THE WAR FOR talent will escalate as confidence in the economic and business climate continues to improve, but many companies will not be well-positioned to compete in the new environment, according to a new global study
THE WAR FOR talent will escalate as confidence in the economic and business climate continues to improve, but many companies will not be well-positioned to compete in the new environment, according to a new global study.
Conducted by Accenture, the High Performance Workforce Study found 41 per cent of respondents felt the war for talent would impact their companies in the next 12 months, compared to 23 per cent who said the war for talent is currently affecting their organisations.
Despite this, most respondents said their organisations do not have the skills and capabilities that they view as critical to addressing marketplace challenges.
Based on interviews with 244 senior executives in the US, Europe and Australia, the study also found that 65 per cent cited ‘developing an effective leadership capability’ and 49 per cent cited ‘creating an organisation and culture that adapt effectively to change’ as very important organisational capabilities.
However only 8 per cent in each case said their organisations are performing very well in these areas. Furthermore, just 17 per cent of respondents described the overall skill level of their entire workforce as industry-leading.
Survey findings also indicate that executives are shifting their focus from cost control to growth. For instance, 32 per cent of respondents said their primary focus today is on cost control, compared to 27 per cent whose primary focus today is on growth.
However, while 42 per cent of respondents said their companies will focus primarily on growth in the coming year, 18 per cent said they plan to focus primarily on cost control during that time.
The research found that shortcomings in the respondent organisations’ HR and training practices account for the lack of solid workforce performance. For instance, while the three most important HR initiatives that respondents identified were improving worker productivity (69 per cent), improving the adaptability of the business to new opportunities (68 per cent) and facilitating organisational change (66 per cent), no more than 12 per cent said they were very satisfied with their progress on any of these initiatives, and just 18 per cent said they were very satisfied with the overall performance of their HR function.
Similarly, when asked to identify their most important training initiatives, respondents cited ‘aligning learning strategy with business goals’, ‘ensuring learning content meets workforce requirements’ and ‘boosting workforce productivity and agility (selected by 77 per cent, 75 per cent and 72 per cent, respectively). Yet only 11 per cent, 16 per cent and 9 per cent, respectively, said they were very satisfied with their progress in these three areas, and just 16 per cent said they were very satisfied with the overall performance of their training function.
The survey also found that, in virtually every case, the mean satisfaction rating with the HR and training functions is higher among respondents who outsource all of a particular training or HR activity, such as recruiting, payroll, training content development or training delivery, than among those who outsource none of that activity.
Additionally, the research identified 38 companies that fared better than the other companies in the survey in terms of various measures of workforce and business performance. For example, as a group, these 38 companies have stronger overall financial performance; are more likely to be planning to grow their businesses in the coming year; see HR-related capabilities as more important to addressing critical marketplace challenges; use IT effectively to support HR and training; and regularly measure the link between HR and training investments and business results.
