January 17th, 2024 by Dakota Software Staff
According to survey data from the Manpower Group, the global talent shortage has reached a 17-year high, with three in four employers reporting difficulty filling key roles.
The lack of young people entering the Environmental, Health, and Safety (EHS) profession is a particular challenge, forcing companies to rely on outside services to meet their compliance obligations. The fact that many EHS professionals are nearing retirement—plus the mass exodus of experienced workers during the Great Resignation—means many organizations are also facing major institutional knowledge losses.
The result is greater EHS risk, which in turn makes it even harder to attract and retain quality candidates.
So how can companies avoid this downward spiral and make their workplace appealing to the next generation of EHS leaders? It all comes down to being a place where their contributions are truly valued—and giving them the tools they need to excel in their careers.
Survey data from the Work Institute reveals a nearly 1000% rise in people quitting jobs over unsafe working conditions since 2010. This turnover has a negative impact on safety, with nearly half of workers’ compensation claims attributed to first-year workers.
In other words, poor safety culture increases employee turnover, which itself fuels increased safety incidents.
People don’t want to work for an employer that doesn’t value their safety. It also stands to reason that employers with a poor safety culture will have a harder time attracting EHS professionals who want to work where safety is a demonstrated priority.
Sustainability is also becoming increasingly important in attracting employees. Today, nearly 70% of workers consider environmental performance when considering whether to take a job, according to Gallup.
The implication: a complacent attitude towards safety and environmental performance only exacerbates staffing shortages. Addressing this issue means:
Allocating budget for EHS initiatives and increasing pay for EHS hires
Being proactive about safety to demonstrate authentic care for employees
Creating EHS programs with real teeth to ensure organization-wide accountability
In today’s tight labor market, employee engagement is vital to winning the war for tomorrow’s talent. The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) 2023 State of the Workplace report highlights this fact, noting employee engagement as the top priority for companies today.
The reason is simple: disengagement leads to higher turnover, which itself creates a vicious cycle of more difficult conditions and thus declining engagement.
Studies by Gallup show that organizations with highly engaged employees have substantially lower turnover, as well as 64% fewer safety incidents and 23% higher profits. According to Gallup, the five drivers of employee engagement are:
Purpose: People want to work where their efforts truly make a difference and are connected to the organization’s larger goals.
Development: Training and advancement opportunities are a top contributor to job satisfaction.
Caring managers: Employees won’t stay somewhere they don’t feel their bosses care about them.
Ongoing conversations: Managers should have regular coaching conversations and the tools and resources to ensure those conversations are helpful and not seen as micromanaging.
Strengths focus: Focusing on strengths rather than weaknesses is what inspires people to improve.
When people think about what it means to be in EHS, the first image that comes to mind is often a clipboard-carrying stickler. And while rules and checklists are obviously part of any EHS professional’s job, companies must think outside this traditional box to attract new talent.
One way to do this is elevating the role of EHS in the organization, for instance by giving EHS teams a leading role in ESG reporting efforts. Companies must also recognize the strategic importance of EHS in organizational performance, from increasing profits to reducing turnover to building a reputation for safety and sustainability.
All of this demands giving leaders the tools needed to drive meaningful improvement. That’s where technology comes in, helping companies stand out as forward thinkers that are truly committed to improving EHS performance.
Imagine you’re a young EHS professional starting a new role. The company where you work relies primarily on paper-based processes and spreadsheets, requiring you to manually track compliance dates, permit requirements, approvals, and more.
Identifying changes in regulatory requirements is a challenge, demanding careful attention to what has changed, whether it applies to your site, and what operational changes, if any, are needed. When external audit findings or regulatory violations occur, everyone turns to you with questions.
Now imagine you have the chance to work at a tech-forward company that uses EHS software to ensure all compliance obligations are met, with advanced tools for tracking trends and finding improvement opportunities. Where would you prefer to work?
Millennials, which according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics make up the fastest-growing share of the workforce, are accustomed to using technology in every area of their lives. As companies compete for these workers, those using antiquated paper-based or Excel-based methods are likely to be left behind.
An EHS platform like Dakota Software’s ProActivity Suite helps improve engagement and elevate the role of EHS in the organization so teams can:
Proactively mitigate EHS risks with detailed trend analysis, multi-site reporting and advanced indicators of regulatory preparedness and compliance status
Stay on top of requirements and tasks automatically with site-specific compliance profiles, compliance calendars, action items, and due date reminders
Simplify requirement tracking with plain-language regulatory updates and applicability guidance
Streamline ESG reporting and optimize resource use with the ability to set targets, monitor progress, and pinpoint outliers and improvement opportunities
Many Dakota Software clients actually use our regulatory applicability tools to educate their new EHS hires. Not only does this help them to understand the regulatory requirements, it provides them with a more complete picture of their facilities and key areas of operational risk. Because Dakota's compliance products capture which rules apply and why they apply, important EHS information is documented, organized, and accessible.
Above all, EHS software creates a closed-loop process for not just meeting requirements, but going beyond them to find opportunities to reach the next level of EHS performance. In this way, it empowers professionals to make a bigger impact in their careers—and play a leading role in meeting the organization’s larger goals.
Experts at the Harvard Business Review predict that the labor shortage isn’t just due to the Great Resignation but is actually a long-term trend likely to last for years. Ultimately, this means teams will have to find ways to do more with less, without sacrificing safety and sustainability. Technology is the only way to meet these challenges, allowing EHS professionals to make a difference even in the face of limited resources.
View the Demo Library to learn how Dakota Software’s tools can help empower EHS professionals in your organization.
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