Mia didn’t expect her nursing shift to stretch for 16 hours without a break. Yet here she stood, exhausted, with an empty coffee cup in her hand. Every time each bed was full, she rushed from one patient to the next, taking care of everything from IVs to emergencies – tasks she normally shared with others. “I do the work of two, sometimes three nurses. But we are short of staff.

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Chaos hit the restaurant at breakfast. “Table five needs coffee!” Six needs silverware! shouted Jack, the only waiter there that morning. He rushed between tables and watched in frustration as a customer tired of waiting for a check left without paying. Two fellow servers and a kitchen worker called in sick that morning, and Jack knew the disaster would cut into his tips.

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Ted looked at his skeleton crew and knew he didn’t have enough skilled workers on hand. If they couldn’t finish the frame before nightfall, it wouldn’t be ready when the electrical and plumbing contractors showed up tomorrow – and if it wasn’t ready, they’d move on to the job of another company. A deadline was approaching and the cost of delays was mounting by the hour, but there was little he could do with too few crew members.

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Staff shortage — unfilled vacancies and employees called out due to illness — let your remaining staff take on an impossible workload. Employers find themselves forced to turn away clients, close early or reduce their services. Customers, annoyed by the long waits and poor service, leave, vowing never to return. When employers hope that the staff shortage problem will magically disappear on its own, overworked employees will quickly burn out and quit.

If a staffing shortage has hit your business, you’ve learned that band-aids don’t work and that investing money to fix the problem only fixes it temporarily. The eight strategic solutions below offer long-term benefits.

Recruit strategically. When hiring, select employees you can count on to stay. Use questions such as “If you were offered two positions, what would make you choose one over the other” and “Assuming you accepted this job, what would could another employer offer to attract you? » to fully understand your candidate’s motivation.

Create connections. Once you’ve hired, engage your employees with your workplace by finding out what’s important to them, whether it’s a flexible schedule or a mapped career path, and meeting their needs if possible. Encourage your managers to check in with each employee regularly to ensure they feel supported and valued. You’ll find a game plan for exactly how to do this in chapters 4 and 5 of Managing for Accountability.

Encourage. Reward what you seek. Because consistent attendance matters, reward employees who show up on time every day.

Offer reasons to stay. Invest in your employees’ growth by providing ongoing training, leadership coaching, stipends for classes and conferences, and clear advancement pathways. Make them want to stay by providing them with more if they stay on board than they can get by changing jobs.

Create a strong team culture. When employees have strong relationships with their colleagues, they often choose to stay with an employer. Develop these relationships by holding team building sessions and holding regular all-hands meetings.

Cross train. Most employees appreciate the opportunity to learn new skills through cross-training with their colleagues. As an employer, employee cross-training gives you the flexibility you need to move already trained employees into unexpected vacancies.

Be realistic. If you are chronically or periodically understaffed, you need to address this. You lack enough trained employees to do everything you would like. Prioritize the work you will ask your employees to do, so as not to burn them out.

Set. Anonymously survey your employees to find out their engagement level and what you can do to improve their work experience and desire to stay on board. Ask questions about compensation and benefits, leadership, managers and work teams. Conduct one-on-one interviews to find out why your best employees choose to stay with you. Continually improve morale by acting quickly on what you learn.

Choose your three favorite strategies from the strategies above and implement them before it’s too late.