The Road Less Traveled... Alternative Solutions To the Labor Shortage

Abstract

The shortage of labor has created tremendous problems for the service sector. These problems have been well documented in both the academic literature and in the popular press. Organizations have become extremely aggressive in their recruitment efforts to attractpersonnel. Wages have increaseddramaticallyin some areas; hours have been made more flexible; additional benefits have been provided. Most organizations have tended to focus and concentrate on the attraction and recruitment of personnel, to the exclusion of other approaches to this problem. Continued emphasis solely on the identification of non-traditional sources of recruit ing, although necessary in the short-run, must be supplemented initially and may eventuallybe replaced with other alternatives to the laborshortage. The alternatives must provide a more efficient use of employees, new technological processes of providing service, changes in the nature of the product/service, and better ways to structure and organize the service organization. A review of the literature, interviews with industry executives, and a more integrated approach to the labor problem will be presented.