Strategic planners in leading global companies are failing to integrate their business plans with their people strategies, according to the latest Ci Group research. ìThe old model of centralised workforce planning is not working for most organisations that experience rapid change. Plans are so often overtaken by events, that many organisations have ñ in practical terms ñ given up planning altogetherî says Jonathan Winter, director of the Ci Group.
ìThe result is that organisations are unable to assess people-related risks. They spend vast sums of money on IT systems that promise total information on the workforce, and then fail to see a train coming towards them at 100mph. For example, many are not taking account of the demographics that will see some of their best talent retiring in the next five years.î
Building on a benchmarking study of 44 multinational companies, Ci looked in detail at the strategic planning processes of eight organisations. They found that budget cycles, strategic planning horizons and workforce plans do not operate on the same timelines with the result that they fail to connect. HR then has to pick up the pieces when workforce factors are added as an afterthought.
Responding to the challenge, the Ci Group partners at a Think Tank (hosted by Oxfam) have come up with an approach theyíre calling ëscenario-based dialoguesí. This places less emphasis on a single workforce plan and focuses instead on a range of well-timed conversations around workforce data. Paradoxically, as the world becomes more complex the Ci recommendation is to rely less on sophisticated computing and more on common sense. Itís a stance that may not be popular with the IT industry.
ìHR leaders using this approach will be much more confident in their role as a partner in board-level strategy discussionsî commented Tony DiRomualdo, who led the research and co-authored the report with Dr Wendy Hirsh. ìHowever they will need to build their capability to handle workforce data and make projections.î
Organisations experiencing rapid change can buy the resulting Ci report or gain the full support of the Ci team by becoming a Partner. The Ci Group is also preparing a focused programme of innovation around retirement strategies, to pre-empt a costly failure in workforce planning and talent management.
Strategic planners miss the human dimension
To cope with the pace of change, business needs a new dynamic approach to workforce planning says Oxford Think Tank
