What are the drivers of ongoing workforce shortages in industries represented by associations? How can association leaders address these pressing challenges?

In a recent survey conducted by ASAE’s Association Insights Center (AIC) and McKinley Advisors, we probed these critical questions to capture the scope of workforce challenges. The survey was conducted in the early summer of 2024; responses were gathered from ASAE’s database of C-suite association executives.

The results show that the primary drivers of these industry workforce shortages include:

• Changing demographics/retirement of boomers
• Field/industry not perceived as attractive
• Lack of desirable work conditions (work-life balance, demanding roles, remote work)
• Competition for talent from other industries or fields

The major challenges facing the workforce included:

• Workforce burnout and challenges to maintaining the overall well-being of professionals
• Generational differences in work preferences and expectations
• Determining the role of artificial intelligence relative to the workforce
• Unclear career pathways or limited growth potential

There are several ways that your association can play a role in responding to these issues to counter undesirable trends. These include eliminating burnout and fostering wellness, supporting career pathways and growth, and determining the role of AI for your industry.

Eliminating Burnout and Fostering Wellness

Association executives shared a variety of strategies that associations can adopt to help members overcome burnout. Three clear strategies emerged: identifying the specific causes and successful remedies; removing the stigma of discussing mental health; curating resources and building coalitions to foster cultural change.

Understand the problem. Conduct research to assess the scope of challenges and identify and popularize the solutions used by leaders in your field. Think about what this might look like at different career stages.

Welcome dialogue. View the association’s role as destigmatizing mental health challenges, which can be done by surfacing conversation and content across a multitude of platforms and media—communications, webinars, etc.

Adapt and repurpose. The association can curate and share many resources from external fields while encouraging holistic changes by bringing organizations together.

Supporting Career Pathways and Growth

Unclear career pathways and limited growth potential can be a significant deterrent to individuals seeking a field for their career and to retaining talent within a field. In a highly competitive market for talent, professionals will favor careers that offer certainty about prospects, mentorship and guidance, financial security, clear paths for skill enhancement, increasing levels of responsibility, and growth potential.

Fortunately, associations have a meaningful role to play in helping to clarify career pathways and expand growth potential.

Understand your members’ perspectives on the challenges, needs, and opportunities for the field. Talk to members of diverse backgrounds and ages to understand their preferences. Consider unique ways to “make the case” for the field and support its prestige, compensation, and impact.

Segment programs by career phase, focusing on the unique challenges at every stage. Support career development by creating membership pathways from student to retired member. Think about what newer entrants and younger generations might want from their work because needs are deeply connected to the career stage. Provide training that fills in the professional development deficits that members may face at different stages of their careers.

Provide support to help members of the field understand their options. Develop and provide a visual career map of their potential opportunities and diverse career options. Offer guidance toward the competencies and skills required at each stage.

The Role of Artificial Intelligence

AIC research uncovered that AI may alleviate workforce burdens such as labor shortages, reduce burnout associated with unpleasant or burdensome tasks, and increase the attractiveness of a field by enhancing the quality and impact of professionals and their work.

However, associations need to act decisively to optimize the technology while being forward-thinking about how their fields may need to adapt and evolve to stay relevant as traditional work is replaced by artificial intelligence.

Alleviate the burden. Explore opportunities to leverage AI to alleviate low-value tasks (e.g., administrative burdens). Understand the tasks that drive dissatisfaction in the field and explore whether AI solutions can minimize or eliminate them.

Improve quality. Evaluate the applications of artificial intelligence in improving quality and outcomes for the field. Identify whether artificial intelligence can remove barriers that limit the impact of the field.

Evolve the profession with the technology. Assess the possible impact of artificial intelligence on the field and provide support in evolving the role of professionals to ensure relevancy and sustainability.

Workforce challenges are present, but by fostering wellness, supporting career pathways through a multi-generational lens, and developing AI strategies, you can take action to address underlying workforce issues in the field your association represents.