Making rain to ease the talent drought

Most companies expect to see a shortage of talent in the next few years. In 2005, a Deloitte survey of 1,400 human resource professionals worldwide confirmed that attracting and retaining high-calibre workers is the most critical people management issue. Compounding the problem is another important finding: three-quarters of organisations expect to suffer a shortage of talent in the next three to five years. In an article highlighting the Deloitte survey, the UK publication Personnel Today referred to the looming worker shortage as a ‘global talent drought.’

Unprecedented shifts are taking place in the age distribution and diversity of the global labour pool. Within this decade, as the large cohort of older workers begins to retire and fewer skilled workers are available to replace them, organisations in industrialised economies will face a labour shortage and brain drain of dramatic proportions. none of this is news, but the days of reckoning grow ever nearer. And many organisations are yet to conceive, much less implement, programmes to ensure a sufficient supply of talent. The 2006 Merrill Lynch Retirement Study of US workplaces found that, while 76 percent of older workers plan to keep working past retirement age, only about a quarter of employers have any plans to accommodate them with job opportunities.

To prepare for the inevitable labour force shift, human resource professionals should implement programmes that encourage older (50 plus) employees to remain on the job. Organisations that really believe that people are their most important asset must develop effective workplace policies that better address employees’ needs. But merely retaining older workers will not be enough to alleviate the worker shortage. Retention efforts must be integrated into a comprehensive workforce planning programme, a process to assess workforce content and composition to respond to future organisational needs.

Workforce planning means analysing the gap between what talent an organisation currently has and what it will need in the future. The process enables organisations to make strategic staffing decisions as well as anticipate and prepare for change. It focuses on demographic forecasts, retirement projections and succession planning, yielding refined information on changes to be anticipated; the skills and knowledge that retirements, resignations and other uncontrollable events will take from the workforce; and key positions that may need to be filled. This in turn allows organisations to plan replacements and changes in workforce competencies and to link workforce talent with organisational strategies.

The information acquired from a comprehensive workforce planning programme will help HR professionals understand their organisations’ current and future talent requirements. They can become a strategic partner in the business rather than just a recruiting and staffing function. An effective workforce plan can lead to broad talent acquisition programmes that focus on future needs while allowing recruiters to concentrate on individual searches.

To mitigate the effects of drought, it’s important to conserve (or retain) current resources, anticipate continuing resource needs and develop sources of supply. Years ago, those afflicted by natural drought often called on rainmakers, individuals believed to be capable of producing rain through magic or ritual. HR leaders must become the rainmakers of today’s global business, applying innovative methods to mitigate tomorrow’s looming talent drought.

For further information, visit SHRM online at www.shrm.org