GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – While many businesses are struggling and are being forced to lay off or furlough workers, a recent survey shows a number of area businesses are still hiring.
“There are many, many companies still hiring. So we thought that was pretty positive,” says HS Group President Joey Leonard, “Over 40% of the companies that responded to the survey are hiring through virtual interviews – and about a third of the companies still hiring in person with some social distancing.”
HS Group put the survey together. Over 120 companies of all kinds across Northeast Wisconsin gave their input to a survey about their current hiring practices and onboarding techniques.
About 100,000 employees are represented in the responses to the survey. Leonard estimates about 90% of responses were from companies with over 50 employees, and about a third of responses came from companies with more than 1,000 employees.
About 60% of hiring is for frontline positions – the remainder is for other levels, including management.
“A lot of front line positions, the interviews are still happening in person with some social distancing. Companies have had to reconfigure work spaces, so they’ve reconfigured interview spaces as well to make that work,” Leonard tells WTAQ News, “A large share of the companies have switched to phone interviews or Skype or Zoom interviews – and more and more potential employees are able to access that.”
But about a third of respondents reported that they were postponing hiring.
“About 8% of respondents are either planning a reduction in workforce or have already initiated one. Instead of an actual reduction in force, about 20% of the respondents have already initiated furloughs,” Leonard says.
