The unrest caused by reductions in force (RIFs) and sustained economic uncertainty is still impacting many organizations. Some seasoned workers experience extreme angst that the career ladder they were happily climbing into retirement might suddenly crumble beneath them. Angst can translate into diminished personal productivity. Damaging behaviors of nervous employees of any age include the withholding (or reluctant sharing) of critical information in an attempt to maintain job security. Needless to say, the resultant blow to teamwork is going to impact the organization’s productivity. High-potential employees may continue to perform well but fail to provide signals of an impending and abrupt departure as opportunities in other companies become available. That’s life in the second decade of this century!

 

The “e” words that are top priority for HR executives in this decade aren’t so much about the Internet (e-mail, e-commerce, e-everything) as they are about global economies in flux and employee engagement. Gallup research indicates that world-class organizations have an engagement to actively disengaged ratio of almost 10:1, while the average organization’s ratio is closer to 2:1. Translated to the bottom line, organizations with high engagement ratios had nearly a fourfold advantage in earnings per share (EPS) growth rates. Global economic pressures will continue to accelerate the need for market agility and ensuing workforce agility. Global markets don’t pause while you hire and train new employees.

 

Corporate executives must turn their attention foremost to economic and market dynamics. Meanwhile, the issues of engagement and workforce agility fall squarely on the shoulders of HR. While the economy and markets tend to have their own accepted and timely measurements, just getting an accurate internal read on employee engagement is difficult. Managing any unknown is always a challenge, although engagement is one that HR must confront quickly. In light of that, have you ever considered that focusing on agility could help fix the engagement problem, too?

 

We just talked about mature workers feeling angst about crumbling career ladders, but maybe that crumble will be a (necessary) byproduct of endowing organizations with the flexibility they need to compete globally. There’s no question that dismantling corporate ladders poses a challenge for the HR team, especially since job descriptions, compensation models and even performance management systems are usually intertwined with the ladders.

 

We’re suggesting that thinking of your talent pool as a complex array of skills that can be reconfigured quickly could be a winning strategy – helping organizations to compete and to improve engagement. What might happen if you loosen up on position descriptions and identify how individuals’ skills could more broadly map onto your array of needed skills? Might you begin to dismantle intra-organizational fiefdoms that can spring from static position descriptions and career ladders? By taking advantage of everyone’s broader skill sets, you stand not only to increase productivity but also to personalize jobs so that individuals can excel. Younger generations have expectations of personalization (think ringtones, music collections) that spill over into job expectations. Is there any other way to engage and retain the best and brightest young talent besides career personalization?

 

Think how much easier conversations with those in middle or late career stages could be when discussions are about skills needed across the organization, how they can map their own skills to help out, and how they might want to add to, expand, or sharpen them. It’s the same conversation, regardless of age. With more flexibility to use more skills, personalized job descriptions help employees feel satisfied, valued, and more tightly integrated and engaged with the organization. You could apply the same skills-based modeling to part-time and supplemental (contract) workers, enabling workforce flexibility that can accommodate peak demands and shifts in markets.

 

We’re not saying that moving towards a skills-matrix approach is an easy thing to accomplish, but CPI can help.  After all, our leading reputation in outplacement is based upon the same type of expertise, and why CPI excels in all aspects of talent management. We are experts in identifying skills (hard and soft). We know how skills apply across job titles and within complex organizations. We know which skills apply across market sectors and industries. Whether your needs relate to assessing individuals or developing your own internal systems that promote workforce flexibility and employee engagement, contact CPI Twin Cities. We can also help you find ways to help employees take more responsibility for their own careers.