Talent Edge Weekly - Issue #248

Labor market impacts on workforce planning, succession planning, reskilling, skills-based organizations, and research-based talent studies.

Author

Brian Heger
July 14, 2024

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Welcome to this week’s issue of Talent Edge Weekly!

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THIS WEEK'S CONTENT

If you only want a quick overview with links and brief descriptions of the topics covered, check out the summary below. If you're interested in my deep dive, including bonus resources, continue reading the rest of the newsletter.

Also, check out the job cuts tracker & Chief HR Officer hire of the week.

Let’s dive in! ⬇️

THIS WEEK'S EDGE 

WORKFORCE PLANNING

Analyzes labor market conditions across 30 economies and offers strategies for mitigating talent shortages.

As organizations refine their workforce planning strategies in response to fluctuating supply and demand within labor markets, this comprehensive paper analyzes labor market conditions across 30 economies in Asia, Europe, and North America, focusing on the eight largest: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Using 20 illustrative charts, it outlines current labor market conditions, future prospects, and strategic actions to mitigate talent shortages. Sample strategies include: Improving value propositions for both prospective and current talent by offering flexible work arrangements and assessing performance based on output rather than hours worked; seeking talent outside traditional talent pools, such as considering candidates with non-linear career paths and career breaks; enhancing internal mobility through more talent sharing across an organization; investing in technology that complements or substitutes labor, like AI, to boost productivity. In connection with utilizing AI to enhance workforce capacity, I am resharing a Deloitte AI Institute report that provides a useful framework (p.23) for determining which work tasks are best performed by 1) AI, 2) humans with the help of AI, or 3) humans alone.

SUCCESSION PLANNING

I share my newly updated one-page template to help track progress in 12 succession metrics.

I recently made a carousel post on LinkedIn (make sure you engage on this post!) sharing 12 examples of succession planning (SP) metrics, ranging from the percentage of non-ready now successors with a development plan to the percentage of success rate of successors after assuming the role (e.g., one-year mark). To help practitioners track any of these metrics, here is my updated/new editable PDF template that will allow practitioners to set a baseline (current state) and a desired state for their organization’s succession. The subsequent columns can be used to indicate progress at certain timeframes. You can input your metric for each time period and select a color-coded box (red, yellow, green) to reflect your current status relative to the desired state. While having technology for automatic tracking and insights is ideal, you can start with basic tools and evolve from there. Lastly, although insights gained from individual metrics are helpful, they are even more powerful when combined to tell a story about your SP. Use your selected metrics to develop a narrative that includes strategic actions to enhance the impact of your SP over time.

RESKILLING

Discusses 6 paradigms with key questions that organizations should consider to overcome challenges in reskilling initiatives.

Upskilling and reskilling are top priorities for many organizations, and this new article from Harvard Business Review discusses six paradigms with key questions to help overcome challenges in reskilling initiatives. This follow-up to “Reskilling in the Age of AI,” shares results from a reskilling survey conducted with chief human resources officers from approximately 1,200 U.S. organizations and 200 business leaders, revealing that 56% of respondents report active reskilling efforts. Despite these efforts, challenges remain, highlighting the need for continuous improvement. For example, one paradigm focuses on measuring the impact of reskilling efforts, proposing questions about whether reskilling pilots have been set up before scaling, if there are robust sets of practical and strategic key performance indicators (KPIs), and if the right stakeholders are reviewing these KPIs frequently enough to make timely adjustments to the program. As practitioners determine how they will measure the impact of reskilling efforts, I am resharing the BCG article, Is Your Upskilling Program Paying Off?, which highlights various metrics for assessing the impact of learning and reskilling programs. In addition to end-state metrics, I recommend incorporating “mini indicators” to help measure directional progress throughout shorter intervals (e.g., months 1-2, 3-6, 9, etc).

SKILLS-BASED PRACTICES

I share articles and reports on different aspects of becoming a skills-based organization.

As I continue to receive many requests for resources on skills-based organizations (SBO) and talent practices, here are five articles and reports that might be of interest. While I’ve shared these resources individually throughout specific issues of Talent Edge Weekly, I’m capturing them here for easy access. 1) The Skills-Based Internal Mobility Playbook is a 56-page playbook by the Business Roundtable Multiple Pathways Initiative on aspects of SBO, including validating workers’ skills. 2) Skills-Based Hiring: The Long Road from Pronouncements to Practice by Harvard Business School and The Burning Glass Institute examines a study on the impact of removing academic degree requirements on the increased hiring of candidates without degrees. 3) Is the Juice Worth the Squeeze? Questions About Becoming a Skills-Based Organization by the Talent Strategy Group raises 17 questions that enable HR practitioners to think critically about their organizations’ pursuit of becoming an SBO. 4) The Long but Rewarding Journey to Becoming a Skills-Driven Organization" by The Conference Board includes how Ericsson implemented its journey to becoming more skills-based. 5) Resolving Workforce Skills Gaps with AI-Powered Insights in MIT Center for Information Systems Research presents a case study detailing how Johnson & Johnson (J&J) leveraged AI to help assess its workforce's current skills. I hope these resources provide you with diverse views, perspectives, and practices on different aspects of SBO.

RESEARCH ON TALENT PRACTICES

My curated list of 4 research studies that can help inform talent practices.

As HR and talent practitioners increasingly turn to research-based resources to inform talent management and workplace practices, here's my one-page cheat sheet with four studies on: return-to-office mandates, work-from-home impact on working mothers, performance feedback, and internal mobility. For instance: 1) Return-to-office (RTO) mandates: a study by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh found that a) no significant changes were observed in S&P 500 firms' financial performance or stock market value after RTO mandates. b) However, Glassdoor data suggests that RTO mandates negatively affected employee satisfaction. 2) Performance feedback. In this study published in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, researchers from Cornell University discovered that underperforming women receive less truthful but kinder performance feedback than equally underperforming men, signaling a need for more transparent and fair feedback practices. Scientific literature and empirical studies can help HR professionals guide their organizations toward more informed decision-making that minimizes reliance on trends, biases, and anecdotal information. As a bonus, a new article by Nick Bloom, published in Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, The Next Recession Could Boost Working From Home, provides a few data points and research-based information on work-from-home.

MOST POPULAR FROM LAST WEEK 

HR TECHNOLOGY

33 questions that can help increase the likelihood of successfully implementing HR technology.

Implementing new HR technology is a challenging initiative for HR teams, involving significant investment in people, time, and money. These high-stakes implementations often face complexities despite the 'plug and play' narrative often portrayed. In this context, Michael Kannisto, Ph.D., has developed a cheat sheet with 33 questions to complement an organization’s current RFP and implementation plans for HR tech.

JOB CUTS AND LAYOFF TRACKER

Check out my tracker of announcements from a segment of organizations that have conducted job cuts and layoffs since the start of 2023.

Partial view of tracker on brianheger.com

A few job cuts announced this past week:

  • Dyson. The vacuum cleaner maker announced it is eliminating up to 1,000 jobs in the UK as part of a cost-cutting initiative. The move will see Dyson's UK-based workforce reduced by more than a quarter.

  • Intuit Inc (NASDAQ: INTU). The global financial company, which owns TurboTax, QuickBooks, and MailChimp, announced that it is laying off 1,800 employees, or about 10% of its workforce. Unlike many recent tech layoffs aimed at reducing costs, Intuit cited performance-related reasons for the layoffs.

  • SolarEdge Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: SEDG). The renewable energy company announced it will lay off hundreds of employees in its second round of cutbacks this year, following the termination of 900 employees (approximately 16% of its workforce) in January. The layoffs are part of an extensive cutback program amid increasing interest rates worldwide, particularly in the U.S., which have affected the economic viability of solar installations.

Click here to access all listed announcements.

CHIEF HR OFFICER HIRE OF THE WEEK

USAA (SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS)—a financial services group—announced Tami Cabaniss as the company’s new Chief Human Resources Officer. Reporting to President and CEO Wayne Peacock, Tami will lead the company’s talent strategy and enhance USAA’s culture, rooted in service to the military community and their families. She joins USAA after nine years at PayPal where she was most recently SVP, HR. Prior to PayPal Tami held senior-level HR roles at Hewlett-Packard and Fox Interactive Media. ​

Tami Cabaniss

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FROM X

RETURN-TO-OFFICE

TALENT EDGE WEEKLY REWIND

HR EFFECTIVENESS

Dave Ulrich and Norm Smallwood share four common pitfalls in HR transformation and provide tips on overcoming them.

THE BEST OF JUNE 2024

Did you miss the “Best of June ” issue of Talent Edge Weekly? If so, check out issue #246, which includes 16 of the most popular resources from the month.

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​Talent Edge Weekly is a free weekly newsletter that brings together the best talent and strategic human resources insights from various sources. It is published every Sunday at 6 PM EST.

Talent Edge Weekly is written by Brian Heger, an internal human resources practitioner. You can connect with Brian on Linkedin, X, and brianheger.com