Employee Resourcing: Proactive Strategies for Future Success

1. Part 2 Resourcing

2. Slide 4.1 Employee Resourcing Can Often - Be a reactive activity without any link to organisational strategy Lack internal coherence Resourcing strategy should be proactive facilitating the future direction of the business and providing choices for managers

3. Slide 4.2 The Employee Resourcing Environment The labour market or pool of available talent that employers compete to recruit and retain staff

4. Slide 4.3 Major Trends in the UK Labour Market • Demographics • Diversity • Skills & qualifications

5. Slide 4.4 Demographic Trends (1 of 2) 2003 UK population 59.25 million 2003 27.9 million UK population in work Overall population is increasing even though birth rate falling

6. Slide 4.5 Demographic Trends (2 of 2) The number of people who are economically active is increasing Over longer term the proportion of population that is of working age will shrink in comparison to total population

7. Slide 4.6 Demographics – Implications for Employers • Will become harder to recruit and retain the more talented younger workers • State pension provision will become more difficult to source so people will look more at the organisational occupational pensions being provided

8. Slide 4.7 Diversity Increased female workforce participation has been one of the most significant social trends over recent decades Most recent Government figures indicate 84% men and 73% women are either in work or actively seeking work

9. Slide 4.8 Growth of Female Workforce Participation More women with young children have decided to work whilst men have taken more early retirement Growth of part time work

10. Slide 4.9 Mapping Diversity Trends • In 1980 employment rate for women of working age 59% - figure has risen steadily since then • Gender gap in overall pay levels - women’s average salary is 82% of men’s salaries • Early 1980s 4.5% of employees were from ethnic minorities - early 2000s 6.5% of employees are from ethnic minorities • 1980 two thirds of workplaces employed no-one from ethnic minorities - now over half of workplaces employ an ethnic minority

11. Slide 4.10 Diversity Challenges For HR Managers • Taking into account needs of dual career families • Compliance with discrimination laws • Challenging and removing sexual and racial harassment in the workplace

12. Slide 4.11 Job Growth Areas In Recent Years These have been in Managerial and professional occupations Service industries

13. Slide 4.12 Declining Job Areas In Recent Years Manufacturing Agricultural sectors

14. Slide 4.13 Demands For Graduates • Strong increase over the last twenty years for graduates • Graduate unemployment much lower than rest of population

15. Slide 4.14 Skills Shortages There are insufficient people with high level IT and scientific qualifications entering the labour market There are too many people lacking basic numeracy and literacy skills An estimated 20% of UK adults are innumerate and only able to read at the most basic level

16. Slide 4.15 Ways of Analysing Labour Markets • Geographical differences • Tight versus loose • Occupational structure • Generational differences

17. Slide 4.16 Geographical Differences • For most jobs in most organisations the relevant labour market is local • Comparison required of what is being offered by competitors in local area • Travel infrastructure will affect the working population in local area

18. Slide 4.17 Tight Versus Loose • Tight labour market – where it is difficult to recruit and retain staff • Loose labour market – few problems in finding and retaining staff of required calibre

19. Slide 4.18 Approaches Depending on Degree of Tightness • Relatively loose labour market- little employee resourcing effort - intelligent organisations sought people with capacity to innovate and develop their roles • Tight labour market- many organisations just muddled through- intelligent organisations restructured, introduced flexible working practices, etc (Windolf 1986)

20. Slide 4.19 Occupational Structures • Craft • Organisation career • Unstructured (Mahoney 1989)

21. Slide 4.20 Craft Structure • People tend to be more committed to their occupation over the long term • People tend to be less committed to their organisations • To develop their career they will move from organisation to organisation • Remaining in one organisation for too long is viewed as damaging to their careers (Mahoney 1989)

22. Slide 4.21 Organisation – Career Structure • Progress is made by climbing the promotion ladder within an organisation • Movement between organisations is less frequent • People will stay with an organisation whilst their careers are progressing in the right direction (Mahoney 1989)

23. Slide 4.22 Unstructured Market Structure • Consists of lower skilled jobs for which little training is necessary • Professional advancement opportunities are limited • People move in and out of jobs for many different reasons (Mahoney 1989)

24. Slide 4.23 Generational Differences (1 of 2) • Veterans are attracted to workplaces that offer stability and which value experience • Boomers place a high value on effective participation • Xers enjoy ambiguity and are at ease with insecurity • Nexters are wholly intolerant of all unfair discrimination • Xers require a proper ‘work life’ balance

25. Slide 4.24 Generational Differences (2 of 2) • Veterans are loyal to employers and less likely to look elsewhere • Xers are strongly resistant to tight control systems and set procedures • Nexters prefer to work for ethical employers • Xers and Nexters work more easily with new technology than Veterans and Boomers

26. Slide 4.25 Flexible Resourcing Choices • Numerical flexibility • Temporal flexibility • Functional flexibility • Financial flexibility

27. Slide 4.26 Numerical Flexibility Figure 4.1  Atkinson’s model of the flexible firm (Source: J. Atkinson (1984) ‘Manpower strategies for flexible organisations’, Personnel Management, August. Used with the permission of the author.)

28. Slide 4.27 Temporal Flexibility Concerns varying patterns of hours worked to respond to business demands and employee needs Increased use of part-time work, job sharing and flexible working hours Increased use of this approach in recent years

29. Slide 4.28 Functional Flexibility Where employees have capacity to undertake a variety of tasks as opposed to specialising in one area Horizontal flexibility – involves staff becoming multi skilled so that they can be deployed as and when required at any time Vertical flexibility – capacity to undertake work previously done by those higher or lower down the organisational hierarchy

30. Slide 4.29 Flexibility Debates Atkinson’s flexible firm – is it a description of trends or a prescription for the future Managers aspire to adopt the flexible firm approach but the extent to which it has been actually adopted is questioned The drive for economies of scale has led some companies to become more bureaucratic Flexibility used in a pragmatic and opportunistic way rather that as a strategic HRM manner

31. Slide 4.30 Desirability of Flexibility Debate Theoretical advantages arise from productivity gains Many equate flexibility with insecurity Staff turnover is likely to increase in response to flexible working practices, recruitment of talented people will be harder Too much flexibility can have damaging longer term economic consequences

32. Slide 4.31 Ready Made or Home Grown External labour market - Make use of talent available or Maximise opportunities in internal labour market -Invest heavily in training and development and career systems

33. Slide 4.32 A Typology of Career Systems Relates entry and exit movements of staff with promotion and development • Fortress organisations • Baseball team • Club • Academy (Sonnenfield et al 1992)

34. Slide 4.33 Summary • A strategic resourcing approach takes into account changes occurring in the labour market • Individual labour markets vary in key respects • The key respects of the different labour markets need to be considered when formulating the resourcing policy