The global workforce is changing - and bringing countless challenges with it
Globalisation is happening everywhere, and all and sundry want to know what’s happening in every part of the world. We live in a global village, our lives are changing extremely quickly and these changes are being spearheaded by a number of drivers such as technology and demographics. In terms of HR, says Michael Potter (CEO of MPA Consulting Ltd and Michael A Potter International), outsourcing of jobs is another key driver that is changing the global workforce. What are the other drivers of change?
Skills are in short supply and populations are ageing
Even though we’re in a recession, we’re suffering from a skills shortages. In addition, populations are ageing and because there is no younger generation to take their place in the skilled workforce, supposedly mature continents – such as Europe and Japan – are in dire straits. As a result, we need to find another way to keep our global workforce ticking over.
Said Potter at the recent convention run by the Institute of People Management (IPM): “Even though we have a global recession on the go, on average 26% of all jobs advertised are not filled. The problem is that people applying for those jobs don’t have the right skills and competencies for those jobs. That is the problem and we have to address it.
“The older people are surviving longer and there are not enough younger people coming through. So it’s going to be a challenge,” he said.
How do you attract and retain talent over the long term?
To keep the global workforce productive and our companies’ bottom lines healthy, we need to attract staff members to our businesses and, more importantly, keep them. The more employees we have passing through our doors, the more we will have to spend on costs such as recruitment and training.
Potter suggests improving talent retention by developing your talent pipeline so that when people leave, you’ve got others to replace them as sometimes you can’t stop people leaving.
The global workforce is becoming more diverse
Today’s global workforce consists of many different cultures and, to ensure that the workforce is effective, the leader of an organisation needs to be manage his or her staff members in such a way that their employees respond well.
Loyalty is non-existent in the under ‘25s
The under 25s – or millenials – are just entering the global workforce and are bringing with them a different mindset. They are not loyal to a particular job and will only stay there for as long as they get something out of it. Stop spending all of your profits on recruitment and training costs by finding a way of filling these potential voids in your company.
“There was a survey done recently, by PricewaterhouseCoopers,” said Potter, “where they surveyed millenials and asked them who wanted to work outside their home countries during their career. A total of 92% of respondents from South Africa answered that they would like to accept a foreign assignment.”
How do you overcome these problems in today’s global workforce?
Potter suggests that you try to understand this generation and make sure you equip them with the tools they need to do their jobs effectively.
“Make sure that they’ve got the right things. Help millenials grow and give them autonomy. Provide constant feedback. Set them free and encourage learning,” concluded Potter.
 |
Lia Marus is the editor of HR Pulse. She has a BA in French, Italian and Linguistics from UCT, an MA in translation from Wits and a Postgraduate Diploma in Management from the Wits Business School. She is currently studying towards her LLB through Unisa. Lia started her career off in corporate communications, where she worked as a sub-editor, researcher and marketing coordinator. She then heeded the call of the publishing world and went into the business-to-business publishing field. She worked as a sub-editor as well as a chief sub-editor. Before joining ITWeb, she managed an HR guidebook at a leading international publishing company. |
