Shey-Harding featured in JOC’s 2022 Annual Review and Outlook issue
Maritime | Executive Commentary
JOURNAL OF COMMERCE ANNUAL REVIEW & OUTLOOK 2022
Susan Shey Dvonch
Managing Partner – Shey-Harding Associates
The lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting supply chain disruption continue to evolve. Some aspects of the virtual working world may be here to stay, but many companies continue to insist that employees be available for in-person engagement. Strong and purposeful leadership is more critical than ever since qualified employees are in high demand and short supply.
Virtual candidate interviews are likely to remain the norm, thanks to ease of scheduling, availability of interview participants, and cost savings on travel. Subsequent interviews with prospective employees, however, continue to trend toward the traditional in-person format.
Shey-Harding also expected to see more flexibility in hiring candidates not within commuting distance of the organizations with which they are seeking employment, but that hasn’t proven to be the case. Clients have indicated a desire to collaborate more regularly in person and re-establish a less virtual corporate culture. While some degree of remote work is a continuing trend, our client companies generally remain unwilling to rely on team members that need to take a flight to get to the office.
The importance placed on accessibility to the workplace suggests that companies see the value in a more traditional office culture and consider teamwork and camaraderie an important part of recruitment and retention. Leaders are more pressed than ever to nurture a sense of value, belonging and yes, fun, to ensure they can hire and retain exceptional people.
Organizational culture is particularly critical now because this is very much an employee’s market. Some organizations now rely on going outside the industry to find candidates with more general experience that will be transferable to their businesses. The good news for those firms is that there’s little need to explain what “supply chain” is these days given the current global headlines.
More than ever, identifying, attracting, and retaining exceptional people is critical. The best professionals are in high demand, so it’s essential that your organization is one that they’re vying to work for.