A numbers guide to the future of workforce planning

AHRI’s chairman, Peter Wilson, highlights some of the most fascinating insights to come out of the Global Thought Leaders Conference.

At the Global Thought Leaders Conference in the US last year, there were some useful analytical insights. Here’s a summary that you might find useful:

One fifth of the world’s population is now living outside their country of birth, which is the highest level in human history. This means that managing a cross-cultural workforce is a challenge that’s not going anywhere soon. The number is set to further increase, so it’s incumbent on HR to understand the top two or three most pressing issues for international colleagues in the workplace.
Twenty five per cent of workers are now mobile, and expect to be at work. So managing them as if they are going to be in the office all the time is flawed, and HR needs to foster the discussion about what this means for workforce management and how support processes need to evolve. At least 20 per cent of workers in the UK and US believe that working remotely is now a right and not a privilege, but it’s 30 per cent in Australia and 70-80 per cent in China and India, where our major competition will be coming from. Nearly all companies have some kind of remote work happening every week, according to a 2015 Randstad global study.

Seventy per cent of graduates across five continents want to work offshore at some point during their career, according to a Randstad survey. That means education of staff needs to be promoted by HR. Investing in staff through an overseas assignment makes sense when they and the organisation can validate that this is warranted.
About 60 per cent of the current workforce are due to retire in the next 20 years. That’s a lopsided loss of talent to contemplate, and requires HR to think about how to keep this experienced talent re-engaged at work for longer on a part-time or contracted basis.
At least 60 per cent of companies and employees rank globalisation as one of the top three critical factors in the future of their organisations. Over 90 per cent see the supply pool for talent being global. Consider this – 55 per cent of the world workforce will be Gen Y and Gen Z by 2025, with a significant majority of them residing in China and India, and with many wanting to exit those locations.
Gen Z attitudes are changing. In a 2015 Fortune magazine-Hay group study, 38 per cent of Gen Z say they want to start their own business; be more entrepreneurial; and be associated with employers who practise corporate social sustainability. On average at least 30 per cent of them want their employers to give back to their community by creating new local jobs, donating resources to community projects, and be actively involved in charity. Further, nearly half ranked China, India and Russia exercising more economic influence on the world they will inhabit than the US and Europe combined.
Gen Z have completed the digital native movement. Half of them are connected for 10 hours or more per day. So interaction with them is going to rely more and more on digital media.
Gen Z expects workplace collaboration to be organised across office-based, single-work stations and co-working spaces, as well as at home. Studies by Randstad, IDG and Johnson Controls reveal that at least 70 per cent of participants saw employers needing to accommodate an increasingly mobile and remote workforce. HR needs to understand these expectations, and work with the IT department as to what this means for workplace management.
Gen Z are truth hunters and the following are the most desired traits in their employer in descending order – honesty and transparency, reliability and financial security. About one sixth of Gen Z will back their employers if they have the first two attributes, but may be struggling on the third, so HR needs to understand how their employer stacks up on these attributes.
Gen X, Y and Z expect their employers to be ‘connected’, and they want to work at places where the type of work and their colleagues and leaders combine to attract talent and hang on to good people. These two factors are more important than more money, especially in India and China. Incidentally, one third of Gen Y and Z workers expect to be able to wear headphones and listen to music while they work, and they also to be allowed to personalise their workspace.
Gen Z remain ‘turnover prone’, as two thirds of 16-24 year olds are routinely considering leaving their jobs. HR needs to understand what it is about the business that attracts and retains staff, so the costs of this churning can be minimised.
Among younger workers in India, where there is greater experience in Western business practices and educational systems from a young age, job security is the number one attraction to an employer. Once in the job, pay and career advancement are the main appeal to stay on.
China and Asia generally experience high turnover rates – the hiring and resignation rates in this region are twice the level of Western countries. While Chinese workers favoured international companies 20 years ago, the preference is now swinging back to global conglomerates with headquarters in China.
Western countries, particularly the US, are losing their attractiveness as places of work for globally-skilled people. This is at a time when Western firms are seeing China and India as the major source of talent they want to attract. So understanding the effect of that tension is a key role for HR in the future, especially if the targeted level of talent is to be secured from offshore.
Finally, the key challenges for HR are to evolve talent management and supply, as well as to research new and innovative ways for workers to collaborate as they get the work done across global boundaries.

This article originally appeared in the March 2016 edition of HRM magazine.

AHRI’s chairman, Peter Wilson, highlights some of the most fascinating insights to come out of the Global Thought Leaders Conference.

At the Global Thought Leaders Conference in the US last year, there were some useful analytical insights. Here’s a summary that you might find useful:

One fifth of the world’s population is now living outside their country of birth, which is the highest level in human history. This means that managing a cross-cultural workforce is a challenge that’s not going anywhere soon. The number is set to further increase, so it’s incumbent on HR to understand the top two or three most pressing issues for international colleagues in the workplace.

Twenty five per cent of workers are now mobile, and expect to be at work. So managing them as if they are going to be in the office all the time is flawed, and HR needs to foster the discussion about what this means for workforce management and how support processes need to evolve. At least 20 per cent of workers in the UK and US believe that working remotely is now a right and not a privilege, but it’s 30 per cent in Australia and 70-80 per cent in China and India, where our major competition will be coming from. Nearly all companies have some kind of remote work happening every week, according to a 2015 Randstad global study.

Seventy per cent of graduates across five continents want to work offshore at some point during their career, according to a Randstad survey. That means education of staff needs to be promoted by HR. Investing in staff through an overseas assignment makes sense when they and the organisation can validate that this is warranted.

About 60 per cent of the current workforce are due to retire in the next 20 years. That’s a lopsided loss of talent to contemplate, and requires HR to think about how to keep this experienced talent re-engaged at work for longer on a part-time or contracted basis.

At least 60 per cent of companies and employees rank globalisation as one of the top three critical factors in the future of their organisations. Over 90 per cent see the supply pool for talent being global. Consider this – 55 per cent of the world workforce will be Gen Y and Gen Z by 2025, with a significant majority of them residing in China and India, and with many wanting to exit those locations.

Gen Z attitudes are changing. In a 2015 Fortune magazine-Hay group study, 38 per cent of Gen Z say they want to start their own business; be more entrepreneurial; and be associated with employers who practise corporate social sustainability. On average at least 30 per cent of them want their employers to give back to their community by creating new local jobs, donating resources to community projects, and be actively involved in charity. Further, nearly half ranked China, India and Russia exercising more economic influence on the world they will inhabit than the US and Europe combined.

Gen Z have completed the digital native movement. Half of them are connected for 10 hours or more per day. So interaction with them is going to rely more and more on digital media.

Gen Z expects workplace collaboration to be organised across office-based, single-work stations and co-working spaces, as well as at home. Studies by Randstad, IDG and Johnson Controls reveal that at least 70 per cent of participants saw employers needing to accommodate an increasingly mobile and remote workforce. HR needs to understand these expectations, and work with the IT department as to what this means for workplace management.

Gen Z are truth hunters and the following are the most desired traits in their employer in descending order – honesty and transparency, reliability and financial security. About one sixth of Gen Z will back their employers if they have the first two attributes, but may be struggling on the third, so HR needs to understand how their employer stacks up on these attributes.

Gen X, Y and Z expect their employers to be ‘connected’, and they want to work at places where the type of work and their colleagues and leaders combine to attract talent and hang on to good people. These two factors are more important than more money, especially in India and China. Incidentally, one third of Gen Y and Z workers expect to be able to wear headphones and listen to music while they work, and they also to be allowed to personalise their workspace.

Gen Z remain ‘turnover prone’, as two thirds of 16-24 year olds are routinely considering leaving their jobs. HR needs to understand what it is about the business that attracts and retains staff, so the costs of this churning can be minimised.

Among younger workers in India, where there is greater experience in Western business practices and educational systems from a young age, job security is the number one attraction to an employer. Once in the job, pay and career advancement are the main appeal to stay on.

China and Asia generally experience high turnover rates – the hiring and resignation rates in this region are twice the level of Western countries. While Chinese workers favoured international companies 20 years ago, the preference is now swinging back to global conglomerates with headquarters in China.

Western countries, particularly the US, are losing their attractiveness as places of work for globally-skilled people. This is at a time when Western firms are seeing China and India as the major source of talent they want to attract. So understanding the effect of that tension is a key role for HR in the future, especially if the targeted level of talent is to be secured from offshore.

Finally, the key challenges for HR are to evolve talent management and supply, as well as to research new and innovative ways for workers to collaborate as they get the work done across global boundaries.

This article originally appeared in the March 2016 edition of HRM magazine.