employee development

July 28, 2020August 3, 2023

Headcount planning strategies to consider, even in the face of disruption

A vital part of any organization’s talent management strategy, headcount planning, or labor forecasting, ensures that it has the right number of employees with the right skills. But hiring more staff isn’t always an option. External forces or internal budget constraints may deter organizations from making the talent and staffing decisions it wants to make.

Workplace experts explained headcount planning strategies, how disruption informs future plans and how hiring someone new isn’t always necessary.

Also read: Labor analytics: A how-to guide for company leadership

Hiring from within

There are times when an organization should hire someone new, but with budget constraints, they need to rely on a current employee rather than a new hire, said Emily Rose McRae, a director in the Gartner HR practice. This is doable when certain units or teams at the company are moving more slowly, therefore giving them space to give up a team member to a different unit.

In many workplaces there is resistance to hiring from within, McRae said. Managers may have a long list of qualifications in mind for the person who will fill a particular role, and they may believe no internal hire meets those requirements.

Sometimes that may be true, she said, but a current employee often can do a new job with a reasonable amount of reskilling.

She suggested that companies find a current employee with a similar skill set who can take over the role for two weeks. This could be someone on a different team who has a lighter workload for the time being. Based on their experience in this new role, they can inform the manager from an outsider’s perspective what skills a candidate needs from day one versus what skills can be taught over time.

Regarding the long list of requirements and skills managers seek for a candidate, McRae also encouraged managers to realize that many skills are transferable. A candidate or current staff member who knows one spreadsheet software can easily learn another one.

Also read: Labor forecasting requires a stronger analytics skillset

While reskilling can be a valuable tool and can help workers move to roles in the company that weren’t an option before, it’s generally difficult to get people to reskill simply by making resources available, McRae added. Employees are busy and have responsibilities outside of work.

One effective way around this is to approach specific employees — like those in a department that’s at risk of being downsized — and offer them the opportunity to reskill with a specific new role in mind, McRae said. This strategy may motivate workers to learn new skills, since it’s difficult to get people to reskill with no end goal in mind.

Staff planning in a time of uncertainty, disruption and innovation

McRae suggested that managers and leaders do scenario planning — considering what possible outcomes are and having strategies mapped out to address these different possibilities.

For example, if demand for the product dropped by 50 percent due to various factors, what would happen to the business, and how could it address that? If a company discovered that the delivery service in their supply chain was disrupted in some way, how would it impact business? Essentially, what are the biggest risks and the possible outcomes of those risks?

Sometimes the way a business addresses these scenarios may be costly, like hiring more people to address new business needs, McRae said. In other cases, cross training employees may help fill necessary gaps.

Check out our white paper: Learning Alignment in an Uncertain and Disrupted Business Climate

Certain disruptions, like the COVID-19 pandemic, prompt organizations to feel the need to react right away and be short-sighted in the decisions they make, she added. But it’s important to remember that the immediate actions companies take with employees will have long-term consequences on how people view the employer and whether this workplace is viewed as one that cares about employees.

For example, redeployment programs — the process of moving employees to a different role in the organization rather than letting them go — will help contribute to a positive employer brand, McRae said.

“Organizations that are doing this — that are actively building redeployment programs and didn’t already have them before — they’re going to be much stronger coming out of this recruiting talent than the organizations that don’t,” she said. “While it’s not possible for every organization necessarily to do this for all their employees, the more organizations look to find the degree to which they can, the more successful they’ll be.”

Considerations for HR leaders

As organizations consider their headcount planning strategies, there are questions HR leaders can ask to inform decisions about the strategy. Depending on what catalyst event or disruption may happen, will it make talent more or less expensive? Will it change the skills the organization needs in its workforce?

Sometimes macro changes that happen in the market don’t directly impact an organization’s demand for talent but still affect its workforce in some way, McRae said. For example, during a recession, even if the company is doing well, employees may feel anxious about their job.

The potential of predictive analytics

Broadly speaking, predictive analytics allow organizations to collect and assess information on the external labor market. It can allow companies to get insights on what competitors are doing, McRae said. Maybe a competitor is hiring for new skill sets that would be valuable for any organization in the industry and could help inform their talent strategy.

Predictive analytics may also allow organizations to identify where there’s room to explore new opportunities, she said. For example, an observation that remote work is becoming more widely acceptable can lead to a company being more open to hiring talent from different geographies.

Also read: Labor analytics add power to workforce management tools

Other headcount planning tools

John Lacy, chief operating officer at Dallas-based technology marketing agency Idea Grove, said his organization is constantly working through these questions. It’s vital to ensure they have the right people with the right skills necessary to support the different services they provide clients.

Idea Grove uses several tools to help conduct this recurring analysis, Lacy said.

First, they are rolling out the “open-book management” style of running the company, which essentially means that employees are engaged in the process of forecasting key numbers and that they ultimately share in whatever rewards the company earns from better performance.

Lacy expects that this will help create a business full of employees who think and act like owners.

“At that point, the client-facing personnel will start to take responsibility for ensuring we have the right number of people to service the business, as well as ensuring that we have the right amount of each skill required to service our clients,” he said.

The organization also has a go-to pool of contractors that help serve clients when there are skills gaps to cover or when there’s more work to be done than expected.

“Once we know we have the appropriate level of business to support a person full time, then and only then will we bring a person on board, full time, to cover that need,” Lacy said.

February 19, 2020October 12, 2021

5 ways to inspire employee engagement today

Employee engagement is not something you can achieve overnight.

It takes time, dedication and leadership commitment for those HR leaders who want their workplaces to become a great place to work. Even Jim Harter, chief workplace scientist for Gallup, admits that seeing a significant change in engagement scores could take years.

But don’t be discouraged. There are many things that can be done immediately that will start moving the needle on employee engagement. Here are five places to start.

1. Say something shocking.

“Engagement is like a river,” said Greg Barnett, senior vice president of science for HR consultancy Predictive Index in Boston. “Sometimes you have to do something dramatic to change the way it flows.”

To do that, Barnett suggests leaders figure out what is missing from their culture, then make a grand gesture to demonstrate that things are going to be different. It could be sharing previously guarded company information, publicly celebrating employees for their hard work, or discussing the bad news that everyone has heard rumors about but no one is willing to discuss. “Shocking them with transparency is a great way to get everyone’s attention,” Barnett said.

2. Practice gratitude.

“Showing employees that you value what they do is critical for engagement,” said Sarah Hamilton, senior director of HR for North America at Workhuman in Framingham, Massachusetts. “It shows them that what they do matters and helps them see how their work drives the company forward.”

Showing gratitude doesn’t require a sophisticated reward system or official gratitude program. It can be as simple as congratulating teams on the company’s social media platform, sending a personal note of thanks, and acknowledging their hard work in every conversation. “It feels good to be recognized but it also feels good to recognize others,” Hamilton said. “It is a powerful experience for everyone.”

3. Help them plan their careers.

Fully 94 percent of employees say they would stay at a company longer if the organization invested in their development. The ability to learn new skills makes them feel engaged and appreciated and shows them that the company is willing to invest in their future, Barnett said. “Managers can quickly make a short-term impact on engagement simply by paying attention to employees’ career development.”

He encourages managers to build training plans around employees’ goals even if they extend beyond a career at the company. “Start by listening to what employees want for the future,” he said. Then if possible, help them find the training, mentoring and career advice to make it possible.

Some companies are tackling this goal head on. For example, Amazon’s Career Choice program covers tuition for employees who want training in any in-demand field — even if it has no relevance to the company; and McDonald’s new career exploration app, Archways to Careers, offers employees career advice to help them map out their professional career wherever it may take them.

“Building an entire career development program requires coordinated effort,” he admitted. But taking the time to ask what employees want to do with their lives then offering to help is a great first step.

4. Provide constant feedback.

The annual performance review is unofficially dead. If you want people to see the connection between their hard work and the company’s success, then constantly talk to them about it, Hamilton said. Workhuman uses the company’s Conversations platform to enable easy regular check-ins between managers and employees and between peers.

She noted that teammates and colleagues often have a better sense of how work gets done and who is contributing than managers. Encouraging peer-to-peer feedback creates a culture of engagement and ensures hard work gets acknowledged. “A continuous feedback loop motivates and empowers employees, and makes everyone feel appreciated,” Hamilton said.

5. Don’t stop.

All of these strategies can have a short-term impact on employee engagement, but the change will be fleeting unless you stay committed to these actions. That means continuing to be transparent, support career development, provide feedback and practice gratitude on a daily basis. “Engagement programs often fail because after a few months everyone moves on to the next thing,” Barnett said.

So don’t do it unless you are willing to make changes that will stick.

December 2, 2019September 21, 2022

How Companies Can Embed Purpose in Their Employees for Higher Engagement and Retention

Millennials are now the largest generation in the U.S. workforce, but they’re increasingly unhappy at their jobs. According to the 2019 Deloitte Global Millennial Survey, 49 percent of millennials would quit their current jobs in the next two years if they could.

One likely reason for this is a lack of purpose at work. In fact, the Deloitte study found that only 37 percent of millennials think business leaders “make a positive impact on the world.”

A company with strong core values and a clear mission aligns people of every generation and role to perform their best, feel like they’re making a difference and stick around for a longer tenure.

To champion happy, engaged employees and send retention rates soaring, HR leaders need to cultivate a sense of purpose among their employees. Here’s how they can do that.

Hire for Purpose

You can’t create a culture of purpose without purpose-driven individuals, and it’s difficult to instill a sense of purpose in those who don’t have one. Your best bet is to screen for purpose during the hiring process.

Enthusiastic, mission-driven candidates will help uphold a larger sense of purpose in your organization. They’ll also likely lead by example. A Harvard Business Review study found that positive behaviors and attitudes are contagious and are often passed from manager to employee. Finding mission-driven workers at every level can help you weave purpose into your organization.

To find purpose-driven employees, ask candidates about their values during an interview, add an application question about defining purpose and outline your company’s mission in job postings.

Incorporate Core Values into the Onboarding Process

A longer and more meaningful onboarding process is tied to higher rates of retention, according to Harvard Business Review. Be sure to introduce new hires to your organization’s core values and mission from day one.

Then show them these values in action with stories about current colleagues living the purpose. New hires will feel more connected to your company and more inclined to forge meaningful relationships with their co-workers. That way, they’ll feel compelled to embody these values — with like-minded colleagues — as part of their job.

Give Your Employees Purposeful Gifts

More companies are using gifts to show employee appreciation. But most corporate gifts are generic and forgettable. Branded mugs and t-shirts can’t capture a company’s values in a meaningful way.

Purposeful gifting is an excellent way to demonstrate your company’s commitment to social impact and community engagement. Mission-driven employees, especially millennials, care deeply about environmental and social causes.

A 2019 Gallup poll revealed that millennials’ concern about global warming is at a high point, and the Case Foundation’s “Millennial Impact Report” shows that millennials care about social issues rather than institutions and believe in the power of activism.

Gifts can simultaneously support those causes and show gratitude to your employees. These gifts could include a food basket filled with snacks from a company that employs survivors of abuse, a backpack created from recycled materials, or a tumbler and coffee set whose manufacturer offers jobs to individuals with disabilities.

Send these gifts during important milestones in your employees’ tenures. For instance, consider sending a food basket during onboarding or a backpack to accompany a prospective employee’s offer letter. Gifts can show gratitude in a concrete way that emails, letters and words may not be able to.

Leadership Should Embody Your Organization’s Core Values

Your organization’s leadership should be constantly reinforcing your core values, purpose and mission. As an HR leader, you can broadcast that vision to every employee at your company.

Identify company thought leaders — inside or outside of the C-suite — and highlight their perspectives on company value-driven goals and initiatives through internal newsletters and media. Purpose feels more genuine when it’s voiced by a real person at your company.

Offer Opportunities for Employee Development

Organizational purpose should nurture an individual sense of purpose. According to a 2016 Gallup poll, 87 percent of millennials consider training and development opportunities important when considering new jobs. When employees feel supported to pursue their own career and self-fulfillment goals, they’ll feel better aligned with their company.

Create room for employees to have purpose-based goals in addition to performance-only evaluations. Then, give them the resources they need to achieve those goals: one-on-one mentorship, leadership development programs, retreats, volunteering and enrichment activities such as cultural competency training. When their employer encourages and invests in them, employees want to stay and keep growing.

Purpose Drives Satisfaction and Retention

Today’s workers are increasingly looking beyond the old indicators of job satisfaction, such as job security and fixed salary.

Through hiring strategies, onboarding, gifting, leadership and employee development, HR leaders have a chance at every step of the employee timeline to show each employee how they can enact their personal and company values.

Purpose is a two-way street: you can demonstrate your company’s values in the same breath that you demonstrate how you value your employees. Values, after all, mean nothing if they’re not put into action.

February 22, 2019February 21, 2019

Focus on Entry-Level Employee Development

Employee development is a buzzword that human resources professionals and business owners alike are accustomed to hearing. It’s also a powerful and critical success strategy. When executed properly, its benefits are fruitful. Employers will find that development fosters loyalty among their team, inspires engagement and cultivates an attractive workplace for prospective new hires.

However, there is an overlooked group in professional development: entry-level, nonprofessional workers.

According to a report published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than 78 million Americans — or nearly 59 percent of the U.S. workforce — are hourly workers. Encapsulating such a substantial percentage of the workforce, it’s vital that companies implement employee development programs that will focus on this underserved sector of the American workforce.

There are many reasons organizations should enact employee development programs that serve entry-level, nonprofessional positions:

Benefiting from your untapped workforce

Too often, development programs are slanted toward people in professional careers. These individuals are groomed for higher-level positions, which lead to higher salaries and increased responsibilities. Left behind are those who are overlooked by upper management: entry-level workers.

While the backgrounds of these individuals vary, more often than not they have less education and less experience than those already in professional positions — one reason why they often get passed over for promotions and development opportunities. Typically, individuals in these roles serve in jobs such as customer service representatives or manual laborers.

To offset this problem, employers should create professional development programs that are offered to everyone — regardless of position, title or experience. By changing the professional development program to a deliberate effort rather than a checkbox exercise, those who wouldn’t typically raise their hand are able to opt-in more readily. Programs that everyone can participate in push all employees to focus on professional and personal growth.

It will also help prepare the organization to pivot and shift focus as needed in order to improve efficiency. Being a forward-thinking organization that focuses on what’s next, through means such as employee development, can have a positive impact on the team.

Reduced turnover rates

When training is offered from the bottom-up, employers will see a reduction in turnover rates. According to Accenture, 56 percent of those in entry-level jobs don’t plan to stay in their positions for more than two years. Since recruitment takes time and money, investing in lower level employees can greatly benefit a company in the long term.

Moreover, employees who are offered opportunities to be trained and grow are more likely to be engaged in their role and want to stay in the organization. This is a great perk for selling employee development programs to those in upper management who are always watching the bottom line. To some, a program of this sort may not seem beneficial enough to financially back it. However, over time, the impact is evident through advantages such as higher retention rates.

Becoming an employer of choice

When a company places an importance on development and caring for their employees, they inevitably become the employer of choice for individuals looking to grow professionally. In turn, this benefits culture, engagement, hiring and retention. It will help companies become highly sought after and will attract top talent.

Even when development doesn’t appear to directly benefit the company, showing team members that their employer cares can be extremely impactful.

By implementing a robust employee development program that emphasizes the growth of entry-level and nonprofessional workers, companies will witness reduced turnover rates, inspire a generation of underserved workers, and develop into a highly sought-after employer.

Also read: It’s Time to Rethink the Value of Training and Development

Also read: J&J Human Performance Institute Banks on the Science of Behavior Change in the Workplace