There are 3 answers to "We don't have enough people"

According to the "Survey on Corporate Management Issues" released by Teikoku Databank in March 2026, the number one management issue is "Human Resource Strengthening (Recruitment, Retention, Development)," selected by a staggering 90.2% of companies (5,241 valid responses, surveyed from January 20 to February 6, 2026).

Even among small and medium-sized enterprises, the figure is 94.0%. In other words, more than 9 out of 10 companies feel that they "don't have enough people" or "cannot develop their people." Looking at this number alone, one is tempted to rush into "recruitment" at all costs.

However, I would like you to stop and think for a moment. Is "recruitment" the only solution to the problem of "not having enough human resources"?

Why "recruitment" alone does not solve the problem

In the same survey, the biggest barrier to addressing management issues was also "lack of human resources and know-how." In other words, the situation is as follows.

・Issue: Not enough human resources
・Barrier: Cannot address the issue because there are not enough human resources

"The issue is human resources, and the barrier is also human resources." This is a complete double bind.

If you try to "just hire people" without realizing this structure, you will fall into the following vicious cycle.

・No applications even when posting job openings (the job opening-to-applicant ratio for SMEs is several times higher than that of large companies)
・Even if you manage to hire someone, there is no time to train them, leading to early turnover
・Recruitment costs (job advertisement fees, interview man-hours, training periods) pile up
・Meanwhile, existing employees become exhausted, further increasing the risk of turnover

I believe that in order to break this vicious cycle, it is essential to have options other than "increasing the number of people."

"Three options"—what you can do before recruiting

For the problem of "not having enough people," I would like to propose the following three measures.

Option 1: Organize tasks and reduce "work that doesn't need to be done"

An administrative scrivener office in Miyazaki Prefecture (with 3 employees) reduced work time by 30% by moving data management to the cloud and introducing a payroll system (Source: Miyagi Labor Bureau "Good Examples of Productivity Improvement").

Saving 30% of time in a 3-person office is effectively the same as creating "0.9 person's worth" of labor. If we assume 250 business days per year and 8 hours per day, that is 600 hours per year. With this much time, there is room to take on new work.

Many SMEs do not have the opportunity to take inventory of whether "all the work they currently have is really necessary." But in fact, just by identifying and organizing tasks one by one, you will find a surprising amount of "work that you wouldn't miss if it were gone."

Option 2: Outsource specialized tasks

At the Cotton-Zen Ryokan in Kyoto (a long-established inn founded 187 years ago), sales had fallen to 50% of their peak due to chronic labor shortages. They sought the help of experts to analyze their operations and introduced information sharing using tablets and social media. Furthermore, they took inventory of employee skills and built a system where each person could play "three roles" to support each other (Source: NTT East "Success Stories of Productivity Improvement").

The point of this case is not that they "increased the number of people," but that they "changed how they handle their work."

For back-office tasks such as accounting, general affairs, and payroll, there is also the option of outsourcing to specialized external partners. According to a survey by "Keiri Plus," there is data showing that 49.5% of accounting staff spend more than 10 hours a month just processing paper documents. If this time can be saved through outsourcing, business owners and employees can focus on core tasks (sales, planning, and customer service).

Option 3: Automate with AI (Artificial Intelligence) or digital tools

You might think, "Isn't AI something for big companies?" However, for example, just by automating expense reimbursement with cloud accounting software, there is a case where a company reduced a task that took 20 hours a month to just one hour (Source: Virtual Accounting Assistant "Business Efficiency Improvement Case Studies").

By using AI-OCR (technology that uses AI to automatically convert paper documents into data), you can significantly reduce the time spent processing invoices and receipts that were previously entered manually. AI chat tools like ChatGPT can help with mundane but time-consuming tasks such as drafting emails and summarizing meeting minutes.

The important thing is not the idea of "replacing everything with AI," but rather "pinpointing and easing the parts of manual work that take time."

"Reduce work" before "increasing staff"

Aren't things like this happening at your company?

・Manually entering the same numbers into the same format every month
・Having several tasks that "only that person understands"
・The business owner themselves spending many hours on accounting or general affairs tasks

The fact that "human resource strengthening" exceeded 90% in a Teikoku Databank survey is significant. However, I believe that the true meaning of "human resource strengthening" is not just "increasing the number of people."

Maximizing the potential of the people you already have. To that end, reviewing the work itself. This, too, is a form of "human resource strengthening."

Summary: There are things you can do before lamenting that you "cannot hire"

There is not just one answer to "we are short-staffed."

・Organize operations to reduce the overall workload
・Outsource specialized tasks to reduce the internal burden
・Shorten manual work time with AI or digital tools

Just by combining these three, it is entirely possible to create enough time for "one more person" or "two more people."

As the new fiscal year begins, I am sure many business owners are thinking, "This is the year I will hire." I understand that feeling very well. However, why not start by "organizing your work" in parallel with hiring? It is not uncommon to find that the true identity of "being short-staffed" is actually "having too much work."

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ShakeHands LLC
A business partner that organizes labor shortages from the structure
We are short-staffed. But "hiring" is not necessarily the right answer.
ShakeHands LLC is a partner that faces the labor shortages and business expansion of small and medium-sized enterprises, organizes options for hiring, outsourcing, and AI utilization, and designs the optimal approach.
Rather than proposals for the sake of selling, we think together about choices as management decisions.