Outsourcing and Workforce Planning |
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Tess
Walton -
Happy
New Year - 2005 has begun! I thought we might start
the New Year with a quick quiz.
- Which
roles are critical to your strategy?
- Do
you have the capability and capacity to deliver your
strategy?
- How
do you prepare for the future?
- What
are the right things to spend the people budget on?
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you know the answers then your organisation is
at the forefront of Workforce Planning. If you
can answer some then you are probably on a Workforce
Planning journey. If you are stumped then you
have a lot of work ahead of you, and you may wish
to visit our website for some great resources
or really jump start your efforts and attend our
training in March.
Last
year I listed some meta trends affecting all workforces,
last on the list is outsourcing. Outsourcing in
its purest sense is the purchase of labour from
a source outside a company rather than inside.
It has been around for decades but its popularity
grew in the late 80’s and 90’s as organisations
aggressively reduced costs. As bandwidth costs
plummeted geographical obstacles reduced and offshoring
became popular.
Outsourcing
is no longer solely a cost-cutting measure, organisations
are seeking improvements in quality and services,
and access to up-to-date expertise. Still, most
outsourcing is viewed in terms of large outsource
providers and aren’t they facing the same
Workforce Planning issues as you?
Today’s
signals:
- The
last decade or so has seen some businesses offshore
to reduce costs
- Many
have become savvy not to outsource functions
critical to their strategy
- Organisations
have sold parts of their business to outsourcers
only to hire the services back. Mixed reports
of success
Potential
Futures:
- Outsourcing
will grow as it includes smaller businesses
that are providing highly specialized services
to organisations on a regular basis, because
the individuals know their host well and seamlessly
provide the service
- As
outsourcing becomes more acceptable more people
may be encouraged to follow their dreams and
establish small businesses to service large
organisations
WFP
Actions
-
When considering your workforce supply issues,
engage your outsource providers. You need some
form of reporting to you as part of the Service
level Agreement about their workforce planning
- When
vacancies or restructures occur ask whether
the work is still valid. If yes, what sort of
resourcing fits the work and what are the signals
about supply. Always explore all employment
options: permanent (full time, part time), casual,
contractor, consultant, etc
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Matching Workplace Skills to Business Needs
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Australian
Business Limited has produced this report based on detailed
interviews and surveys with close to 400 businesses, registered
training providers and participants in vocational education
and training programs.
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| "This
study shows there is a clear and urgent need for Government
at the State and Federal levels to make training more
attractive to businesses and their employees by cutting
red tape and increasing flexibility", said Mark
Bethwaite, Chief Executive of Australian Business Limited.
"If ever there was a case for a new approach in
Federal/State relations, it would have to be in the
area of vocational training".
Some
of the key points include:
- 46%
of businesses said there was a critical need for increased
customisation of training under public funding.
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42% of businesses wanted to cut red tape in the administration
of New Apprenticeships.
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Access to training was skewed against older workers
with older workers not willing to take up traineeships
that required a minimum of 2 years training.
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The partial implementation of the User Choice Policy
had not been effective with 69% of businesses not
knowing about the User Choice Policy and 56% had never
heard of National Training Packages .
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Employers are not incorporating training into their
strategic business needs, rather only their immediate
needs. Currently, the greatest catalyst for training
is the introduction of "new process/procedure
or equipment" (28% of employers).
Training
strategy is only part of a workforce plan, but as this
report points out, it's very important to look strategically
at training.
Download
the report
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Spotlight Trend |
| In
December 2004, Australia's unemployment rate decreased to
5.1% while the participation rate increased to 63.8%. The
pool of available workers is shrinking every month.
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Thought
for the Month |
| "Without
goals, and plans to reach them, you are like a ship that
has set sail with no destination."
Fitzhugh
Dodson |
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In our next issue... |
HR
Impacts of Workforce Planning - Workforce Planning
is a part of the organisation's business planning
process, and as such can be conducted anywhere in
the organisation, but the largest impact is in HR.
Next month we'll take a look at exactly how Workforce
Planning can affect and empower Human Resources departments.
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