Delivering a workforce for the future (Guest blog by Accenture)
In recent blogs, my colleagues and I drew on recent Accenture research into how creating a sense of belonging could be key to building and maintaining the Civil Service of the future, as well as how HR processes could help nurture this feeling. But how do we establish the roadmap that will enable us to work towards this future operating model?
With the level of change caused by economic issues, the level of disruption driven by technology and the pressures of delivering more for less, it is easy to focus solely on the immediate asks from a workforce perspective.
However, now might actually be the perfect time for HR to raise its sights and focus on the long-term. This approach should be encapsulated into an end-to-end workforce planning (WFP) philosophy. And it should look beyond role titles towards the types of capabilities that are needed to meet the new demands on public service organisations. That includes how technology and robotics can aid staff in delivery of services.
Looking at the strategic time-horizon
As we explore this future, it’s worth thinking about three-time horizons:
- Tactical - immediate in day to weekly/monthly workforce requirements including rostering and scheduling
- Operational - covering monthly to annual processes around workforce needs
- Strategic - annual to five years+ to look at broader workforce of the future needs
These don’t exist in isolation, there should be a line of sight across all three time-horizons as each one feeds on from the others.
With technology changing on a seemingly daily-basis and job vacancies in the UK equalling the unemployment level, there is a strong case to rethink how we approach WFP. Building a truly human-machine ‘whole workforce approach’ could deliver better citizen services while also increasing efficiency across the public sector.
Moving out of the ‘here and now’ mindset to a ‘where next’ approach might be difficult, but it could help create a clearer path forward. Most importantly, it could build a picture of the future and help people explore what the art of the possible is for an organisation, its different functions, and roles. However, where do you start?
Capability before capacity
Developing an effective WFP approach is likely to mean answering some key questions about the different elements of an integrated organisation:
- Organisation/governance – what is the structure and governance needed across all levels of the organisation to support WFP?
- Process – what are the end-to-end processes required across tactical, operational and strategic WFP to deliver an effective approach?
- Data – what demand and supply factors are required?
- Technology – which systems and technologies are needed to effectively support the WFP process?
- Change – how do we embed a WFP approach effectively in the organisation?
But before considering any of these questions, leaders should ask ‘where do we want to be?’ And not just in the next year but in five or ten years from now. It’s this sort of vision that will help provide the ‘north star’ to follow.
What should follow is an integrated WFP approach that considers the IT investments, facilities developments and talent decisions that will be needed to make the change. In planning these steps leaders should move beyond a capacity focused approach to WFP and emphasise capabilities. That is to say, stop thinking about overall capacity and start thinking about the sorts of work and capabilities needed to deliver on the future aims of the organisation.
Taking this approach enables leaders to think more broadly about how they meet organisational aims in innovative ways. For example, what skills and capabilities might we need to develop VR enabled citizen services? Or how might we automate repetitive tasks to give people more time to work directly with people who need it?
This is also a chance to look at employees day-to-day working lives and identify opportunities to make them feel more supported. Accenture research found that these everyday moments can be particularly important for nurturing a sense of belonging and purpose for public sector employees. And this in turn could actually deliver greater productivity for departments who are being asked to do more with less.
You can find out why creating the right working environment matters in Accenture’s latest research. Or please feel free to get in touch for a more detailed discussion.
