Even as unemployment continues to trend downward, many industries are starting 2022 the same way they ended 2021: facing staffing shortages.

A federal court has lifted a stay on the Biden administration’s rule that forces business owners with 100 or more employees to require their employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19 or submit to weekly testing.

If there is one thing employers have learned over the past 18 months, it’s the importance of engaging their frontline employees. Intentional and authentic engagement have proven to reduce employee turnover and lower absenteeism while increasing productivity and profitability.  

The holidays are upon us. And while many of us are looking forward to a little rest and relaxation – and maybe some travel – away from the office, most frontline workers will be at work throughout the holiday season.

Despite legal challenges, employers across the United States have been preparing to adhere to OSHA’s vaccine mandate, which calls for business owners with 100 or more employees to require their workers to be vaccinated or submit to weekly testing. According to OSHA, companies must have a policy in place by Dec. 6 and begin implementing those plans by Jan. 4.

By now, you’ve most likely heard about the workplace vaccine mandate planned by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).  

Last week, The Wall Street Journal reported that there are 4.3 million workers “missing” in the United States.  

According to Gallup, 70% of the variance in employees’ engagement is determined solely by their direct leader.  And, given the financial benefits of having an engaged workforce, such as increased profitability, higher sales, lower turnover, etc., you would hope that frontline leaders would have their employees’ engagement level as a top priority.

The Value of an Engaged Workforce

I’ve been on no fewer than 10 calls over the past several weeks with heads of HR and talent acquisition specialists at some of the best employers in the country, and they’re all saying the same thing about the recruiting environment right now: “I’ve never seen anything like this”.  

There has been a surge in frontline communication tools in the last few years, and for good reason. It’s no secret that the frontline, hourly employee has always been described as “hard to reach”.  Add a global pandemic to the mix and it quickly became alarmingly apparent in industries like restaurant, retail and manufacturing, where employees still needed to physically go to work, that real time communication was a problem.