Every empty chair in your business is bleeding money right now. Let me show you why this matters and what you can do about it.

The Reality Check

Your unfilled positions aren’t just empty seats – they’re profit killers.

· According to SHRM, each unfilled position costs companies an average of $4,129 over a 42-day vacancy period and for revenue-generating roles, the cost can skyrocket to as high as $7,000-$10,000 per month. Now, multiply these numbers by the number of vacancies you currently have. That’s a ton of lost money, that you’ll never recover, seeping out of your bottom line.

· Leaving key sales roles vacant can reduce company revenue by 5% or more according to Northwestern University.

· The Harvard Business Review highlights that unfilled C-suite positions can create ripple effects throughout the organization delaying strategic decisions, while your competitors are moving full steam ahead. Every day that C-suite chair sits empty, money walks out the door.

The Numbers Don’t Lie

According to Manpower, 74% of employers globally can’t fill their open positions.

Think that’s not your problem?

Here’s the breakdown of the top industries experiencing a global talent shortage:

· Healthcare & Life Sciences: 77% unable to fill roles

· Energy and Utilities: 76% having a difficult time staffing job openings

· Consumer Services: 73% struggling

· IT & Technology: 76% finding it challenging to hire

· Transport & Logistics: 74% report seats vacant

Why This Is Different in 2025

The Perfect Storm:

• Baby Boomers are finally retiring in droves
• Birth rates declining
• Workforce preferences shifting dramatically

Your Competition Is Feeling It Too

Even the giants are struggling. Amazon – yes, that Amazon – expects to run out of people to hire for warehouses. Manufacturing could be short 1.9M workers if the talent gap isn’t fixed.

And according to Robert Half’s latest research, small and midsize businesses face significant hiring challenges heading into 2025, as they struggle to meet salary expectations, find skilled talent, and lose candidates due to slow hiring processes.

The Smart Response

This isn’t a temporary blip—this is the new reality.

Here are some ways you can address this critical challenge.

The Path Forward

1. Compensation Strategy

• Audit your current pay scales and adjust your pay ranges accordingly.
• Seek to promote from within, which will help you retain the talent you worked so hard to hire.
• Review your benefits package. Can’t afford to offer more perks? Wherever possible, offer flexible work arrangements.

2. Technology Integration

• Automate repetitive tasks.
• Streamline work processes.
• Optimize existing team efficiency.

3. Talent Development

• Create internal advancement paths and share these plans with each of your employees.
• Partner with educational institutions or online learning and development platforms to help your employees gain the skills needed to succeed in your organization.
• Develop and implement apprenticeship, internship, and co-op programs to create a robust talent pipeline for your organization.

The Bottom Line

The labor shortage isn’t going away. But neither is your need to grow. The businesses that will thrive are those that adapt fastest to this new reality.

Want to stop leaving money on the table? Start treating this like the crisis it is. The future belongs to those who act now.