Talent shortages are at a 12-year high and new skills are appearing as quickly as old ones disappear. To ensure the long-term success of their company and to provide people with ongoing employment security, organisations must accelerate their efforts to upskill and reskill employees for the new world of work.
ManpowerGroup’s research revealed that almost all employers (94%) are pursuing one or more talent strategies to secure the skills they need and companies who have a plan are more confident of expanding their headcount than those who are hesitating. To win in the digital age, an effective talent strategy should have four parts: build, buy, borrow and bridge. Build your talent pipeline; buy skills where necessary; borrow from external talent sources; and bridge people with adjacent skills from one role to another to complement existing skills.A Dynamic Talent Strategy For The Digital Age1. BUILD – Invest in learning and development for existing employees.
Upskilling is scaling up. 84% of employers plan to upskill their current workforce versus 21% in 2011. Driving a culture of learnability through the organisation is critical to success in the digital age. By 2022, over half (54%) of employees will require significant reskilling and upskilling. To really compete in the Skills Revolution, companies need to promote a culture of learning, provide career guidance and offer short, focused upskilling opportunities.
2. BUY – Go to market to attract the talent that cannot be built in-house.
Wages rising for those in demand. 79% of employers plan to buy the skills they need, either paying higher market prices when recruiting externally or improving compensation for existing staff. In this tight labour market when skills needs are changing faster than ever, the most in-demand talent can call the shots. Companies are happy to pay more for sought-after skills. However, the challenge comes when those skills are not available. Then the only option is to build.
3. BORROW – Cultivate communities of talent beyond the organisation.
NextGen is the next big thing. Only 32% of organisations will use contractors and other forms of alternative work models, even though 87% of workers say they are open to this NextGen work. Digitisation has created new ways of working and new generations of workers who are increasingly open to flexible work approaches. Companies need to address any disconnect by being more open to offering alterative ways of working to attract, retain and motivate NextGen workers.4. BRIDGE – Help people move on or move up to new roles.
Redeploy, reassign or release. By 2020, 56% of employers will create pathways for people to move around the business, or on to new opportunities outside of their organisations. Bridging requires tools including assessment, big data and predictive performance to define adjacent skills, identify strengths and help workers create clear career paths. Companies need to treat workers fairly and ideally offer support to move on to new opportunities elsewhere if their skills are no longer required.To learn more about the talent strategies that are required in the digital age, download our whitepaper Humans Wanted: Robots Need You.
