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The workplace has more roofs than a middleclass neighborhood. We have a glass ceiling. A paper ceiling. And, what should be called the brick & mortar ceiling for those who must work in the office or not work at all.
What do all these barriers to the sunlight of success have in common? They all apply to working men and women. They all speak to the lack of workplace opportunity for some or all workers.
Those barriers are real and need our attention. But for recruiters, there’s another roof that affects their ability to succeed. I call it the P&L Ceiling. It occurs when an employer’s c-suite is so focused on maximizing profits (and all too often their own compensation), they refuse to make the investments required – yes, required – to engage and ultimately hire high quality workers.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I understand that for-profit companies are in the business of making profits. But, maximizing profits at the expense of necessary investments is a self-inflicted wound. It weakens an employer’s ability to acquire talent.
How does the P&L ceiling manifest itself?
As with other worker barriers, the P&L ceiling can be constructed in any of a number of ways:
• An inadequate investment in worker benefits (compared to the competition)
• An inadequate investment in compensation at all levels in the organization
• An inadequate investment in recruiters (number, training, support)
• An inadequate investment in talent technology
• An inadequate investment in the corporate career site
• And, an inadequate investment in recruitment marketing
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They may not have called it by its name, but recruiters have been aware of the P&L ceiling for years. No, it’s worse than that. They’ve been living it. They handle 10, 20 even 30 or more reqs at one time. They get laid off the minute the economy softens. And, they have to acquiesce in their role being subordinated to HR, which in all too many organizations is the equivalent of second-class status.
So, how can they break through the ceiling?
No one strategy will work for every organization, but in almost every case, the best hammers involve conversing, informing, and/or educating. For example, you might:
1. Converse with business leaders in their language – numbers – but don’t focus entirely on metrics that measure recruiting performance such as days-to-fill and cost-per-hire. While those numbers can help improve recruiting outcomes, it’s equally important to connect those outcomes to business performance (e.g., relating positions filled to growth in revenue).
2. Create and distribute a quarterly c-suite “State of the Company’s Talent Market” report that informs those leaders on the competition for top talent (particularly from the organization’s commercial competitors) in those locations where the organization operates facilities and on the current trends and behaviors among its prime candidates (e.g., the view of WFH/RTO among the organization’s target demographic(s)).
3. Serrepticiously educate the c-suite by periodically compiling and distributing short summaries of articles that deal with the challenges of recruiting in today’s tight labor market from publications the c-suite respects (e.g., reports from the World Economic Forum, Harvard Business Review).
The goal is to convince the c-suite gang that they can have the best products, the best business plan and the best recruiters in the world, but if they maintain a P&L ceiling in their organization, they’ll lack the workforce they need to maximize their profits. Admittedly, that’s easier said than done, so be realistic. If you’ve got a c-suite living in denial or in the 20th century, the chances you’ll break through the P&L ceiling aren’t great. Which begs the question, why even bother?
Because making this case and sticking to it transforms recruiters and the recruiting team from an easily disposed overhead cost to a critical source of business intelligence. Said another way, hammering away at the P&L ceiling may or may not actually crack the ceiling, but it almost always changes the c-suite perception of the TA team, and that’s an advance in and of itself.
Food for Thought,
Peter
Peter Weddle has authored or edited over two dozen books and been a columnist for The Wall Street Journal. He is the founder and CEO of TAtech: The Association for Talent Acquisition Solutions.
