Businesses threatened by upcoming IT workforce shortage "With future job growth being concentrated in highly skilled and knowledge-based work, and estimates of 21 million new jobs with only 17 million new entrants to the workforce by 2012, organisations will lose their status quo if they aren't prepared with a workforce strategy," said Diane Berry, managing vice president at people3. In the people3 report ‘The incredible shrinking workforce: addressing tomorrow's issues today,’ people3 consultants explained that workforce planning is aimed at translating business/IT objectives into the current and future human capital needs required to achieve them. "Workforce planning prepares organisations for times of certainty and uncertainty by being proactive, not just responsive, to changes in business and IT directions, resulting in informed workforce decisions that benefit the organisation and its employees for the short and long term," Ms. Berry said. A workforce planning process typically includes four key steps: * Set a strategic direction — an IT organisation's strategic vision, mission and objectives ultimately determine current and future human capital requirements. * Conduct a workforce analysis — Create a supply and demand analysis, as well as a gap analysis. The gap analysis identifies any discrepancy between supply and demand, and helps IT leaders pinpoint the skills and competencies that are at risk (shortage) or surplus, and proactively address each situation as appropriate through a capital management framework (recruitment, reward and development). * Develop and implement a workforce plan — this plan should include elements of recruiting, succession planning, training and development, and other related HR programs. * Monitor, evaluate and revise the strategy and plan — at the very least, a strategic workforce plan should cover a three-year time frame. In the case of addressing aging workforce issues, organisations will need to have an outlook plan and plan for a longer time frame (10 years or beyond) depending on the existing demographic profiles of the workforce. "Workforce planning helps IT leaders avoid making the same overstaffing mistakes they made during the technology boom era which consequently caused the layoffs and downsizing during the recent economic downturn," Ms. Berry said. "On the other hand, it also prevents the pitfalls of understaffing that eventually lead to employee burnout, low morale and low productivity." For information on purchasing the people3 report please visit www.peoplecubed.com/web.3.c.aspx
•Date:
10th February 2005 • Region: N.America/World •Type:
Article •Topic:
BC general |
