As Future Brightens for Job Seekers, Disturbing Trends Emerge for Trainers

By Ann Pace

Downsized U.S. organizations are planning to hire, but have dwindling confidence in their HR and learning departments.

+ From Infoline: Basic Trainer Competencies //

+ From T+D: Get a Seat at the Table //

+ From ASTD Press: Winning the Global Talent Showdown: How Businesses and Communities Can Partner to Rebuild the Jobs Pipeline //

Many companies are gearing up to hire new staff within the next 12 to 24 months, according to Accenture’s 2010 “High-Performance Workforce Study,” but along with optimism for employment comes concern among companies that their HR and learning functions do not have the capabilities to keep up with the changing workforce.

This survey of 674 senior executives from large companies across the globe found that more than half (54 percent) of downsized U.S. businesses plan to rebuild their workforces to prerecession levels by 2012. However, although many predict an impending focus on growth and rebuilding, only 15 percent of the surveyed U.S. executives rated their workforces’ skills as industry-leading.

“Companies do not believe they have the skills they need to grow, but they are planning to grow,” says Cathy Farley, managing director of Accenture’s management consulting practice, specializing in talent and workforce management issues. “This is a call-to-action to the training and development function to step up and address this challenge by identifying key jobs and skills linked to the company’s business strategy and developing reskilling programs to get the workforce up to that level.

“It’s also an opportunity to address the pool of unemployed who have relevant skills,” Farley adds. “Look at the skills your company needs, and if there are gaps, shore up new applicants and get them prepared for success in the organization.”

However, the survey also found some disturbing trends among the HR and training and development functions. Training and development made the list of skills-challenged business divisions, and only 11 percent of respondents described their human resources and training functions as industry-leading.

Critical HR and training capabilities in a large majority of the companies are lacking in maturity:

• 14 percent of executives surveyed believe their companies have a formal talent source strategy that includes making extensive use of alternative sources of talent, such as contract workers or outsourcing companies.
• 20 percent believe that their companies manage their talent management processes in a formal and integrated way, and tightly link their talent strategy and competency frameworks to the overall business strategy.
• 13 percent of executives surveyed believe their companies have a formal analytics capability that gives them insight into employee engagement and other leading indicators, and enables them to proactively implement appropriate solutions to minimize employee attrition.

“There is recognition that the function itself needs to make some improvement to address its business responsibility,” says Farley. “This is also an opportunity for companies to reinvest in the training function.”

In addition to skills training, many respondents cited a need for leadership development. Only one-fourth of respondents strongly agree that their company has the leadership necessary to help the enterprise navigate periods of economic uncertainty and the leadership development programs to prepare the organization’s future leaders.

Farley believes the study highlights the opportunity for training and development to focus on a comprehensive human capital strategy that is linked to companies’ new growth strategies. “The learning function needs to say, ‘I’m going to be at the forefront of where my business is going,’” Farley says.

Ann Pace is an associate editor for T+D; apace@astd.org.

T+D September 10 // public policy//

Legislative Round-Up

By C. Michael Ferraro and Jennifer Homer

A recent report by the University of Leeds boasts the success
of union-led learning efforts in the United Kingdom.

There is no one-size-fits-all method for workplace learning. From external consultants and internal learning departments to decentralized training units, the models are plentiful. Many organizations in the United Kingdom have found their learning niche with another unique approach: union-led learning.

Fifty-five percent of employers say that their employees have improved their qualifications thanks to union-led projects, according to “Assessing the Impact of Union Learning and the Union Learning Fund: Union and Employer Perspectives,” research from Leeds University’s Centre for Employment Relations Innovation and Change (CERIC). Nine out of 10 employers report that unions should continue to develop their learning role.

“The latter finding was surprising,” says Mark Stuart, director of CERIC and professor of human resource management and employee relations at the University of Leeds, “as was the extent to which employers reported that union learning had benefits for employer learning strategies and practices and wider organizational outcomes.”

The Trades Union Congress in the United Kingdom established Unionlearn to support union-led learning through sources such as the Union Learning Fund (ULF), which has enabled individuals to access 615,000 learning opportunities since its inception in 1998.

The research team conducted telephone surveys of 57 Union Project Officers (UPOs) between August and September 2009 and 430 employers between November 2009 and March 2010. Respondents represented individuals from 34 unions and a variety of industry sectors including government, manufacturing, health, construction, and retail.

Stuart explains that UPOs operate as external consultants and manage learning projects that often involve numerous companies and are fed into company practice. Myriad learning activities are offered depending on employee learning needs. Examples include self-assessments, literacy and numeracy tests, e-learning, informal learning, and apprenticeships.

The study found that union learning was inclusive, with 91 percent of projects open to all employees, not just union members. Projects were reported to be generally successful, with 57 percent of UPOs reporting that they had exceeded their targets. More than eight out of 10 UPOs reported that company policy on learning had improved, and 65 percent said that senior management was more supportive as a result.

Forty-six percent of employers reported that union learning was contributing to the upskilling of the workforce through addressing basic skills gaps. It also led to an increase in organizational performance (32 percent) and a rise in the trust level between management and unions (42 percent).

Key barriers to ULF activities include a lack of time for employees to access learning opportunities and for union learning representatives to effectively fill their roles. The degree of these barriers’ existence per company depended on the level of employer support.

The future of union learning looks bright. The study shows that employers are in favor of the continuation of union learning activities, with 9 out of 10 reporting that unions should continue to develop their learning role.

“The future [of union-led learning] to some extent will be influenced by whether the government will continue to support this provision with funding,” Stuart adds.

T+D September 10 // fast fact//

Employee Retention
Issues Emerge

The uptick in joblessness has not widened the pool of viable skill sets for company recruiters.

Fifty-four percent of organizations involuntarily lost high-performing workers during the first half of the year, according to a recent survey by Right Management.

Data from more than 550 respondents throughout North America via an online poll on right.com showed that only 28 percent of companies were able to hold onto most of their top talent in the first half of 2010.

“Organizations need to focus on their top performers,” says Bram Lowsky, senior vice president and general manager at Right Management. “Top performers are responsible for a significant percentage of the work that gets done and are more inclined to walk out the door than ever before. The real top performers in any organization will always have opportunities to move.”

For years, employee engagement has been a hot topic in the executive suite because there’s mounting evidence that employee engagement correlates to individual, group, and organizational performance in the areas of productivity, retention, turnover, customer service, and loyalty.

Data from the Hay Group shows that employee engagement and talent retention were cited as the first and second most important issues, respectively, by CEOs and human resource directors going into 2010.

“The workplace landscape has changed. Workers who, last year, were grateful to hold onto employment are sticking their heads above the parapet and gauging what the recovery means for their career prospects,” says William Werhane, managing director at the Hay Group. “This could spell particularly bad news for those companies that have failed to take necessary steps to implement effective enablement and engagement programs during the tough times.”

“Looking back to the last downturn in 2001 and 2002,” Werhane states, “Hay Group studies then saw that companies that kept a focus on employee engagement came out of the recession with better levels of motivation and loyalty and a greater ability to attract and retain top talent, and this recession is no different.”

T+D September 10 // world at work//

Canada Invests in Skills Development and Workplace Safety

By Aparna Nancherla

The latest engagement numbers indicate an uphill struggle for recapturing the hearts and minds of U.S. employees.

Although the economy has begun to improve, company loyalty has declined significantly and employees are feeling less engaged than anticipated, according to a national study on employee engagement in the U.S. workforce.

Modern Survey, a Minneapolis-based survey provider, polled 1,000 U.S. working adults to gauge the extent to which employees take pride in their company, believe they have a promising future there, recommend their company as a great place to work, go “above and beyond” their normal job duties to help their organization succeed, and intend to stay.

One might expect that at the dawn of an economic rebound, U.S. workers would become increasingly optimistic about job prospects within their organizations; however, this study found the opposite to be true. Employee engagement actually increased sharply between August 2008 and August 2009 as the economy bottomed out. When asked if they intended to stay with their company in August of 2009, 63 percent of employees responded with a “yes,” but when asked the same question in February of 2010, only 57 percent of respondents answered affirmatively—a statistically significant decrease of 6 percentage points.

Similarly, the percentage of U.S. workers who took pride in their company dropped from 79 percent in 2009 to 73 percent in 2010. Furthermore, fewer employees saw a promising future with their company, down 3 percentage points to 52 percent in 2010.

In 2009, as the U.S. economic recession deepened, and job losses grew steadily, most organizations found that it was necessary to ask their employees to do more with less. Job loads increased as support and available resources decreased. Beleaguered workers who survived the onslaught of layoffs and pay cuts were thankful to have just kept their jobs.

According to Don MacPherson, president of Modern Survey, “the increase in employee engagement levels from August 2008 to August 2009 came from a willingness to do more in the face of adversity, followed by employees feeling hopeful that they had survived the worst of the recession. But, as recovery has proven slow, we’re seeing hope being replaced by exhaustion.”

This study should act as wakeup call to organizations across the United States that lack of engagement can cost a company dearly. To fight the waning engagement trend, companies should “find as many ways as possible to express sincere appreciation for employees and recognition for their contributions,” McPherson says.

“This should start with the organization’s most senior leaders, and then be frequently repeated and reinforced by managers at all levels. Companies that don’t make every effort to ensure their top performers stay engaged will be highly vulnerable to a loss of key talent in the coming months.”

T+D September 10 // C-Suite //

CEOs Find Sustainability As Critical Business Driver

The tough job market is forcing many out-of-work professionals to consider starting their own businesses, but according to Andrew Oman, founder of Olive Tree Network, there are a few very important questions that need to be answered before you leap into being your own boss.

• What is your product or service and how is it different from your competition? If your product is not unique, then the odds may be stacked against you.
• What is your management background and expertise that allows you to provide your product or service? Credibility is important, so if you haven’t walked the walk, you can’t talk the talk.
• Who are your customers? To find success, you need a wide, diverse audience.
• How will you market to your customer? It is not only important to know your customers, but it is crucial to know how to reach those customers.
• Who are your major competitors?
• What are your start-up expenses—the one-time expenses that need to be considered prior to beginning business operations? Don’t forget business cards, office supplies, healthcare insurance, and software.

“One of the greatest concerns that most entrepreneurs face is whether their business will be sufficiently lucrative to replace the income that they are giving up by taking themselves off the job market,” says Oman.

According to myownbusiness.com, the primary value of a business plan is to create a written outline that evaluates all aspects of the economic viability of your business venture. It will be valuable in a number of ways. Do not skip this valuable tool and roadmap because

• It will define and focus your objective, using appropriate information and analysis.
• You can use it as a selling tool with lenders, investors, landlords, and banks.
• Your business plan can uncover omissions and weaknesses in your planning process.
• You can use the plan to solicit opinions and advice.

“Everyone’s got an exciting idea. The secret is to make sure it’s also a great idea,” writes Tony Heywood, CEO of Yoodoo.biz, on FreshBusinessThinking.com. “You might love the idea of bouncy castles for dogs, but chances are, not everyone else will. Ask yourself what problem your idea solves, and for whom. So, if you want to open a café on the high street, you may successfully be solving the problem that ‘there is currently no café on the high street for tired shoppers.’”

T+D September 10 // Infograph //

Retention Efforts Get Noticed

With more employees voluntarily leaving their jobs than being involuntarily separated from them for three straight months, organizations are becoming concerned that they may lose talented employees in a better job market, according to a survey of 262 employers by OI Partners Inc.

To bolster their efforts to retain managers and executives, 40 percent of surveyed organizations are offering better salaries and benefits, and more than half are utilizing training, coaching, and other developmental programs.