape of 2024.

Shannon: Yeah, excellent. Some great tips there. Thanks for joining us. I know it was a little bit short notice this time. So thanks for coming on to the show, Manish.

Manish: Always a pleasure. No problem.