Paul Ryder, Capita’s Write Research and Kate Harper, CEH Workforce Solutions discuss ‘Workforce Horizons - Resourcing Challenges In Attracting, Developing, Retaining and Deploying Talent in Tomorrow’s Workforce.’ A thought provoking presentation which summarises the findings of a recent qualitative research project conducted amongst senior HR & Resourcing professionals that looks ahead to the challenges that will face resourcing professionals in tomorrow’s workforce and asks what should we be doing today to prepare for such eventualities.

1. Capita Research
Workforce Horizons
Attraction, Development, Retention and Deployment of Talent in
Tomorrow’s Workforce

2. Setting the Context The subject & our
research

3. Future Scoping Its Importance to Resourcing
Today Tomorrow 2030
Already aware of
certain trends and
challenges that we
know will be important
into the future:
• Ageing workforce
• Skills shortages
• Changing working
patterns
How will these things
change the way we
need to engage,
attract, develop and
deploy our staff?
And what about the
things that we can’t
plan for?
Are we spending enough time today planning for
the outcomes we do know about…. And thinking
about how to prepare for those we don’t?

4. Economics
• Globalisation
• Shifting patterns of economic
activity
• The hourglass workforce
• New demand and
replacement demand
• War for talent
• Changing contractual terms
Demographics
• Ageing workforce
• Multigenerational workforce
• Increase in workforce
diversity
Legal/Political
• Decreased political action –
and less money to invest,
particularly in training and
education
• Policy change which is
empowering employees
The things we can predict…..
Understanding the Trajectories
People and Society
• With empowerment comes
changing expectations –
engagement and meaningful work
• Work as a consumer experience
and implications for employer
branding
• Different career pathways and
implications for employee
branding
Technology
• Flexible working
• A different type of workplace
• Work-life balance
• Impact of AI – new jobs requiring
new skills
• Big data

5. 5
What we’ve done… what we plan…
The Research
Exploratory
Face-to-face
Interviews
01 02 03
Group
Discussion
And What Next?
10 Senior
Resourcing
Professionals
(including: car
industry, logistics,
broadcasting, I.T.,
engineering, local
government)
5 HR Directors
(public sector,
utilities, business
services)
10 Senior
Resourcing
Professionals
(including financial
services,
telecommunications,
online retailing, local
government,
building materials)
An on-line survey
with Resourcing and
HR Professionals

6. The Findings
Starting to Tell a Story

7. 7
What will keep you awake at night?
Project Forward 10 Years…
Branding
• Being clear about what the company
stands for and positioning against peers
• What does good look like – matching
people to the brand (skills and values)
• Tailoring the EVP to the target audience
– and tailoring rewards (particularly for
millennials)
• Influencing perceptions at a young age
• Questions over the locus of
responsibility for employer branding
Flexible Working
• Getting the balance right between
meeting employee needs and
expectations and customer needs and
expectations
• Not just about logistics… about culture
• Focus on outputs not inputs
• Agile working – employer led
• Contract workers seen as a necessary
evil and not a solution to flexible
working
Workforce Planning
• High on the agenda and
critical to successful
talent management….
• But hampered by a lack
of joined up thinking
between corporate
teams and strategic
units….
• And hampered by a
lack of skills/capacity
for data analytics
Engagement and the Passive
Candidate
• Candidates becoming more
discerning and more demanding…
“sell to me and tell me why I should
work for you”
• Early engagement important so the
benefits are understood before the
vacancy becomes available
• Engagement with current staff
critical to retention….
• And improvements in succession
planning required to nurture and
retain top talent
• Do candidates want to stay with one
organisation – or do they want to job
hop?
• Social communication central to this
theme
Holistic Career Management
• People are ‘buying’ careers and
development opportunities – not
just jobs
• Balance between supporting
individuals in their career
aspirations and supporting the
business in its change/development
agenda
• There are barriers
• Line manager lack of
understanding of career
management and planning
• Lack of role models other than
managers
Closer Working with the Business
• Closer alignment of HR planning
with business strategy
• Is HR about protecting the interests
of staff in the workplace or about
aligning people to the needs of the
business?
• The balance is shifting towards the
latter (although not at the expense
of engagement)
• HR professionals need to be more
business savvy
• HR should have a place at the top
table?
Branding
and
EVP
Development
(14)
Flexible
Working
(13)
Workforce
Planning
(12)
Engagement
and
the
Passive
Candidate
(9)
HolisFc
Career
Management
(6)
Alignment
with
the
Business
(5)

8. …where does it feature in resourcing’s future?
Big Data
Workforce
Planning
(14)
Improved
Working
with
Senior
Managers
(5)
Performance
Management
(4)
Engagement/
SaFsfacFon
(4)
InnovaFon
(1)
Workforce Planning
• Big data is key ….but few can
articulate the specific data they will
need
• It must add value and not just
provide some interesting facts
• It should provide clear direction for
action
• Data hard to gather in devolved
structures
• We also need to look outwardsImproved Working with Senior
Managers
• A more legitimate voice at the top
table
Performance Management
• A need to be able to demonstrate
the linkage between people assets
and business performance
Engagement
• Measuring real engagement
(whether or not the organisation is
providing work that enhances
personal value) will remain
important
Innovation
• Not wholly clear how… but in terms
of designing new recruitment
solutions that better meet the needs
of candidates and the business

9. 9
Where will the skills gaps be?
If the war for talent is still raging…
Areas of Skills Shortage
I.T./Technical
Engineering
Project Management
Finance
Languages
Qualified Drivers
Social Workers/Qualified Care Staff
Why are we still
fighting the war for
these skills when they
have been in short
supply for so long?
What is stopping the
development of talent
in these areas?
What do we really
mean by a skills
shortage?

10. Supply Channels
In the future, where will talent come from?
Graduate
Recruitment
(13)
Links
with
University
(10)
ApprenFceships
(9)
Grow
your
Own
(9)
Targeted
CommuniFes
(5)
Graduate Recruitment
• A continual supply of high calibre
individuals to fulfil ‘replacement
demand’
• As well as graduate programmes,
developing internships and
placements
Links with University
• But not always leaving the nature
and content of training ‘to
chance’….increasingly developing
relationships with Universities and
even designing bespoke
programmes
Apprenticeships and School Leaver
Programmes
• Talent required through the layers
of multidisciplinary organisations
meaning that these types of
programmes are important in filling
different types of roles
Grow your Own Schemes
• Some organisations have clear
strategies for ‘building from the
bottom’.
• The perennial challenge of retaining
the staff you train remains.
Targeting
• At a business unit level – targeting
particular community groups with
specific skills/values/lifestyles
proves a positive solution

11. 11
What will it look like?
The Future Resourcing Landscape
More
of
the
Same
HolisFc
SoluFon
Strategic
Enabler
• Brand
and
EVP/
differenFaFon
• Quality
of
hire/predicFve
analyFcs
• Values-­‐based
recruitment
• Managing
diversity
• ATS
improvement
&
Fme
to
hire
• Talent
pool
building
• Engagement-­‐led
communicaFon
• Targeted
social
media
• Mobile
recruitment
• Flexible
working
• Using
data
to
inform
decision-­‐making
• Talent
mapping
• Talent
pooling
• Succession
planning
• Engagement
and
retenFon
• SoluFons
more
closely
aligned
to
the
business
agenda.
Shi]
away
from
operaFonal
to
more
strategic
• Workforce
planning
linked
to
business
planning
• Be^er
linkages
between
talent
acquisiFon
and
talent
development
• Longer
term
horizons
and
engagement
with
tomorrow’s
workforce
• PersonalisaFon
in
both
recruitment,
reward
and
wider
HR
• The
HR
funcFon
becomes
the
strategic
‘enabler’
of
a^racFng,
developing,
retaining
and
deploying
talent
• Data
and
evidence
will
drive
a
be^er
understanding
of
workforce
trends
and
HR
will
design
intervenFons
to
fill
skills
gaps
through
engagement,
a^racFon
and
development
• PersonalisaFon
will
be
supported
by
line
managers
who
will
become
very
different
‘agents’
within
the
organisaFon
–
supported
by
HR
personnel
intent
on
making
organisaFons
a^racFve
and
dynamic
workplaces
• Brand
and
EVP/
differenFaFon
• Quality
of
hire/predicFve
analyFcs
• Values-­‐based
recruitment
• Managing
diversity
• ATS
improvement
&
Fme
to
hire
• Talent
pool
building
• Engagement-­‐led
communicaFon
• Targeted
social
media
• Mobile
recruitment
• Flexible
working
• Using
data
to
inform
decision-­‐making
• Talent
mapping
• Talent
pooling
• Succession
planning
• Engagement
and
retenFon
More
of
the
Same
• SoluFons
more
closely
aligned
to
the
business
agenda.
Shi]
away
from
operaFonal
to
more
strategic
• Workforce
planning
linked
to
business
planning
• Be^er
linkages
between
talent
acquisiFon
and
talent
development
• Longer
term
horizons
and
engagement
with
tomorrow’s
workforce
• PersonalisaFon
in
both
recruitment,
reward
and
wider
HR
HolisFc
SoluFon
• The
HR
funcFon
becomes
the
strategic
‘enabler’
of
a^racFng,
developing,
retaining
and
deploying
talent
• Data
and
evidence
will
drive
a
be^er
understanding
of
workforce
trends
and
HR
will
design
intervenFons
to
fill
skills
gaps
through
engagement,
a^racFon
and
development
• PersonalisaFon
will
be
supported
by
line
managers
who
will
become
very
different
‘agents’
within
the
organisaFon
–
supported
by
HR
personnel
intent
on
making
organisaFons
a^racFve
and
dynamic
workplaces
Strategic
Enabler

12. The Findings
Ask as many questions…

13. 13
The Big Themes We Need to Prepare For….
The Questions
Is Resourcing stuck in
an operational rut
without the right
permissions to join the
top table?
Are we prepared for a
role at the top table?
(Business savvy, market
savvy, au-fait with
analytics)?
Are we resourcers or
talent managers and do
we need to re-define our
discipline?
Are we doing enough to
prepare for the
knowledge and skills the
business will need
tomorrow?
Is our tool kit polished
and honed?
What should we be
doing today to prepare
for tomorrow?
Summary
The Short Term: Getting our House in Order The Longer Term: Being Strategic