More than 40% of employers plan on expanding their workforces this year, but healthcare employers are not among them. That’s according to the results of a recent Fisher Phillips flash survey published Thursday. 

Of the 625 employers surveyed between July 12 and 15, 13% said they have or plan to shrink their workforces in 2022. Healthcare was one of the most likely industries to reduce employee rosters, with 25% of responding healthcare employers indicating that they plan to reduce their numbers of employees. By comparison, 30% of tech companies and 21% of retail operations have or plan to shrink their workforce before the year is over.

“Long term care facilities have been particularly hard-hit by staffing shortages, and it’s difficult to imagine that this will get any better as facilities are forced to contemplate reducing their employee rosters as a cost saving measure in the face of a possible recession and an economic downturn,” Fisher Phillips attorney Kevin Troutman told the McKnight’s Business Daily.

Half of overall respondents indicated that they do not plan to alter their hiring practices this year, “hoping to ride out the storm of economic uncertainty by deploying the same team for the foreseeable future.” The other half of employers, the law firm said, are “split fairly evenly between taking a cautious or an expansive approach.”

Almost a fourth (24%) of respondents indicated that they plan to slow hiring for the remainder of the year, whereas about another fourth (26%) said they plan to pick up the pace and increase hiring.

In the face of economic uncertainty, employers are most likely to try to weather the storm by: 

  • Identifying and eliminating operational inefficiencies (43%),
  • Managing cash flow more aggressively (38%) and
  • Cross-training employees for different roles (37%).

A minority of respondents said they do not plan to increase the use of temporary/part-time workers (8%); eliminate operations, plants, offices or departments (6%); or cut wages (1%).

Employers are trying several tactics to offset rising inflation:

  • Offer bumps in pay to match cost-of-living increases (30%),
  • Permit employees to work from home to save on expenses (25%),
  • Increase mental health resources (24%),
  • Offer financial wellness programs and training (21%),
  • Hold “town hall” meetings or otherwise increasing communication to reduce concern (19%),
  • Provide gas subsidies (10%),
  • Provide savings matching programs to boost employee savings (6%),
  • Offer short-term employee loans (6%) and
  • Offer subsidies to encourage use of mass transit (1%).