Job demand & hiring trends for local companies in the 3rd Quarter of 2017
Over-parenting Intrudes on Workplaces
The latest quarterly survey of Sacramento regional employers has discovered that ‘helicopter parenting’ is apparently landing at work. Polling employers regularly since 1992 it appears a new trend may be emerging in workplaces involving ‘parental hovering’. HR contacts surveyed say they are hearing more often now from parents than in past years.
Contact by a parent on behalf of an applicant or employee was noted by twelve percent (12%) of Service firms, two percent (2%)of manufacturers, six percent (6%) of Construction companies and five percent (5%) of Retail employers polled directly by phone between May 22 and June 22, 2017. Pacific Staffing learned one quarter, or twenty-five percent (25%) of all companies reported having had this experience recently when asked about it directly. This is an unwelcome new trend and seems to be growing in the workplace.
In anecdotal comments, the people who hire and manage people suggest they don’t want to hear from parents in any way. Comments described personal contact by a parent as ‘meddling’, an ‘embarrassment for parent and child’, ‘not appropriate’ and whether positive or negative unwelcome as an ‘intrusion’ that raised ‘privacy issues’ and often resulted in an unfavorable view of that individual as an applicant, or as an employee.
One HR contact says they were surprised when a parent called to say they fired their child without taking time to really ‘understand’ them. The response was ‘just need them to do the job, not understand them’. Another described a parent who called to say they should not rescind a job offer as a parking valet, but couldn’t dispute the decision when they learned the individual was let go when they could not drive a stick shift. A fact not revealed in the interview or to the parent.
Workforce Challenge?
With seventy-two percent (72%) of employers in the Sacramento region hiring in the next three months, new challenges are emerging. They include finding qualified applicants, including a wide variety of IT positions, construction equipment operators and skilled trades, sales, customer service and adequate numbers of entry level people. HR contacts also report retention of current workers and growing wage pressure from the thin talent pool as issues in Q3. Nineteen percent (19%) of hiring was motivated by seasonal needs in July, August and September.
Who? What? When? Where
IT, skilled trades, equipment operators, accounting/finance, sales, customer service and general office/clerical skills are currently in demand among regional employers.
Sacramento Regional Top Companies Polled by Industry:
- 44% Service
- 24% Manufacturers
- 20% Construction
- 12% are Retail
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Pacific Staffing’s findings were also featured in the following news outlets: