Workforce Planning Is Hot; Are You Lagging Behind?

(Source: ERE.net - http://www.ere.net)

Workforce Planning Is Hot; Are You Lagging Behind?

By Dr. John Sullivan On February 23, 2009 @ 4:15 am In News and Features

What’s hot in talent management changes quite often. Right now, there’s no hotter topic within the talent management community than workforce planning.

The reasons are simple: with the current economy driving revenues down dramatically, many senior executives are examining how to plan ahead in order to increase their firms’ capabilities, reduce costs, and survive the economic chaos likely to continue for some time.

Organizations need an effective talent management plan that will allow them to “explode out of the box” at the first sight of economic recovery, yet one that doesn’t threaten economic sustainability in the short term.

While most in talent management are continuing to react with stale cost containment approaches developed decades ago, strategic talent managers are stepping forward with robust workforce planning solutions and new work models that account for the significant changes in both how people work and live that have occurred in the last 20 years.

If you are interested in doing more than talking about being strategic, here are some recommended action steps to help improve your organization’s workforce planning.

What the Heck is Workforce Planning?

It might seem like a simple question, but there is little to no agreement among HR and talent management professionals as to what constitutes workforce planning. To some, it’s mostly an administrative activity that reports on historical changes to headcount and forecasts likely changes based on historical trends (i.e., headcount planning).

To others, it is a more strategic effort designed to forecast talent needs, talent supply, and the ability of existing HR programs and activities to align the two.

The more strategic variant looks at both internal and external trends and predicts what will be needed to recruit, develop and redeploy “just the right amount” of talent to meet specified business needs. The definition of workforce planning I prefer is:

“Workforce planning is an integrated and forward looking process that is designed to predict (what, when, how much) will likely happen in talent management and then to provide action plans that will cause managers to act in the prescribed way. As a result of the planning process, managers will be able to avoid or mitigate people problems, take advantage of talent opportunities and to improve the “talent pipeline,” so that your organization will have the needed “people capabilities” required to meet your business goals and to build a competitive advantage over other firms.”

Goals of Workforce Planning

Once again, not everyone agrees on what workforce planning is, but generally speaking, there are eight major goals for workforce planning that everyone should agree make sense. These goals relate to an organizational capability to:
1. Reduce labor costs rapidly without negatively impacting productivity.
2. Identify and prepare leaders and managers for future openings.
3. Fill “sudden vacancies” in key roles immediately with capable talent.
4. Maintain a flexible contingent workforce.
5. Proactively move talent internally to maximize the return on talent.
6. Target retention activities on key talent.
7. Identify mechanisms to rapidly hire needed talent.
8. Increase the overall productivity of the workforce.

Key Programs within Workforce Planning

There is no standard array of programs that define every organizations’ workforce planning effort. No matter what you end up doing, your programs will largely fall into one of two areas.

The first area focuses on increasing organizational capability through talent, and common programs in each area include:

• Forecasting the future needs, talent availability, and potential talent problems.
  
• Succession planning and leadership development.
  
• Forecasted recruiting plans.
  
• Workforce innovation management.
  
• Retention planning.
  
• Immediate “backfill” planning (To fill sudden openings in key positions).
  
• Internal re-deployment and “right job” placement planning.
  
• Merger and acquisition integration plans.
  

The second area focuses on decreasing labor costs, and common programs in each area include:

• Contingency/contract labor workforce planning.
  
• Workforce outsource planning.
  
• Reduction in force planning.
  
• Benchmark Firms
  

In my experience, these are the firms to study:

1. Microsoft
   
2. KLA Tencor
   
3. Valero
   
4. WellPoint
   
5. U.S. Marines
   
6. Google
   
7. Eli Lilly
   
8. Qualcomm
   
9. Intel
   
10. GE
    
11. P&G
    
12. Booz Allen
    
13. Toyota
    
14. NASA
    
15. Starbucks

Workforce Actions That ‘Fit’ the Current Environment

The most effective workforce plans are not developed over a long period and then implemented all at once. Instead, while some plans are being developed, talent management leaders simultaneously take action to resolve immediate needs.

If your company is struggling in the current economic environment, five of the key action steps that you should consider immediately are listed below.

Action Step I – Labor cost containment/headcount reduction

I am not alone in forecasting the fact that the decrease in revenues that businesses are facing will continue for at least another year. Whether that actually happens or not, it’s always a good idea to prepare for the “worst-case scenario” and hope that your plan is not needed.

Start with position prioritization, a process that identifies which key positions, key individuals, and key skill sets will have the most business impact during the next two years. Once you prioritize, you can then focus on retention, redeployment, and development efforts on the most impactful positions.

A related step is to develop a process to effectively identify and “control” all forms of labor costs throughout the organization (that includes full-time employees, part-timers, contractors, consultants, strategic partner labor, and outsourced labor).

The next step involves developing the capability of reducing “labor costs” and headcount in the lower priority positions. That might include “mock layoffs” and designating lower priority positions as “contingent labor” positions. Other options to consider include labor wage arbitrage (moving labor to lower-cost areas) or outsourcing with contracts that allow you to rapidly reduce outsourcing costs as your needs decrease.

Action Step II - Increase the internal movement of key employees

As business needs change, it’s important to develop processes that don’t leave the internal movement of talent into the “right job” to chance (as most internal job posting system’s do). I recommend that you develop a proactive redeployment process and plan to move your top performers and highly skilled individuals out of less essential business units and into units and jobs where they can have a greater impact.

The goal is to make sure that you don’t have a “Michael Jordan” playing “baseball” within your organization, when his impact would be significantly greater if he was proactively moved into “basketball.”

The right job can be defined as having your top performers and highly skilled individuals:

• Doing what they do best;
  
• With the right skill set for the job and business unit;
  
• With the right tools, resources, and motivators;
  
• With the right manager; and
  
• With the right teammates.
  

Action Step III - Increase the retention of key employees

Most organizations literally “forget” about retention during tough economic times because they assume that their employees will put security over external opportunity.

Unfortunately, that would be a mistake because the seeds for foundation of top performer turnover begin long before they decide to leave the firm. “How you treat your current employees now,” will directly impact their willingness to stay later on when the economy turns around. If your firm has been using hiring freezes, pay cuts, furloughs and layoffs recently, your key employees are likely to be frustrated and overworked. It’s also true that some firms have learned to continue hiring while simultaneously releasing employees.

This “churn” means that recruiters in some industries, firms and regions are still targeting your very best.

The best retention plans first identify the things that excite and frustrate your key workers and then provide a plan for increasing their level of excitement, challenge, learning, and opportunity within the firm.

The last but most important action step is to develop a “bad manager identification program” because bad managers are the number one cause of employee turnover.

Action Step IV - Reinvigorate your succession plan

If your firm has undergone layoffs, hiring freezes, and reductions in college hiring, you are likely setting up your organization for a future “talent pool gap.” What this means is that by failing to hire and develop talent over a period of even a few years, there simply won’t be enough available talent to fill future management leadership positions when growth begins. This will slow promotions because there just isn’t anyone internally to replace them. This will make the predicted “leadership gap” even worse.

The best course of action is adopt your own “churn” approach to maintain some minimal level of hiring and development to minimize the possibility of any future internal talent pool gap. A related option is to implement a talent SWAP approach, where you continually “troll” for top talent and then replace bottom and average performers only when you find an exceptional replacement.

Action Step V - Prepare to “explode out of the box”

The final action step is to develop a plan that enables your firm to have sufficient talent to enable it to “explode out of the box” the minute that your firm’s revenues begin to turn around. That means retaining your very best recruiters on staff and having them focus on developing Web 2.0 recruiting tools. It’s equally important to maintain the two most-impactful recruiting programs, employee referrals, and employment branding.

Develop a “boomerang” program that tracks and maintains a relationship with the very best employees you must release. The goal is to be able to almost immediately rehire some of the proven talent that you lost.

Final Thoughts

The basic premise of workforce planning is that it’s better to be prepared than surprised. It might seem counter-intuitive to try to plan during times where uncertainty is so high, but that would be a mistake.

During times of turmoil, almost any forecasting and planning will produce higher business impacts than reacting to unforeseen events without a plan. Fortunately, if you’re personally interested in workforce planning, you’re likely to find that no one actually has the formal authority to “own it” at the present time, so you can seize the opportunity and become known as the person who can see around corners. During turbulent times, you will find that no one will be considered more valuable than someone who is not “surprised” by the future!

Free Workforce Planning Handbook: If you are interested in reading in-depth about workforce planning, I have compiled a number of articles into “The Workforce Planning Handbook,” a 240+ page electronic book which is available at no cost for evaluation purposes at www.drjohnssullivan.com. .

Make Sure Your Facebook Profile Doesn't Lose You A Job

Make Sure Your Facebook Profile Doesn't Lose You A Job

(Written on 2/24/2009 by Ali Hale. Ali runs Alpha Student, a blog packed with academic, financial and practical tips to help students get the most out of their time at university.)

Do you use Facebook? I do too -- and so do a heck of a lot of other people. Including my mom, and my former boss.

Employers are increasingly using Facebook (and other social networking sites) to check up on potential and current employees. People have been disciplined at work, have missed out on job positions, or have even been dismissed due to comments they've left on Facebook and similar sites.

In the credit crunch times, you can't afford to have anything working against you. Here's how to make sure your Facebook profile isn't visible to your boss - and how to clean it up if necessary...

Step 1: Check Your Privacy Settings

Do you know who might be reading your Facebook profile? Are you really certain that it's only limited to those people who you've accepted a Friend request from?

Log into your account, click the "Settings" button on the top left: then look at the "Networks" tab:Like me, you might well be in two or more networks - probably a school one(mine's Cambridge University) and a regional one (mine's London - so pretty huge). Have a quick glance at the numbers of people in those networks: 44 thousand at Cambridge and three MILLION in London.

Now click on the "Settings" tab, and on the "manage" link next to "Privacy Controls"Then click "Profile".

I've got three hundred or so friends on Facebook -- but my networks cover three and a half million people: all of whom are either graduates of the same university (so high on my list of potential networking contacts), or people who live in London (where, if I was looking for another full-time job, I'd be seeking employment).

As you can imagine, giving potential bosses (and your past professors - people who might write you a reference) access to your entire profile could be a no-no. I don't actually use Facebook a lot and the few obligatory drunken photos of me aren't particularly risque, so I'm not too bothered who can see my information. But if you pack your profile with rude quotes, if your status update regularly includes how drunk/stoned/lazy you are, and if the photos of you are ones you'd never want to be posted on the office noticeboard ... you might want to limit all of the information in your profile to friends only.

Why Should I Bother?

When an employer decides to check you out on Facebook prior to interviewing you, they won't be able to see your profile, photos of you, and so on. The first impression they get of you will be a professional one from the interview. Leaving your Facebook profile open to them is a bit like inviting them to come and nose around your home (when it's at its most untidy, with your stack of dodgy magazines left lying around...)

And if you doubt that employers do make these checks, here's food for thought from an article on "Facebook Can Ruin Your Life" from the Independent (a UK newspaper) - emphasis mine:

At Cambridge, at least one don has admitted "discreetly" scanning applicants' pages – a practice now widespread in job recruitment. A survey released by Viadeo said that 62 per cent of British employers now check the Facebook, MySpace or Bebo pages of some applicants, and that a quarter had rejected candidates as a result. Reasons given by employers included concerns about "excess alcohol abuse", ethics and job "disrespect.".

Do you want to risk missing out on your dream job because of your Facebook profile?

Step 2: Cleaning Up Your Profile

You might not want to limit access to your profile to only your friends, if you use Facebook for a lot of networking. Or, you might have a lot of "friends" who've added you because they read your blog, or because they knew you in kindergarten: you never know when one of these friends might be a useful ally, a potential employer or mentor.

And although your profile might not contain anything too dreadful (such as admissions of just how you ended up leaving your previous job), things which seem perfectly innocuous could still cause employers to decide to pass on you. The recruitment site www.onrec.com offers ten top turn-offs for employers who are performing discreet background checks using Facebook and similar sites:

Top ten turn-offs for employers on social networking sites:
1. References to drug abuse
2. Extremist / intolerant views, including racism, sexism
3. Criminal activity
4. Evidence of excessive alcohol consumption
5. Inappropriate pictures, including nudity
6. Foul language
7. Links to unsuitable websites
8. Lewd jokes
9. Silly email addresses
10. Membership of pointless / silly groups

And from the New Zealand Herald:
Interestingly, employers were not just concerned about alcohol or drug use, or inappropriate photos. They also used the information posted to identify those with poor communication skills, and inaccurately stated qualifications. Bad mouthing of former employers and colleagues was also identified as a concern in a large number of cases.

So it's worth cleaning up your profile to get rid of anything that's not contributing to the impression you want to give to employers, business colleagues and other contacts - anything which undermines or contradicts your personal brand.

I'm going to focus on two key areas that could be letting you down: "Your Info" and "Your Photos".

Your Info

Click on "Profile" in the top bar, then on "Info":Have a good read through what's listed there. You might want to update old information (I'm awful at doing this...) You may need to self-censor some of your "favorite music" or "favorite movies", if you have somewhat extreme tastes in either. Think about who might read your profile here: if you're going for a job with a right-wing political or charity body, a long list of slasher/horror movies and death metal music might not go down too well, but it could be just the thing if you're trying to land a job with a design agency that prides itself on "alternative" styles and creating shocking, engaging concepts.

Some quick tips that might help you are:

• Get rid of any silly, profane or potentially bigoted (racist/sexist/etc) group memberships
  
• Try to list some favorite books, not just films and music. Employers will be impressed if you look well-read.
  
• Make your Quotations ones which are funny/profound, not all lewd jokes that your friends made after a few drinks.
  
• Check for typos and spelling mistakes: these might seem unimportant to you, but they could be sending a negative impression to potential employers
  

Your Photos

Click onto the "Photos" tab. This will show everything which someone's tagged with your name. It's worth going through every single one, and untagging it if it's not something you want to be associated with! Again, use your own judgement here: an unflattering shot might be a disaster if you're trying to become a supermodel, but could be an actual asset if you're aiming for a career in stand-up comedy...

Click on the thumbnail to view a photo full-size, and click the "Remove tag" link next to your name (at the bottom, under the photo) to remove the tag - meaning snoopers can't find that photo of you:

For most of us, photos to look out for are:

• Photos where you look drunk/stoned/comatose (even if you were "just caught at a bad angle, honest")
  
• Photos containing a number of "unsuitable" looking friends
  
• Photos where someone's put a really dodgy caption about you (sadly, employers may decide against you based not only on your profile, but on what your friends seem to be like).
  
• Any photos containing evidence of illegal or semi-illegal activity - especially if your employer or school could penalise you for it
  

Why Should I Bother?

Current employers (or your university/school) may check up on your Facebook profile. The Independent article mentioned the unfortunate case of: Kevin Colvin, an intern at Anglo Irish Bank, who told his employers he had a family emergency, but whose Facebook page revealed he had, in reality, been cavorting in drag at a Halloween party.

Photographic evidence can also be used to catch student culprits:

Oxford University proctors disciplined students after pictures of them dousing each other in shaving foam, flour and silly string in post-exam revelry were found on their Facebook pages.

Step 3: Keeping Your Profile Clean

Once you've limited access to your profile and cleaned it up, you need to keep it safe for work. In my last full time job, my boss was "friends" with a number of my co-workers: this calls for considerable caution! If you have parents who are paying your tuition fees, you might want to make sure your Facebook account gives the impression that you're making the most of their money (rather than partying constantly...)

Some good points to pause for thought are:

When setting your status. Do you really want to declare that "John thinks work SUCKS" or that "Jane is thinking of throwing a sickie?" Even something a bit less obvious, like moaning about a difficult client, could rebound badly on you.

When uploading photos. Is it really something you want your office colleagues to see? Or your mum?

When commenting on other people's photos, wall, etc. Think about what your words might convey to someone who wasn't in on the joke or the conversation. Would you look bigoted, illiterate or plain nasty?

It's also unwise to use Facebook while at work - your actions are time-stamped, so if your boss sees that you've been updating your account at 11am when you should've been hard at work, he's unlikely to be impressed.

Why Should I Bother?

Thoughtless use of Facebook has led to people losing their jobs in the past (though this is usually due to admission of some serious wrong-doing, such as theft from the company). Even if you don't get sacked, you might have to face up to consequences.

I'll leave you with the cautionary tale of Kyle Doyle, a call center worker who pulled a sickie ... and bragged about it on Facebook:

Kyle Doyle, a 21-year-old resolutions expert for telecommunications firm AAPT, bragged about his day off on the social networking site while telling his employer he was away for "medical reasons".But he was found out when his boss spotted this Facebook profile update on the day in question, August 21: "Kyle Doyle is not going to work, f*** it I'm still trashed. SICKIE WOO!"

So ... head on over to Facebook, and check out the employer-friendliness of your profile. Let us know what you decide to change (or whether you look squeaky-clean already) -- but don't say anything too incriminating in the comments. Remember, bosses read Dumb Little Man too...

Google Ends Program To Sell Radio Ads: Exiting The Radio Biz

As reported on the AllAccess website, February 12, 2009, "in the second major setback for GOOGLE’s ambitions to expand its advertising business beyond the Internet, the company said THURSDAY that it was ending its program to sell radio ads. THE NEW YORK TIMES reports the program, called GOOGLE AUDIO ADS, which it began in 2006, did not live up to the company’s expectations, and the decision to kill it may result in the layoffs of approximately 40 people, GOOGLE said in a blog post.The announcement highlights GOOGLE’s continuing efforts to cut costs and focus on fewer projects as its core search advertising business has slowed dramatically in the face of the recession. AUDIO ADS is the second offline advertising initiative that GOOGLE has shut down in as many months. In JANUARY, GOOGLE pulled the plug on its PRINT ADS program, which sold advertisements in newspapers."

While the demise of GOOGLE AUDIO ADS is certainly a disappointment for GOOGLE it is important to note that radio, if used correctly, is a wonderful tool to reach highly qualified Passive Job Seekers. As MITTONMedia has demonstrated to employers for the past 20 years and in several different countries and languages, radio provides a way to engage potential applicants and share effective hiring messages. One hiccup to be aware of, however, are the "special recruitment packages" sold directly by local radio stations. Most of these packages are designed to move unsold inventory in difficult to sell dayparts. Subsequently the packages, while appearing to be inexpensive, lack the Reach & Frequency required to deliver expected outcomes. Buyer beware.

Fearless Recruiting In Today's Economy

The writer and historian, Michael Ignatieff, once wrote, "Living fearlessly is not the same thing as never being afraid. It’s good to be afraid occasionally. Fear is a great teacher. What’s not good is living in fear, allowing fear to define who you are. Living fearlessly means standing up to fear, taking its measure, refusing to let it shape and define your life."

I think we can all agree that there are high levels of fear in today's workplace. Employees worried about their jobs and what will happen if they get laid off. HR professionals in fear for their own positions. New graduates afraid they won't be able to find a job. Ordinary people afraid that the politicians will not be able to figure out an effective way to pull the country out of it's current economic nose dive.

So what are we to do? Ignatieff provides a hint when he says, "Fear is a great teacher...Living fearlessly means standing up to fear, taking its measure, refusing to let it shape and define your life." In other words, it is time to develop coping skills which will allow us to tackle our problems head-on and improve the chances for favorable outcomes.


Kevin Wheeler, President and Founder of Global Learning Resources, Inc., recently wrote an article entitled, Frame the Future You Want: 4 Things to Do Right Now. In it, Wheeler provided some of his suggestions as to how to cope and prepare for the future. Here are excerpts from the article:

Be Strategically Bold; Tactically Careful
The first step in dealing with the current situation is to sit down and plan out a 3-5 year strategic plan for the future of your recruiting function. Envision a new tomorrow where you can use the technology, processes, and learnings that have emerged over the past decade. Some of the technologies and tools include such things as social networks, blogs, wikis, and candidate relationship management tools. At the same time, you need to act right now with fiscal caution and show your management that you are a responsible manager. Your job is to balance today with several possible recruiting situations in the future.

Envision a New Workforce
The really best recruiting and talent leaders will sit down with management and have some open discussions about the desired workforce of the future. Every recession is an opportunity to recalibrate, learn and decide on what skills and competencies are most likely to be needed as we emerge from this recession. By anticipating needs, recruiters will have had an edge on any competition. Once you have even a blurry picture of the skills and competencies you may need, you can begin sourcing for these kinds of candidates and begin to populate a talent community with people whom you are getting to know and who are getting to know you.

Collaborate and Learn
Collaborate and learn from your peers and from experts in the field. This is a golden opportunity to attend webinars, which are mostly free, catch up on the blogs you have wanted to read but didn’t have time to, and make a few phone calls to friends, colleagues, and others you may have heard of.

Focus on Candidate Engagement
Carefully, authentically, and regularly communicate with all the best candidates you have. Experiment with tools like blogs, email, newsletters, Twitter updates – anything that might engage and stimulate the many potential candidates you should already have in your talent pools. If you neglect them or just tell them that there are no openings now, you lose a resource that you have spent lots of time and money finding and developing. Better to be honest with them, let them know exactly what your situation is, and keep them updated regularly.


Wheeler concludes his article by reminding us that economies will recover and the emerging world will be different and more challenging than ever. He urges us to use this precious resource of extra time wisely and well to frame the future we want.

Which is exactly what we are doing in our offices at MITTONMedia. On the surface, this would not appear to be the ideal time to be running a recruitment advertising firm! However, we believe in the classic axiom, "In chaos there is opportunity." By developing and refining our own coping skills, we are discovering all kinds of possibilities with employers. Some of our coping skills include:

1. Creating this blog, Recruitment That Works. Hopefully we will all learn new things along the way which will add to our knowledge base and improve skill levels in many areas.
2. Enhancing our Social Networking skills. To be completely honest, I should say improving MY social networking skills. I try to live by the rule of "always hire people who are smarter than you are." Which means I am surrounded by a wonderful staff of skilled "mentors" who enjoy opening my eyes to new possibilities. And and it has been an enjoyable experience to get "LinkedIn" and reconnected with former classmates and colleagues as well as being introduced to new business opportunities.
3. Developing new products and services designed to meet the needs of employers in the current economic client. For some employers we continue to plan and execute robust recruitment advertising programs both domestically and globally. For others it has been time to re-tool their Employer Branding and Employee Retention programs. We have also developed an anonymous online survey system to help employers gather the data they need to prepare for immediate and long-range strategic planning. There have also been numerous requests for the re-design of corporate career websites to better engage prospective applicants and the creation of customized Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) which do a better job of providing understandable data that allows for better tracking and more effective results.
4. Aligning ourselves with sister companies who do not provide the specialized services we offer and vice verse. By working together we find new opportunities and produce more complete customized solutions.
5. Collaborating with the academic community. For example, members of our staff met this week with 13 doctoral students and their professor in the University of Houston's Industrial/Organizational division of the Psychology Department. Historically there has often been a disconnect in the communication process between academics and those in the business world. In many cases instead of problem-solving together, each group continues work in isolation surrounded by their own filtration system of what is important and what is not. We hope to SHATTER that barrier in our corner of the world by collaborating with these fresh young minds and try to develop a few new strategies and tools that will help employers embrace what is waiting for them in the future workplace.

How about you? What kind coping skills are you developing and implementing in your office?