HR – How To Plan for an Uncertain Tomorrow

Remember Skills and Learnability are the New Currency

One change we can be certain of is the rate of technological advance. We cannot slow this pace, but we can invest in employees’ skills to increase the resilience of our people and organizations. Now is the time to hire for and nurture learnability: their desire and ability to learn new skills to stay relevant and remain employable. Fast tracking the upskilling and reskilling of existing employees to ensure we have a workforce with the skills required for the future. We also need to draw in those that are not fully participating in the workforce. Workforce planning means being ready for new jobs and new skills.

Be Nimble, Be Quick

In a world of certain uncertainty, organizations need to be agile, nimble and quick to adapt. Identify a range of realistic variables and develop a workforce plan that accounts for uctuation in demand, productivity, talent availability and an ever-evolving geo-political environment. Businesses should ask themselves: how are we ensuring our workforce is agile enough so we can continue to compete?

Be Nimble, Be Quick

In a world of certain uncertainty, organizations need to be agile, nimble and quick to adapt. Identify a range of realistic variables and develop a workforce plan that accounts for uctuation in demand, productivity, talent availability and an ever-evolving geo-political environment. Businesses should ask themselves: how are we ensuring our workforce is agile enough so we can continue to compete?
The knee-jerk reaction to uncertainty is often adopting a wait-and-see posture or worse, panic. In this increasingly choppy environment, with the dichotomy of achieving today’s targets while preparing for
tomorrow, staying true to the heritage, values and culture of your business has never been more important. Responsive and responsible leadership will be required to drive future competitiveness, growth and inclusiveness. Workforce strategy should re ect business strategy and corporate DNA. Employees want to know what an organization stands for – this holds true in times of uncertainty more than ever. An organization is united by its purpose and values.

Data Talks

Digitization and demand for workforce data will play a more critical role, enabling better and faster decision- making and greater market transparency. Leaders will need to rethink the structure of work and be clear which roles could be done where, by whom or by what. HR must shift from an art to a science and will require a more coordinated, precise talent strategy that aligns to real-time business needs. Forty-four percent of leaders say they are already using workforce data to predict business performance — up from 29 percent in 20151. Companies are beginning to use sensors to capture happiness metrics from Big Data or sensors to understand how group dynamics impact performance. Company expectations will continue to shift to demand more data-based people decisions; the playbook is changing and basic concepts of scale, value and competition are being redefined.

Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor. Read the whole story at Planning for uncertainty