Tuesday, October 9, 2007

What Do Workers Need?

We are starting to focus on the “bottom of the barrel”. In the majority of companies, we have not integrated our business strategies into the culture of our workforce and are not challenging people to learn the skills that will enable them to lead our company long after the disappearance of the baby boomers.

Globally, we are struggling to acquire the employees we need. The demand for workers in the emerging markets like China is outpacing the supply of talent in those areas. The exodus of the “boomers” in the US coupled with the downsizing that occurred in the last fifteen years has left us with a void in talent that is now needed to fill key management positions.

We have not developed the talent that will provide the skills that we will need to achieve our business goals. Linking talent to strategy is something that we must focus on now, not in the future. Companies must focus on their best employees and make sure we give them what they want. We can no longer afford to spend the majority of our time bringing up the “bottom of the barrel”. The top performers in most companies want opportunities for personal development, feedback and positive discipline, and the ability to work with a mentor/coach in a non-threatening environment.

We have to re-energize the “boomers” to become the best teachers of experience and get the younger workers to become the teachers of technology so that the end product will be a high achieving workforce. We have focus on changing behaviors and learn to measure the change…..isn’t that what Human Resources all about?

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