Is Talent Holding You Back?

Fresh Perspectives

Is Talent Holding You Back?
Designing Workforce Strategy for
Sustained Business Growth

In T hi s
Article
• Manpower identifies that most organizations are thinking short
term about talent needs and workforce strategy in general. But
despite the current economic environment, now is the time to
devise and implement a workforce strategy that accounts for the
increasing pace of change and drives corporate growth. In short, an
organization’s workforce strategy must support the chief executive’s
vision and long-term goals of the business.

• Human Resource leaders are the essential link in aligning workforce
strategy to business strategy. They are uniquely positioned to drive
the conversation among the business’s leaders and challenge old
assumptions about workforce management.

• To attract, engage and retain the talent needed, a robust and well-
documented workforce strategy will: include an honest assessment
of long-term organizational needs; evaluate a variety of alternative
work models and workforce mixes; consider changes to existing
organizational behavior that may more effectively engage workers
both now and into the future; and make clear where the organization
can “build” rather than “buy.”

• Just as with business strategy, leaders must regularly revisit
and challenge workforce strategy for strategic alignment and
accountability. This is a non-stop process to ensure that the
workforce strategy serves to accelerate the organization’s
execution of the business strategy.
More articles like this can be found in Manpower’s Research Center at
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Manpower Inc. (NYSE:MAN), ranked number 143 on the Fortune 500
list, provides innovative workforce solutions to organizations of all
sizes via its network of 4,000 offices in 82 countries and territories.
For more information visit www.manpower.com.

2 Is Talent Holding You Back? Designing Workforce Strategy for Sustained Business Growth

Introduction
Even as we emerge from the global recession, with unemployment
continuing at high levels, the talent that drives business success is still
in high demand. Indeed, 31 percent of employers worldwide can’t fill
key positions, according to Manpower’s fifth annual Talent Shortage
Survey.1 That finding suggests that the “talent mismatch”—the
inability to find the right skills in the right place at the right time—is
a looming threat to all employers. Even those who are comfortable
with where they are at right now need to think hard about whether
the talent plans they have in place will generate the talent that is
needed in this rapidly changing world of work. Increasing competition,
changing demographics and demands from individuals as well as
technology are placing pressures on businesses like we have never
seen before. Employers need to ask themselves “Do our current
workforce strategies and plans support our plans for long-term growth
in this changing environment?” Given how dramatically the world has
changed, and the fact that the speed of change is accelerating, the
answer is probably “no.”

In this new and complex environment, talent is increasingly the key
competitive differentiator. In less than a decade, people with high-
demand skills will be the scarcest resource for companies.2 Even now,
the talent gap is slowing recovery and growth for many organizations.
As the global economy improves, that situation will only worsen.
Now is the time to
Business leaders can and should meet this challenge head-on. Now is devise and implement
the time to devise and implement a workforce strategy that accounts
for the increasing pace of change and drives corporate growth. In a workforce strategy
short, an organization’s workforce strategy must be able to generate that accounts for the
the talent needed to achieve the chief executive’s vision and long-term
goals of the business. increasing pace of
change and drives
Where we are and how corporate growth.

we got here
Over the last several years, businesses have been preoccupied with
taking costs out of the system to improve productivity. This was most
recently demonstrated in the height of the recession with wide-scale
reductions in force. At the same time, the market demands have
increased, which means companies likely do not have all of the right
people with the right skills to drive innovation and business results.

Fresh Perspectives 3

And, they are assuming that there will be a ready one quarter of employers across 36 nations concede
supply of these people when they need them. Given that their organizations’ workforce strategy does not
the demographic shifts, this assumption will not serve support their business strategy or don’t know if it does.
companies well. Instead, companies need to think Even more alarming: Among those two subsets of
strategically about what they need to do to ready respondents, more than half (53 percent) admit that
their workforce for long-term growth in today’s and they are not doing anything about it.4
tomorrow’s environment.
Manpower is not alone in spotting this risk. The Boston
The world of work is changing and the velocity of Consulting Group and the World Federation of People
change is accelerating. As a result, business leaders Management Organizations report that only 15 percent
can’t reset to pre-recession approaches. They must of the companies they surveyed strategically plan their
take a new approach to thinking about their workforce workforce more than three years in advance.5
and the assumptions they are using to inform their
strategy and plans. And though many business leaders say talent
management is a top priority for 2010, according
to a survey by Right Management (a Manpower
For more information about the trends company), those statements don’t always translate
into action.6 On the whole, talent management is not
changing the world of work, visit yet an embedded business activity, and large sections
www.manpower.com/worldofwork of the workforce are still in the dark about their
contributions.7 Manpower’s new research finds that
more than one in five employees say either that they
Demographic and economic trends are exacerbating don’t understand their company’s business strategy
the talent challenge.3 Older workers with valuable or they don’t know how their role supports it.8 In too
skills and experience are exiting the workforce, but many cases, the emphasis on talent management is
there aren’t enough skilled younger people to take tactical and short term when it ought to be strategic
their place. As industries and the marketplace grow and long term.
more complicated, organizations will continue to
demand more specific skills and behaviors from their
employees. At the same time, leverage is shifting from
employers to employees, and workers with in-demand
Connecting
skills are asserting their power, seeking more flexibility
and investment in professional development. Those Strategy and
pressures will only grow as economies rebound,
emerging markets develop, and the nature of work Organizational
shifts, forcing employers to rethink how they define job
roles and how better to attract and retain scarce talent. Performance
Too few organizations are prepared to address their Human Resource (HR) leaders are the essential link
long-term needs in the rapidly changing world of in aligning workforce strategy to business strategy.
work. Sustained competitive advantage requires not They are uniquely positioned to drive the conversation
only a smart business strategy but also a workforce among the business’s leaders and challenge old
that is equipped to execute on that strategy and assumptions about workforce management. Their
understands its role in achieving its goals. Manpower’s role is to facilitate the process of creating an aligned
new Workforce Strategy Survey reveals that nearly workforce strategy, helping the executive team identify


gaps that may prevent meeting business objectives and pinpoint the roles
and skills that will drive growth and deliver results.

“HR leaders must help the organization align workforce strategy to
business strategy in order to drive business performance,” says Libby
Sartain, former Chief People Officer, Yahoo! and Southwest Airlines. “They
need to facilitate the discussion with the leadership team around what the
business needs from its workforce in the short term and in the long term,
in order to close the gap between what the workforce can do and what
the business needs them to do.”

HR needs to not only help the business identify the gaps between their
business strategy and workforce strategy, but they need to also design
a roadmap for success. This includes determining the choices and
investments that need to be made to ensure they have a workforce that
can deliver the business plan. This process requires a firm grasp of the
changing world of work dynamics, as well as a deep knowledge of the
business and understanding of human potential.

At the heart of this approach are three fundamental questions that
companies need to ask themselves—and answer:

1. What implications does our business strategy have on our
workforce strategy? The first step is to help the business determine
the implications of their business strategy on their workforce
strategy, both in the short term (one-to-three years out) and in the
long term (three years and beyond). It starts with an explicit, shared
understanding of the organization’s goals. How will the business
evolve over time? Will the company introduce new products or
services? Move into new markets? Shift emphasis? What core
business capabilities and skills will the organization need to support
those changes? What kind of leaders will the organization need?
What roles in the organization will drive the most value? The analysis
should be holistic, covering basic, technical and soft skills—such
as problem-solving, communication, planning and organization,
collaboration, self-management, initiative, critical judgment and
decision-making—that are so critical to any operation.

2. Is our leadership aligned around the key workforce challenges
required to drive the desired business results? This part of
the discussion zeroes in what the leadership team believes to be
the priorities in the short term and long term. This is an essential
piece of the process as the leaders will not only be the ones that
determine the needs and priorities, but also determine the workforce
investments and outcomes.


3. What talent gaps do we have? This is
where the HR leaders need to help the
leadership team connect the business
needs to the abilities of the current
workforce, as well as the availability of
those skills. At this point it’s critical for the
HR leader to bring in external demographic
data and trends, and juxtapose them
against internal talent availability
(considering attrition, retirement, etc.) and
Filling the gaps
determine a skills match or mismatch. It
Talent needs change with the business and therefore
is essential to prioritize the talent gaps that
an organization’s workforce strategy must be flexible
matter most to achieving the business
to find, assess and fill the gaps.
strategy, as this will be used to shape the
workforce action plan that breaks down Johnson Controls Inc. is currently undergoing this very
each of the steps to execute. exercise as it plans for the expansion of energy-related
jobs worldwide. Over the next five years, the company
Armed with the survey of needs and the gap
is forecasting the addition of more than 1,000 energy
analysis, the HR leader can then facilitate his or
engineers, more than 1,000 employees with specific
her business colleagues through the process
building sustainability accreditation, and more than
of creating a workforce strategy and later an
15,000 field service technicians. It has proactively
action plan that ensures that the organization
forecasted the need for specific positions and is
will always have the right array of skills in the
working on a plan to fill those gaps in its
right places and at the right times to meet its
“green” workforce.9
evolving needs. For this to be successful, close
and constant collaboration between HR and the
“The increased demand for renewable energy
business leaders is essential.
and more energy-efficient buildings is driving
the need for individuals with new skills that

Creating the aren’t readily available in the labor market,” said
Dave Myers, President of the Johnson Controls
Workforce Building Efficiency business. “We have to be

Strategy Aligned
creative about how we will fill those gaps in
our workforce.”

to Business Consider this: Now that Intel has restructured itself

Strategy
as more than a silicon chip maker, it needs software
and services talent—as well as the skills to integrate
solutions for customers from its hardware, software
As the velocity of change in the business and services platforms.10 So for Intel’s HR teams, the
environment and the world of work accelerates, new questions become: What kinds of software skills?
the point is to have the right skills in the right How many software engineers do we need, and for
place no matter what. The aligned workforce which locations? And where will we find them?


strategy ensures you have the talent you need to • Be clear where the organization can “build”
accelerate the execution of your business strategy. rather than “buy.” A comprehensive workforce
Its horizon should be long term, while dealing strategy will emphasize opportunities for
with urgent needs here and now. It must also be up-skilling current employees, accelerate the
practical and include contingencies for such risks development of others, and build pipelines
as labor actions. of “high potentials” at many levels across the
current workforce. It may need to identify
To attract, develop, engage and retain the talent employees with skills adjacent to those that are
needed, a robust and well-documented workforce needed, who can be trained to fill key positions
strategy will: with relative ease—an approach that we’ve
dubbed “teachable fit.” It will also need to
• Be more comprehensive and longer-term emphasize building capabilities—particularly of
focused than an annual talent plan. It will high-potential individuals and key contributors,
look at how you will attract, develop, engage regardless of whether they are permanent or
and retain talent over the long term and contingent employees. This remains a weak
include a view to what is changing in the spot for many organizations: according to
market. It will also identify the implications Manpower’s newest findings, more than a third
to your business that will have an impact on of employees say their organizations have not
talent demands. made training and development a priority. A fifth
say that training and development opportunities
• Be focused on which work models are inadequate for achieving the company’s
will produce the best results for the business strategy—or are not provided at all.11
organization. Consider what appropriate work
models and workforce mix will be best for Aligning workforce strategy to the business strategy
your organization. With contingent workers is not a “once-and-done” activity. Just as with
rising as a percentage of an organization’s their business strategy, leaders must regularly
total workforce and the rise of virtual work revisit and challenge their workforce strategy for
arrangements to increase flexibility, think about strategic alignment and accountability. This is an
what combination will work for your company. ongoing process of assessing, forecasting and
adapting as business needs change, employees
• Be introspective to understand what people retire, and new generations join the workforce to
practices need to be updated. Consider ensure that the workforce strategy accelerates the
how leadership behaviors need to change to organization’s execution of the business strategy. It
engage, retain and unleash the potential of your is the HR leader’s role to facilitate this process with
workforce in contemporary ways. leadership. Until HR leaders consider the impact of
external forces (such as demographic trends, etc.)
• Be inclusive by taking an outside-in view to combined with internal forces (such as demography
talent sources. Consider where you will find of current workforce, etc.) on their company’s ability
the talent you need. Does the demographic to execute its business strategy, efforts will only be
data indicate that the talent will be there? as good as tactical plans and actions that are hit or
How can you tap into different talent pools miss. The organizations that get this right will have
to meet your needs? Create agile talent the competitive edge. This is the time for HR to
strategies to attract, select, onboard, train and step up and lead the way to ensure their company
reskill in new ways. has the talent it needs to win.


References
1
2010 Talent Shortage Survey, Manpower Inc., May 2010.

2
“Creating People Advantage in Times of Crisis: How to Address HR Challenges
in the Recession,” The Boston Consulting Group, March 2009.

3
“World of Work Trends,” Manpower Inc., January 2010.

4
Workforce Strategy Survey, Manpower Inc., 2010.

5
The Boston Consulting Group, op. cit.

6
“Talent Management Is a Top Priority For 2010,” Right Management press
release, November 3, 2009.

7
“Talent Management for the Twenty-First Century,” Harvard Business Review,
March 2008.

8
Manpower Inc., op. cit.

9
“Intel’s big strategy shift and AMD’s opportunity,” Ars Technica, May 13, 2010.

10
“Johnson Controls projects 17,000 jobs for green buildings push,”
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, June 10, 2010.

11
Manpower Inc., op. cit.

© 2010, Manpower Inc. All rights reserved. Manpower Inc.
GC-32 100 Manpower Place | Milwaukee, WI 53212 U.S.A
Tel: +1 414 961 1000 | www.manpower.com

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