Sometimes when we talk about recruiting challenges, we immediately point to the labor market.
There are not enough candidates.
People do not want to work.
Applicants are not reliable.
We have all heard some version of it.
But sometimes I think we need to look a little closer at the job itself.
A manager has an opening and starts interviewing. One candidate cannot work on Mondays. Another needs every Wednesday day off. Someone else may have childcare responsibilities, school, a second job, or another commitment that limits their availability.
And suddenly, a candidate who may have been a great fit is no longer being considered.
That makes me wonder:
Does the position truly require that level of availability, or is that simply how we have always done it?
Those are two very different things.
There are absolutely jobs where schedule flexibility is necessary. Businesses have customers to serve, shifts to cover, and operational needs that cannot be ignored.
But recruiting and retention are also business needs.
If our scheduling practices are automatically removing qualified candidates from consideration, it may be worth looking at whether we have created an unnecessary barrier.
Sometimes flexibility does not have to mean giving employees whatever schedule they want.
It may simply mean being willing to look at the work differently.
Could employees have more predictable days off?
Could managers schedule around defined availability instead of requiring completely open availability?
Could part-time employees help fill difficult shifts?
Could staggered schedules work?
Could employees trade shifts within established guidelines?
Could a position that has traditionally been scheduled one way be structured differently?
None of those ideas will work in every workplace, and they do not have to.
The point is to ask the question.
One thing HR can bring to an organization is the willingness to look at a long-standing practice and ask whether it still makes sense.
The workforce has changed.
Employees may be balancing childcare, elder care, school, transportation, second jobs, and many other responsibilities outside of work.
Recognizing that does not mean lowering expectations or sacrificing what the business needs.
It means looking for opportunities where the needs of the employee and the needs of the business can work together.
And sometimes that takes a little creativity.
If an organization is struggling to recruit, I would not only look at compensation, job postings, or where the position is being advertised.
I would also look at the schedule.
Look at the expectations managers are placing on candidates before they ever get through the door.
And ask whether every requirement is truly necessary.
Sometimes the talent pool may be larger than we think.
We just have to make sure we are not unintentionally making it smaller.